The Madness of Eagle on the Hill

The Madness of Eagle on the Hill

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Posted 2012-11-15 by Dave Walshfollow


As I was driving to take photographs for artist Chris Wake's Open Garden & Gallery , I was overcome by the temptation to visit the suburb that doesn't exist.

There is a large sign for Eagle on the Hill after the Mount Osmond turnoff on the South Eastern Freeway, although the Geographical Names Board does not recognise it as a suburb, merely an unbounded locality.

On a whim I took the exit, and proceeded on my path back in time.

Mad sports



Using the turnoff takes you on a twisting path that once was the main road before the Heysen Tunnels were built in 1998. The steep road winds around a tight corner known as The Devil's Elbow and continues up past a lookout to Eagle on the Hill. Once hugely popular with motorbike riders as a thrilling place to race and scrape your bike's footpegs, the road is now more likely to be used by road racers on bicycles enjoying a speedy downhill rush.

The area is familiar territory to mountain bikers and skate boarders, but otherwise little known to people under 40 or so.



Mountain bikers come in droves to use the popular Eagle Mountain Bike Park network of trails. It's a very scenic area and the trails range in difficulty from easy to distinctly difficult. If you appreciate native flora, there are some spectacularly colourful native plants to see Australia/Eagle on the Hill/ along the way .

For skateboarders the old section of freeway offers a mad thrill (which others might call madness on a public road with a 60 km/h speed zone).



If you continue up the winding road you will reach a level area with the remains of a disused service station on the right, and a large house on your left.

A closer look shows that the house was once the Eagle on the Hill Hotel, a very popular place to stop and dine for travellers since 1853 .



The Shell Service Station was also a popular destination in itself for weary travellers to enjoy meals in the restaurant with a view, and to purchase fuel.

But back in the 1970's both of these places were far more important to the community. The government had long regulated shopping hours and decreed that in the metropolitan area hotels could not serve alcohol on Sundays, nor could service stations open to sell petrol. Complete shopping madness!

Motoring madness



If you were unfortunate enough to need fuel on a Sunday there were only a couple of options available. Self service pumps could be found at a few selected service stations around Adelaide, and it was possible to buy petrol at these using twenty cent coins.

People who needed more than could be bought with coins (or didn't have change) could either drive to Eagle on the Hill for fuel as it was outside of the metro area, or go to Adelaide airport which was exempt from SA legislation being on Commonwealth Government land.



At Eagle on the Hill there was a BP service station on the "up" track near the hotel, and Shell and BP service stations on the "down" track opposite the hotel.

The BP near the hotel has completely disappeared now, while the Shell opposite is disused, decrepit and dilapidated. Adorned with street art and graffiti and in a state of disrepair, it is gradually returning to nature.



Interestingly the BP service station further down the hill now appears to have morphed into a house , which is now on the market. It's a pity this doesn't happen with heritage buildings more often too.

Dipsomania



For those in need of alcohol on a Sunday it was again necessary to leave the metropolitan area, unless you could prove to an unenthusiastic publican that you were a bona fide traveller. It's still not clear to me why travellers were particularly deserving of alcohol on Sundays, and clearly this was before the days of random breath tests :)

So it was that the Eagle on the Hill Hotel did a great trade on Sundays, with many people only too happy to enjoy a meal as they consumed their favourite tipple and enjoyed panoramic views of the city. Lots of patrons would have drunk to excess before taking the treacherous road down through the Devil's Elbow.



It would be interesting to know how accident statistics on that stretch of the road on Sundays compared with other days of the week.

This was an extremely frustrating time for motorists and serious drinkers alike, and it was a great relief when shopping hours were relaxed and Sunday trading was permitted.

Little do those mountain bikers and skateboarders realise :)

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162592 - 2023-06-14 20:56:30

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