100 
The South Australian Naturalist 
A PROPOSAL FOR A NATIONAL RESERVE AT MOUNT 
LOFTY. 
By J. B. Cleland. 
A\ iien tToni tlie iilaiiis of Adelaide we yie^x the summit of 
Mount Ijofry. and then let our gaze descend, we see tier succeed- 
ing tier till the foothills are reached. May I ask you to pause 
for a moment as yon make this survey to consider a small 
])lateaii, covered with trees and at one time with a noble 
foi'est, wliose position you may be able to recognize a little 
way l)elow the summit and in direct line therewith. Its exact 
situation may be described as being about a mile in the direction 
of Adelaide itself from the road that passes round in front of 
Mount Lofty near its summit and as being bounded on the 
north by the dee].) gully that runs up on the right-hand side of 
The Green Hill Load, bending suddenly in its upper part to 
terminate between Mount Lofty itself and the Little Mount, 
and on the south by the rugged termination of the left-hand 
branch of the AMaterfall GulG^ far beyond the Upper Palls. 
Indenting the plateau on the north-west aspect and partly 
draining it, is the termination of another small gully, some- 
times called AVooIshed Gully from an old woolshed at its 
eJitrance. whose creek fails into the AVaterfall Gully Creek a 
little way below the hotel. 
This j)lateau can be approached at ])resent by timber- 
tracks, either by travelhig down the ridge to it from the 
juncthni of Little Mount Lofty ridge with the main Mount, or 
by ascending AYoolshed Gully. A bridle track also leads up 
the Woolshed Hill. When the })lateau is reached, it is found 
that the grass-covered shale of the lower liills is suddenly 
re])laced by the sandier soil and quartzite formation of the 
higher parts with its correspondingly richer natural Australian 
flora. In places the transition between the two types of soil 
is extraordinarily abru])t and one can almost straddle across 
the line of division, one foot being ]>laced where stringy-barks 
( E iicaUjpfHs ohliqua), heaths and the grass-tree ( Xanthorrhoea 
:<einipj((na) flourish, the other being on the grass beneath 
Euc(t\i/pfn.‘< vi)}}inaUs or E. leucoxfjlon. The area itself is some- 
what undulating or irregular and several creeklets have their 
origin in tlie depressions. The chief tree is the stringy-bark, 
E. ohliqua, with a few exami)les of E. ca pHellata : E. cosmophyJJa, 
of mallee-habit with masses of large yellow flowers and large 
ca])sules, grows in places. At one time, the area was a dense 
forest Avith liuge and ancitmt trees. Many years ago portion was 
clcar(Hl and tlie stumps grubbed up. Most of the debris was 
