Historical Account of Morialta Reserve. 
By W. H. Selway 
THIS reserve is situated about seven miles north-east of 
Adelaide, and is reached by an electric tramway which extends 
to the entrance to the gully. The actual length of the tram line 
from Currie Street is slightly over six and a half miles (6.53), 
and the site of the kiosk, which is the furthest point available 
at present for other vehicular traffic, is close upon seven and a 
half miles from the G.P.O. The tramway was opened on 
March 31, 1915. For picturesque beauty and rugged grandeur, 
this reserve is probably the most noteworthy in the Mount Lofty 
Ranges. 
It comprises about 537 acres, made up as follows : Section 
823 and part Sections 810, 822, 854, and 855, Hundred of 
Adelaide, containing about 315 acres, which were presented to 
the Crown by Mr. James Smith Reid, and Sections 850, 852, 
853, 857, and part 810, containing about 221 acres and four 
perches, which were purchased by the Crown from the same 
gentleman. The transfer is dated March 20, 1913, and the 
reserve was proclaimed a public pleasure resort in 1915 (vide 
Government Gazette, of July 15, 1915). 
Prior to the passing of the National Pleasure Resorts Act 
1173 of 1914, this reserve was controlled by the Advisory Board 
of National Pleasure Resorts. 
The earliest owners of any of this land were Thomas 
Hodgson (September 24, 1839) and William Glegg Gover 
(December 31, 1839). The whole of it later came into the 
possession of Mr. Price Maurice on various dates between 
January 16, 1872, and September 25, 1891. Ten years later it 
became the property of Mr. J. S. Reid from whom, as already 
stated, it was acquired by the Government in 1913. 
Within a few years of the proclamation of the Province, 
the beauty of this part of the hills arrested the attention of the 
artist, George French Angas, who, in his book, South Australia 
Illustrated, published in London in 1847, delineated in colour 
two views of the waterfalls in this reserve. These are given the 
title of “Falls of Glen Stuart/' In the description of the plate. 
Mr. Angas writes: “The Morialta rivulet, during its course 
through the rocky ravines of Glen Stuart, presents three suc- 
cessive falls, all of which are exceedingly beautiful and 
picturesque. During the months of spring this charming and 
romantic glen abounds with wildflowers, many of them of great 
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