‘Netherhill’ has had only four family ownerships in its 169-year history. The house, which began as a small four-room cottage, expanded in the early 1900s to become the memorable 10-room homestead that stands today.

Over this time, the homestead helped raise at least 41 children and saw its fair share of births, deaths and marriages. It has housed and helped entertain scores of visiting friends and family, and warmly welcomed thousands of tourists who came to the property to purchase strawberries, lunch on the lawns and walk the beautiful fern gardens that extended right out to Rocky Hill.

The property, with its fertile Adelaide Hills soils and good, reliable rainfall, allowed its caretakers to be largely self-sufficient.  It has supported a variety of successful agricultural businesses since 1849—from fruit orchards, various crops, livestock, dairy farming, strawberry growing, and more recently, organic fruit and vegetable production and a bed and breakfast.

The property has endured extreme conditions over the past one and a half centuries. It has been scorched black several times by ferocious South Australian bushfires. And it has been frozen to the core on those rare snowy days that are described as ‘1-in-50 year’ events. Yet, the land, always forgiving, bounces back and continues to produce in abundance.

I was among the last of those 41 children who share the fortune of being raised at ‘Netherhill’. I’ve walked up and down those hills with our much loved dogs, picked mushrooms, caught and tamed wild kittens from the dairy and rode my horses (and later my car!) through all those back dirt roads.  I’ve brought cows into the dairy, fed chooks, ducks and been chased by grumpy geese.  I hung out with neighbouring kids, stepped on thousands of Bunya Pine prickles (we called them monkey puzzles), fed and played with calves and planted, picked and packed strawberries in the early years.  I followed tradition and married on the front lawn under the huge 160-year-old trees, like others before me.  I experienced the ferocity of Ash Wednesday when the fire roared out of the pine forest behind Netherhill. I’ve kept cool inside the thick bluestone walls on hot summer days and lit so many fires to keep the house warm in the winter. I lay in bed at night and listened to the random creaks and cracks that are characteristic of old homes and remember, far too well, being spooked by the rattling of the timber sash windows during stormy winter nights.

I have researched and compiled the history of ‘Netherhill’ so that this information is in the public domain and can be easily accessed by those who are interested. I’ve used various published resources to help develop this information, but the best resource of all has been my mother, Margaret. Margaret lived and worked at ‘Netherhill’ for 33 years and put her heart and soul into the soils. Over the years she learned much about the history through conversations with others connected to the property in some way or another. These memories and anecdotes of hers have been a treasure trove when pulling the history together.

I dedicate this work to the place I call home and the place I loved being a small part of in its big 169 year history—‘Netherhill’.   I hope you enjoy learning about the history too!

2018