John Hill (explorer)

For other uses, see John Hill (disambiguation).

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 see and traverse the Clare Valley.

An enigmatic and little-known individual, during the late 1830s John Hill sighted 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".[1] Hill River and Mount Hill are named after him.[2][3]

  1. ^ "NOMENCLATURE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA. THE ORIGIN OF NAME8. No. XIII: AN ALPHABETICAL REVIEW. An Early Plea for Closer Settlement". South Australian Register. 13 June 1908. p. 9. The Hutt and Hill Rivers were discovered and named by William Hill in 1839 – the one after Sir William Hutt, M.P. one of Lord Glenelg's nominees among the South Australian Colonization Commissioners, and the other after himself.
  2. ^ E.J. Eyre's Autobiographical Narrative, 1832–39. London: Caliban Books. 1984. p. 205. ISBN 090457332X.
  3. ^ There cannot be the slightest doubt that Gov. Gawler named the hill after John Hill who was a member of the Governor's Party from Port Lincoln to Franklin Harbour., J.D. Somerville, 1943, SASR PRG 15/91/29.