text: anstey hill recreation park anstey hill recreation park is a 362 - hectare ( 890 - acre ) protected area established in 1989 and located approximately 19 kilometres ( 12 mi ) northeast of adelaide , south australia . the park is a significant reserve of bushland in the foothills of the mount lofty ranges and is home to rare or vulnerable native plants and animals , and problematic invasive species . it is managed by the city of tea tree gully , the department of environment , water and natural resources and a volunteer group — the friends of anstey hill . the park is designed for recreational walking and has no visitor facilities . it is managed in association with the regional planning initiative known as of yurrebilla , the greater mount lofty parklands . the park 's land was gradually acquired by the government of south australia beginning in 1966 , based on recommendations in a 1962 report . from 1981 onwards , plans were published that aimed to develop the area for commercial purposes , but public pressure led to its declaration as a public reserve in 1989 . the last land added was a small area in 2003 . anstey hill is a 371 - metre ( 1 , 217 ft ) high peak in the park 's south . both hill and park are named after a road built by agricultural pioneer george alexander anstey . fire authorities regard the park as an " arson hotspot " , and it is frequently burned by bushfires — mostly deliberately lit . there is no permanent water except for springs in water gully , adjacent to ruins of a nursery , although there are many seasonal creeks . much of the land is steep , rising 200 m ( 660 ft ) across the park 's breadth , with gradients often steeper than one in three . erosion and land movements due to a significant geologic fault zone created this land form . the gun emplacement , a listed geologic monument and remnant of an ancient land surface , lies in the southwestern corner . the adelaide – mannum pipeline crosses the park and the anstey hill water filtration plant lies on its southern boundary ; together they supply 20 % of adelaide 's reticulated water . significant historical uses of the area are preserved as ruins and highlighted with interpretive signs . the ruins of newman 's nursery are all that remains of what was once the largest plant nursery in the southern hemisphere . ellis cottage is one of the earliest homes in the area , and the rumps bakery building housed the first bakery in tea tree gully . quarries supplied stone for significant victorian buildings in adelaide and aggregate for road building . klopper 's quarries in the southwest hosted plays for the festival of the arts in 1980 and 1988 . today 's park anstey hill recreation park is a reserved area of public land with short seasonal creeks , low hills and steep - sided gullies . its boundaries are largely formed by lower north east , north east , perseverance and range roads ; there is a small section south of lower north east road . it lies at the edge of the mount lofty ranges ' foothills and forms part of the " hill 's face " that is visible from adelaide 's metropolitan area . the park covers 362 hectares ( 890 acres ) of the city of tea tree gully , approximately 19 km ( 12 mi ) northeast of adelaide 's central business district , with parts in the suburbs of tea tree gully , vista , highbury and houghton . the adelaide – mannum water supply pipeline crosses the park 's south , and an associated filtration plant is sited on its southern boundary . adjacent to the water filtration plant is anstey hill , reaching 371 . 1 m ( 1 , 218 ft ) above mean sea level . the hill is 50 m ( 160 ft ) shorter than a nearby unnamed peak . the park ’ s southern boundary abuts the anstey hill quarry , a producer of white clay , and two large disused quarries . management of the park is influenced by the department of environment , water and natural resources 's long term biodiversity goals for the hill face zone and is also being managed in the broader context of a planning initiative known as yurrebilla – the greater mount lofty parklands . the department manages the park in association with local council and a volunteer group — the friends of anstey hill . this volunteer group makes significant contributions to revegetation , weed control , ruin stabilisation and creation of walking trails . there are no visitor facilities or amenities except for walking trails , most of which follow fire access tracks ; a single constructed pedestrian trail leads to klopper ’ s quarry . the park is mostly designated as a " conservation zone " where only passive recreation , including walking dogs on leads , is permitted . horses and motor vehicles are not allowed and only the main tracks are maintained . in recognition of the established and popular activity of mountain biking in the greater adelaide area , and to better accommodate the mountain biking community in the north eastern suburbs , it was proposed in 2006 to permit cycling in designated zones on purpose - built tracks and on certain management tracks within the park . the intention is to satisfy both biodiversity and recreation objectives in the park and reducing the incidence of illegal mountain bike riding in other non designated areas . anstey hill park lies between bureau of meteorology measured rainfall contour lines that denote an annual average from 580 to 820 mm ( 23 to 32 in ) . it has hot dry summers , as does all of adelaide , and december to february 's average maximum daily temperatures 28 ° c ( 82 ° f ) to 29 ° c ( 84 ° f ) . temperatures drop significantly in the wetter winters ; july 's average maximum temperature is 14 . 6 ° c ( 58 . 3 ° f ) . apart from springs in water gully , the site of newman 's nursery ruins , all of the numerous creeks in the park are seasonal and dry for much of the year . the park rises from approximately 220 m ( 720 ft ) above mean sea level on its western side to 420 m ( 1 , 380 ft ) at the highest point in the park 's southeast corner . most of the park is steeply sloping with gradients steeper than one in four . except for the base of water gully , topsoil throughout the park is shallow and low in plant nutrients . there are frequent serious bushfires in the park . much of the reserve was burned in 1980 , eastern parts burned in 1981 , and most of the park burned again in the 1983 ash wednesday fires ; newman 's nursery 's remains were devastated during the 1983 bushfire . as recently as 2004 , a major fire burned over 100 ha ( 247 acres ) of bushland next to anstey hill . most fires in the park are deliberately lit and the park is regarded as a " hotspot " for arson . arson in the park is not a recent phenomenon ; an early record comes from an 1869 inquiry . the park has more than one arson attack , on average , each year . in the hill 's face , encompassing anstey hill , approximately 60 % of all fires ( 1999 – 2004 ) are deliberately lit and less than 5 % are classed as naturally occurring . most deliberately lit fires begin at the park 's boundaries and are contained within it . geology elevation rise across the park results from land uplift along the burnside - eden fault zone . this zone is a major land fault separating the adelaide plains from the mount lofty ranges and runs north - north - east across the park from its southwest corner . the park is underlain by sedimentary rocks of the burra group overlying a precambrian crystalline basement . sediments were formed approximately 700 million years ago ( mya ) from sand washed into a shallow sea . sand layers were then folded and slightly metamorphosed during the orogeny , a period of mountain building caused by tectonic plate movements and resulting east - west compression of australia . this pushed up a mountain range , on the site of the present mount lofty ranges , approximately 450 mya . the range was eroded to a level plain over the following 350 million years . approximately 40 mya , the location of today 's ranges and plains were flat , with a hard sedimentary capping . about 2 mya , block faulting raised the mount lofty ranges , and much of the former land surface west of the ranges eroded away . the gun emplacement is a small remnant of this pre - erosion surface . it is a raised semi - circular flat area and has views over much of adelaide from the southwestern corner of the park . the emplacement is seen as an important regolith deposit , particularly for its role in understanding adelaide 's landscape 's evolution . the emplacement was declared a geological monument in 1978 for this geologic importance as well as its aesthetic and recreational value . across the park , different ages of exposed rocks are seen . quartzite , composed mostly of quartzite with sandstone and some siltstone , is the youngest . woolshed flat shale is older and is composed of siltstone , dolomite and some sandstone . the oldest regular exposure is montacute dolomite , which is a blue - grey dolomite with magnesite , siltstone and sandstone . quarries in the south of the park have been mined for quartzite . this type of quartzite is a clean , white , quartzite with interbedded thin siltstone layers up to 30 cm ( 12 in ) thick occurring at gaps of 1 – 2 metres ( 3 ft 3 in – 6 ft 7 in ) . ripple marks in this rock clearly indicate its shallow water origin . next to newman 's nursery is a quarry with grey to blue silicaceous dolomite used for road material . it contains traces of pyrite and is overlain by phyllite . tea tree gully freestone , as found in the largest quarry in the park , is a sandstone bedded with quartzite . decay of the feldspar has enabled it to be cut and dressed as a quality building stone . the tea tree gully iron ( or silver ) mine lies in an iron - rich fault zone . the ore body is ironstone , 150 m long , 50 m wide and 30 m thick ( 490 ft by 160 ft by 100 ft ) . it is primarily limonite , detrital quartz and silica . it is thought to have been chemically deposited during the paleogene and neogene periods , 2 mya to 66 mya . flora and fauna in the 1983 concept plan , 413 plant species were identified , including 124 that were not native to the park . the park was noted as one of the few remaining significant areas of bushland in the foothills . by 2006 , the flora list contained 411 species , with 107 of these non - native . five of the native species were then noted as rare or vulnerable , including prasophyllum pallidum ( pale leek - orchid ) . the park has significant stands of pink gums ( eucalyptus ) and long - leafed box ( eucalyptus ) . button daisy , pussy tail ( macrocephalus ) , ( hakea sericea ) , silky guinea flower ( hibbertia sericea ) and black rapier sedge ( ) are black - boys ( xanthorrhoea ) , hop bush ( dodonaea viscosa ssp. spatulata ) and tea - tree form the understory in parts of the park . the area around the ruins of newman 's nursery is noted for its spring orchid display . quarry floors have large plants typical of much of the mount lofty ranges . golden wattle ( acacia pycnantha ) and drooping sheoak ( allocasuarina verticillata ) , as well as red gums ( eucalyptus camaldulensis ) , native pine ( callitris preissii ) and blue gum ( eucalyptus leucoxylon ) are common . invasive weeds are prevalent in , and damaging to , the park . species common in other formerly occupied parts of the foothills are also common in the park . of significant concern , largely for their impact on native flora , are bridal creeper ( asparagus ) , ( monilifera ) , artichoke thistle ( cynara ) , varieties of broom , spanish heath ( erica ) , fennel ( vulgare ) , olives , blackberries , common gorse ( ulex europaeus ) and dog rose ( rosa canina ) . in july 2001 , phytophthora cinnamomi , a significant cause of plant disease in the adelaide hills , was found in the park . mechanical countermeasures , in the form of boot scrubbing stations , have been introduced to control its spread . the concept plan identified 145 species of birds as either known or expected to be found in the park . by 2006 , 98 species had been recorded in the park 's area , though not all specifically within the park 's boundaries . of the park 's insects , seven species were found to be largely confined by its boundaries , with little presence in the rest of adelaide . their presence was unusual , as they were regarded as arid zone species . approximately 35 reptile and amphibian species have been recorded within anstey hill park . fauna in the park includes western grey kangaroo , common ringtail possum , common brushtail possum , short - beaked echidna , gould 's wattled bat , chocolate wattled bat , little forest bat , white - striped free - tailed bat and the lesser long - eared bat . koalas are present , though they are not native to the area , having been deliberately introduced to the adelaide hills . foreign animals are also found , in common with much of adelaide . while red foxes , cats , european rabbits , black rats , house mice and european hares are seen , there has been no systemic recording of alien fauna species . exotic birds , including rock pigeons , european goldfinch , house sparrow , starlings and blackbirds are common . introduced bees and european wasps are present , with the aggressive wasps an issue for the park 's visitors . naming the name of the park derives from a road built by george alexander anstey , a south australian pastoral and horticultural pioneer . anstey established highercombe estate on two land sections east of the park that he purchased in 1840 . he built a private road to his estate , which ran along the base of a gully and up a steep hillside . the road was initially named " anstey hill road " ; this name was later used for the hill , the subsequent land reserve and the current recreation park . the gun emplacement was officially named as such in 1997 after a period of unofficial usage . this name was first used by major william hubert edmunds , a lieutenant cartographer in the boer war who later enlisted in the commonwealth of australia forces . after leaving the military , edmunds carried out " reconnaissance surveys " on the fringes of the adelaide metropolitan area . as part of the work , he took particular note of an unusual plateau at the edge of what is now tea tree gully . by the time his work was published in 1926 , he had named the plateau " the gun emplacement " , presumably for its suitability as a location for a field gun battery . foundation in 1962 , the south australian planning authority 's town planning committee released a report on the development of metropolitan adelaide . the report , in part , recommended that a regional park be established north of anstey hill and southeast of tea tree gully . the stated intention was preservation of the character of the face of the foothills , as visible from adelaide ’ s suburbs . from 1966 to 1977 , land was purchased under the auspices of the state planning authority , for what was then " reserve 13 " . one notable purchase was of 73 hectares ( 180 acres ) in 1969 , of which 16 hectares ( 40 acres ) was an active quarry operated by quarry industries . this quarry was known as the tea tree gully freestone quarry and today lies in the park 's northwest . it had a permit to operate until december 1970 , which was later extended to december 1980 . additional land affected by the quarrying was purchased in 1971 . by the end of the lease , rehabilitation work completed did not meet the standard required by the planning authority . quarry industries vacated the site in april 1982 , other firms then contracted to continue rehabilitation work . land beneath the gun emplacement was subdivided for housing in 1966 . a developer unsuccessfully attempted to have the plateau subdivided in 1975 . the site was purchased by the government in 1978 and added to the then anstey hill reserve . during the 1970s , part of the park 's area was earmarked to be subdivided and developed for housing . significant opposition to this use , due to the land 's historical and scientific significance , came from the south australian division of the geological society of australia , the national trust and the state 's field naturalists society . the planning authority established the anstey hill joint steering committee in 1981 , initially to prepare a concept plan for development of the reserve . the draft report was published in late 1981 with a proposal to spend up to $ 3 . 5 million establishing the park . uses were explored including : a rock climbing area , motocross circuit , kiosk , cycle track , horse riding area , caravan and camping grounds and a restaurant . in 1983 , the then state department of environment and planning published the final concept plan for the " anstey hill regional park " . the plan indicated that a caravan park , or possibly a velodrome , might be an appropriate development . there was significant interest by developers to use parts of the park commercially . increasing public opposition to this concept led to the declaration of the entire reserve as a public recreation park . the friends of anstey hill recreation park volunteer group was formed in 1990 . most of the then 306 . 5 ha ( 757 - acre ) park was proclaimed on 31 august 1989 with a smaller 55 . 5 - hectare ( 137 - acre ) addition in october 2001 . it was officially opened by environment and planning minister susan in a ceremony on 17 september 1989 . the department for environment and heritage added one last section to the park in 2003 . a wedge of land 15 by 260 m ( 49 by 853 ft ) remained from a purchase by george dickerson in 1857 . this land formed part of a cliff and had long been managed as part of the park . no known current owner was found and the department compulsorily acquired the land and added it to the recreation park . land use although it lies within the traditional lands of the aboriginal kaurna people , no occupation sites have been found . much of the park has been used for agriculture since european settlement . significant european uses of the park 's land have been newman 's nursery , a main road , mines , quarries and a water filtration plant . newman 's nursery the remains of newman 's nursery , established by charles newman and his family in the second half of the 19th century , are situated within the park at the base of water gully . after living on a rural property near houghton , he bought 68 acres ( 28 ha ) of unfenced land in 1854 . this land encompassed what became known as water gully , a gully with a creek and permanent springs . the first house , a simple slab hut set into a hill bank , was built on the property by 1855 . the newmans added more land from 1866 ; at its largest the property covered 469 acres ( 190 ha ) and had a land tax valuation of gbp £ ( a $ 1 . 64 million in 2005 ) by 1885 . from 1854 onwards , the initially heavily wooded land was continuously cleared , planted and developed . the newmans developed a nursery on the site between 1857 and 1871 , over time assisted by their 17 children . there were hothouses in operation by 1870 , and produce from the site was shown in exhibits from 1871 . at maximum extent in the late 19th century it had its own dairy and large numbers of glasshouses and hothouses . at the time it was the largest nursery in the southern hemisphere . newman renamed it in 1875 to ' newman 's model nursery ' , probably for promotional purposes . in 1889 plant stocks included over 100 , 000 orange trees , the same number of mostly grape vines and 500 , 000 other fruit trees . it grew 300 varieties of orchids , 350 of chrysanthemums and 700 of roses . the nursery was a frequent prize winner at agricultural fairs and exhibitions . at the great exhibition for the queen ’ s jubilee in 1887 , the newmans won two " first orders of merit " , the exhibition 's highest award , and all three " exhibition diplomas " on offer . charles newman died in 1889 after falling from his horse , and control of the nursery passed to his sixth son , frederick . during a severe storm in february 1913 , 2 inches ( 51 mm ) of rain fell in an hour , setting the streams , creeks and roads awash and damaging the nursery . in october of the same year , another storm destroyed buildings and plantings . due to the extent of the destruction , and the lack of funds for full repairs , the nursery never fully recovered . frederick newman left the nursery in 1925 to run a smaller one in tea tree gully , next to north east road ; control of the original nursery passed to harry newman . with the death of charles ' wife mary ann in 1932 , the property was sold and subsequently used as a dairy . it changed ownership again in 1935 , then used for sheep grazing . the new owner removed everything of value from the property ; slate paving and benches were sold , buildings were stripped to walls and foundations , pine trees lining the entrance road were turned to box wood and some outbuildings were knocked down . most remaining plants and fruit trees from the property 's nursery days were destroyed by bushfires during ash wednesday in 1983 . the ruins of newman ’ s nursery consist largely of foundations and walls and are listed on the state heritage register . mining and quarrying dolomite , sandstone and quartzite rock have been extensively mined in the park . though traces of silver , copper and gold are present , there have been no economic finds . the park is scattered with many quarries ; the largest within the park is an open - cut in the northwest corner . it was in operation until 1982 supplying stone for buildings , including adelaide 's war memorial and st peter 's cathedral . tea tree gully freestone from some quarries has been used for the facades and ornamental dressing of many of adelaide ’ s victorian public buildings . adelaide town hall , the general post office and supreme court buildings in adelaide were all built entirely of this stone . the quarries supplied dressing stock for ornamentation on buildings , including st peter 's cathedral , st francis xavier 's cathedral , flinders street baptist church and the university of adelaide 's mitchell building . an ironstone mine was opened to work on a rock outcrop in 1853 . the mine was to supply flux for the port adelaide copper smelting works , but it apparently closed within a year . it was reopened in 1861 and operated until 1862 . the tea tree gully silver mining company began work in the area in 1888 , constructing a tramway , blacksmith shop and a new road . with no economic finds , the company closed in july 1889 . the quarry , in water gully adjacent to the nursery 's ruins , has been mined for blue dolomite , some of which was used for the nursery 's buildings . quarries elsewhere in water gully were opened in the 1880s and intermittently supplied quartzite road metal for the district council of tea tree gully . a crushing plant was erected on the north side of the gully in 1912 to create this road material . when the park was proclaimed , land zoning regulations allowed existing mining prospecting rights to continue . these rights were restricted to previously mined areas ; this coupled with further restrictions imposed by the national parks and wildlife service act ( 1972 ) make it unlikely that mining will occur in the future . klopper 's quarries klopper 's quarries , in the park 's south , were mined in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . they were established by heinrich — later anglicised to henry klopper — who arrived at adelaide in 1847 from hamburg , germany . he purchased land in hope valley and a section below anstey hill . on the anstey hill section he opened his first quarry in 1850 . the klopper quarries supplied aggregate for road building and bluestone for home and road kerbs . after klopper 's death in 1888 his wife and sons continued the quarries ' operation . stone from the first quarry was used to build a family home , on the south east corner of nearby valley and grand junction roads . additional quarries were opened and supplied metal for most of the roads constructed in highercombe . in 1905 the family opened a freestone quarry within the park that operated until its 1927 sale . the freestone quarry was used to host plays as part of the adelaide festival of arts . it seated about 800 people and its 20 m ( 66 ft ) face provided a backdrop to the performances . three plays were performed over fifteen nights in the 1980 festival . a nine - hour production of the mahābhārata , by the theatre company of peter brook , was performed in 1988 . ellis cottage and rumps bakery the historic ellis cottage and rumps bakery buildings lie near the corner of perseverance and north east roads . built in 1854 , ellis cottage is a single room stone building built by john stevens , founder of steventon estate that later become the suburb of tea tree gully . it was named after the ellis family , who owned and used the building for storage for many years until world war ii . rumps bakery was built in 1854 with local stone . from 1867 to 1893 it was rented to charles rumps , who started tea tree gully 's first bakery in the building in 1872 . in 1894 , the building was sold to ernest , who continued to use it as a bakery . until the mid - 20th century , the ellis family and an adjacent general store frequently used it for storage . assisted by a government grant and supervised by the department of environment and heritage , the friends of anstey hill stabilised both buildings in 2000 . water filtration plant in the 1970s , the engineering and water supply department chose an area at the top of the park , adjacent to lower north east road , to build a water treatment works . based partly on seismic refraction traverses , a ridge underlain by dolomite and quartzite was deemed to be stable enough for construction . the site was also selected because of its hydraulic advantages ; all other sites would have required the construction of a major pumping station . the exact placement of the site was made so that it could not be seen from the metropolitan area . it has a design flow of 313 megalitres ( ml ) per day with a maximum capacity of 344 ml . the plant was commissioned in 1980 and uses filtration and sedimentation techniques to clean water from the mannum to adelaide pipeline . it was the second plant in adelaide , after the opening of the hope valley plant in 1977 . most of the water is piped directly from the river murray , but some is sourced from millbrook reservoir . the plant was intended to serve 70 , 000 homes in the outer northeastern suburbs of adelaide , specifically those north of the river torrens . the total construction cost was $ 14 . 5 million , including changes to the existing pipeline . as of 2005 , the plant filters approximately 20 % of adelaide 's water supply . a small hydroelectric plant began operating in adjacent hope valley in 2003 , using the head of water as it flows down anstey hill . the plant is designed to supply 7 , 000 megawatt hours per year . roads lower north east road runs around anstey hill and up the escarpment of the burnside - eden fault zone . it connects the suburbs — formerly villages — of hope valley and houghton . three roads were surveyed and built to connect the same locations . the first was a private road constructed by george anstey in 1841 — although officially surveyed in 1844 — to reach his estate , as a mostly straight - line extension of grand junction road . it followed the base of a gully , before rising steeply up anstey hill . from 1842 to 1846 , anstey constructed a replacement private road with a devil 's elbow ( double hairpin bend ) that followed the land 's contours more closely . as chairman of roads for the district of yatala , anstey allocated most of the district 's funding to his road , leading to a public outcry that forced him from office in 1851 . this road became known as anstey hill road and remained in use for 20 years . new road , later renamed houghton road and subsequently lower north east road , was constructed in 1873 as a replacement . it was longer than the preceding roads but lacked a devil 's elbow , was more evenly sloped , and was paved in 1930 . it now separates a small part of the park — that contains klopper 's quarries and the gun emplacement — from the rest . remains of the two previous roads can be seen near klopper 's quarries . perseverance road , and some housing , defines the western edge of much of the park . william haines was the district clerk for tea tree gully from 1867 to 1902 and member of parliament for gumeracha from 1878 to 1884 . since 1862 , he had lobbied for construction of a road to link tea tree gully to anstey hill road . the 1 – ½ mile road was eventually approved and subsequently opened in 1880 . known as haines ' folly before its completion , it was officially called haines ' perseverance road at the opening ceremony .