The Brownhill Creek Reserve 
r J , HE Brownhill Creek public pleasure resort consists of 120 
acres, and was surveyed as far back as 1858. It was gazetted 
a reserve in 1889, and has more recently had a small area added 
to it on its north-western extremity. This small area of six 
acres, which includes a swimming pool, was added in 1912 , and 
is the only portion of the area which appears to be at all cared 
for. At Brownhill Creek we still have rocks of the Adelaide 
series, younger than those at Waterfall Gully and Morialta, 
largely clay slates, and including thin bands of bluemetal lime- 
stone (dolomites). It would appear that the wide, gently-rounded 
valley of the lower Brownhill Creek was at one time covered 
with fairly dense timber. There is at present one monarch 
living red gum, with a huge hollow butt, very worthy to be 
regarded as a public monument; but other native vegetation is 
almost wholly absent. There is a small avenue of well-grown 
plane trees, a few oaks, and a picturesque semi-circle of alluvium 
bordered by well-grown pines. Otherwise the valley is bare 
and open, dotted with evidences of the dairying industry, with 
a few ruins, with many quarries, and with much ugliness. This 
valley was at one time likely to be selected as the means whereby 
the railway from Adelaide should ascend the hills; but it is at 
the present time little used for communications, and the roads are 
poor. Indeed, the whole of this reserve is something of a puzzle ; 
comparing the proclaimed boundaries of the “public pleasure 
resort” with the area itself, it would appear to be largely in the 
possession of private landholders, or occupied by quarries or 
quarry dumps. It is an area which, because of its natural soils 
and rainfall, might be made a place of beauty if placed under 
the control of interested authorities. [I believe that the venerable 
red gum above referred to has since been destroyed by fire.] 
National Park. 
T HE last of these reserves to be described is the National 
Park, which consists of two thousand acres of characteristic 
timbered hill and valley, situated in the Mount Lofty Ranges, 
somewhat farther back into the hills, on the headwaters of the 
Workanda and Minno Creeks, which meet near Blackwood and 
flow southward into the Sturt River. The rocks are somewhat 
similar in character to those described at Morialta and Waterfall 
Gully, but they are younger and include more clay slates and 
less quartzites. The area is also in close proximity to the famous 
glacial beds of the Sturt Gorge — a classical area in geological 
history. 
The natural advantages of hill and valley have been skilfully 
utilized to build up a playground and a picnic ground for the 
sport-lover as well as for those interested in the contemplation 
Page Tzventy-tivo' 
