John Hill (explorer)

John Hill (c.1810 – 11 August 1860) was an English explorer of South Australia and part of the European exploration of Australia. Hill was the first European to discover and traverse the Clare Valley.

An enigmatic and little-known individual, during the late 1830s John Hill discovered and named several important rivers of South Australia, as well as many lesser streams and creeks. The former unquestionably include the Wakefield and Hutt rivers, plus (most probably) the Gilbert and Light rivers. He was also the first European to explore the headwaters of the Torrens and Onkaparinga rivers.

In 1908 the Register newspaper (while incorrectly naming him 'William') accorded him the title of South Australia's "Discoverer of Rivers".Hill River and Mount Hill are named after him.

Born about 1810 in London, UK, nothing is known of his ancestry or childhood. Emerging from an apparently affluent family, in the mid-1830s he arrived at Sydney as a well-educated and financially independent young man. Undertaking pastoralism pursuits in the Monaro region, by 1837 he had travelled extensively throughout that colony, becoming acquainted with such fellow pastoralists as Edward John Eyre, and of Dr. George Imlay, one of three land-owning brothers from Eden district.

Attracted to the possibilities for pastoralism and land speculation in the nascent colony of South Australia (founded nine months earlier), he arrived there on 5 September 1837 aboard the schooner Currency Lass, accompanied by James Fisher, son of James Hurtle Fisher. During the next four years, either alone or with associates, Hill actively engaged in the exploration of the province, particularly in what became the highly productive, closer-settled districts. Hill's first priority was to reconnoitre a viable route for overlanding livestock from New South Wales, particularly through the Mount Lofty Ranges, which was the unexplored gap between the Murray River and Adelaide.

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