The School Histroy

In 1965, Dr Alby Jones, then superintendent of teacher recruiting and training 'looked to the day when South Australia would have its first true outdoor school, where children could camp and learn not only everyday lessons but also about nature, the environment and themselves'. On November 4th, 1976, as Director General of Education, Dr Jones realised this vision by opening Arbury Park Outdoor School. Students participated in programs from March 1976, the first group being from Keller Road Primary School, Salisbury East.

The land on which the school is located, was bought by the South Australian Government in 1964 from Sir Alexander Downer, a former Australian High Commissioner to London. His family named the property after an estate in Warwickshire, Arbury Hall. The site had been a thriving nursery, and many of the exotic trees still present are remnants of this activity. Commonwealth funding was made available for construction of the school, during which time only one tree was felled.

Early European Settlement of the Bridgewater District

The original inhabitants of the Adelaide Plains and western slopes of the nearby Mt Lofty Ranges were the Kaurna Aboriginal people. The Eastern slopes of the Mt Lofty Ranges were the country of the Peramangk Aboriginal people. European settlers arrived on the Adelaide Plains in 1836. These people needed shelter and houses so they looked towards the nearby hills and the timber that could be seen in plenty.

From the plains the hills looked like tiers so they became known as "The Tiers". The people who eventually came to live and work in them were known as Tiersmen. By 1837 people were working in the Tiers as cutters, sawyers and splitters, sending their wood to the timber merchants on the plains for building and establishing the new colony. The tall stringy bark eucalypts were ideal for building. The settlers found the timber long and straight and the bark useful for thatching roofs.

The Tiers were remote and dangerous. Escaped convicts from New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land, sailors who deserted from ships and ticket-of-leave men settled in the Tiers and made travelling hazardous through their thuggery and thieving. Those willing to work had an occupation in the timber industry. Some of the Tiersmen became notorious and could come and go at will to commit their crimes because of the almost inaccessible gullies and ravines.

The area was thick bushland as described in 1852 by Governor Gawler "This forest is so extensive and of such intricate description that two or three hundred desperadoes might baffle as many as a thousand regular troops attempting to reduce them to order".

In March 1839 David Crafer settled in the Tiers and started his hotel, the Crafers Inn. The hotel was a popular haunt for the Tiersmen, many of who squandered their money on drink. The times were particularly dangerous and many an honest man left after losing his belongings by fire or theft. By 1840 there were horse and cattle thieves, bushrangers, sly grog sellers and murderers, all rubbing shoulders with each other in the safety of the hills.

On Christmas Day 1838 Robert Cock led a party of four men into the Tiers to try and find a route to the River Murray. They eventually made their way through to Lake Alexandrina. Wood splitters and sawyers soon followed Cock's route to the creek then name Cock's Creek (now Cox Creek).

Adelaide has developed a reputation for its poor water, but it was not always so. In 1841 an Inn was established on the Cox Creek called the "Rural Deanery", where it was said to be worth the trip from Adelaide just to taste the water from this clear stream.

The Bridgewater Hotel was established on its present site in 1855 after being moved from the Cox's Creek settlement. In 1858 John Dunn bought the land nearby for just over 600 pounds and the following year the township of Bridgewater was laid out spelling the end of the Cock's Creek settlement. In 1860 John Dunn build a mill with a large water-wheel, known as the Bridgewater Mill.