Waterfall Gully 
"J^HIS is a relatively small reserve comprising that portion of 
the hills section of the First Creek which contains the First 
and Second Waterfalls. Like the Morialta Gorge, this valley 
is a short, scarp-face stream that has been actively eroded during 
and since the period of uplift of the Mount Lofty Ranges. This 
youthful topography provides a countryside which is of little 
use to man, but which has considerable scenic interest. The 
steep slopes of Waterfall Gully are well known as seen from 
the Prince's Highway, which passes along the upward margin 
of this valley towards Waverley Ridge. 
Unlike Morialta Gorge, quartzites are less common and the 
phyllites tend to be more schistose. In the western part of the 
Waterfall Gully, the slopes are fairly gentle, and there are several 
cultivated alluvial flats, narrow but fertile. Entering the reserve, 
one notes that the rocks contain more quartzites, the easterly dip 
becomes steeper, and the valley slopes more rugged and irregular. 
Because of these rock differences the accompanying soils and 
vegetation differ, and we get a type of scenery that is quite 
distinct from that at Morialta. At Waterfall Gully Fall the 
rocks are much less silicified and less strongly jointed than at 
the Morialta Fall, and instead of being nearly level-bedded, they 
dip steeply eastward. This characteristic easterly dip in schistose 
rocks gives the fall its particular individuality. It is a fairly 
eas) walk to the top of the fall, and there we note a narrower 
and more rugged valley leading upward to the Second Fall and 
so. onward up to Mount Lofty itself. It is among the ’ rare 
privileges that have been given to adventurous Adelaide boys 
that they may, on some windy holiday, hike up the winding hills 
and valleys of Waterfall Gully to the coveted summit of Mount 
Lofty a practice which has already prevailed for three or 
four generations. 
The lower portion of Waterfall Gully terminates abruptly 
at the First Fall. Here, as elsewhere, although the fall and 
its surroundings appear to be so permanent, and although we 
speak of the everlasting hills, the landscape features are transient 
and impermanent. The fall is moving slowly up-stream ; once 
it was far down-stream at the face of the range. Ages hence 
it will have moved further up, but nature in these matters moves 
with extreme slowness — the inevitability of gradualness : 
“The hills are shadows, and they flow 
From form to form, and nothing stands. 
They melt like mists, the solid lands, 
Like clouds they shape themselves and go.” 
