The history

What this land used to be

Before the wild olive and the weeds, this was a different piece of bush. We are piecing together what grew on Mount Skye and across this part of the Adelaide Hills, so the restoration replants what actually belongs here.

The historical landscape map

work in progress

An interactive map of this country from 1836 to now. Vegetation mapping, 1949 and 1950 aerial photography, lidar terrain and the viewpoints behind the historic photographs, layered so you can move through time.

Open the map

What we are looking for

work in progress

Two questions sit behind the restoration. What did this country look like before it was cleared and grazed, and which plants were here first. Answer those and the replanting list writes itself, because you put back what belongs rather than what looks good.

Being researched now

Historic aerial and ground photographs of the area. Old survey plans, early photographs and aerial imagery that show the slope before the weeds took hold, and how the bush has changed over the decades.

Being researched now

The original vegetation type. The pre-European plant community for this part of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges, cross-checked against the state vegetation mapping, so we know the grasses, shrubs and trees that were here before clearing.

This page will fill out as the research comes in. If you have old photographs of this part of the Adelaide Hills, or know its history, we would like to hear from you.

Historic photographs of the area

the Hills, 1870s to 1940

Photographs of the country Skye sits in, from the hills and gullies around Magill, Norton Summit, Morialta and Horsnells Gully. They show this landscape over the decades, not a pristine past. The earliest were taken after years of grazing and timber cutting had already changed the slopes. Click any photo to see it full size.