Herbig Family Tree

Mount Pleasant
Tiny township on the northern edge of the Adelaide Hills
Located 55 km north-east of Adelaide at the northern end of the Adelaide Hills, Mount Pleasant is a tiny township with a population of around 450. It located 440 metres above sea level and experiences a rainfall of 687 mm per annum.

No one is exactly sure how the town got its name but there seems to be some consensus that it was probably named after a Mrs Pleasant who was a relative of one of the early settlers. These settlers moved into the area in the late 1830s with flocks of sheep and with bags of grain. One of the early settlers, James Phillis, had arrived in Adelaide in 1839 and literally rode a horse into the Adelaide Hills looking for suitable land to farm. He settled at Mount Pleasant in 1843, planted wheat, harvested the crop, and then had to take it to Adelaide to sell. From the profits he sailed to England where he bought a flock of romney marsh sheep which he shipped back to the area. Over the years he became one of the district's most prosperous and successful farmers.

Gold was found in the district in the 1860s but the deposits were small and the miners soon moved on. The town grew slowly never being anything more than a small service centre for the surrounding region. The Police Station, which dates from the 1860s, has been largely replaced by a building with 'ER' on it and the Old Talunga Hotel is quite charming. The main street, Melrose Street, is lined with beautiful plane trees.

Things to see:  

Herbig Tree and Homestead Heritage Centre
The Herbig Tree, located in Springton north of Mount Pleasant, is an extraordinary chapter in the German history of the area. Friedrich Herbig was a tailor turned farmer who arrived in South Australia in 1855. He travelled to the area where he leased 80 acres from George Angas. Desperately poor he decided to live in the famous Herbig Family tree. It was a large, hollow red gum. It was between 300-500 years old, had probably been struck by lightning, had a huge area inside and secondary growth was starting to occur above the old trunk. A year after his arrival Herbig married Caroline Rattey, an illiterate 18-year-old peasant girl, at Lyndoch. He took her back to live with him in the tree and it was there that the first two of their sixteen children were born. In 1860 Herbig and his family moved out of the tree to a two room pine and pug hut he built about 400 metres away. By 1864 the family was living in a stone cottage. The Heritage Homestead centre includes the original cottage, a barn and a cellar. It offers a rare insight into the life of the early settlers. Details: Contact (08) 8568 2757.

	Hotels
	Talunga Hotel 43 Melrose St Mount Pleasant SA 5235 Telephone: (08) 8568 2015 Rating: **
	Totness Inn Hotel Melrose St Mount Pleasant SA 5235 Telephone: (08) 8568 2346
	Bed & Breakfast/Guesthouses
	Stoneybank Bed & Breakfast Swan Reach Rd Mount Pleasant SA 5235 Telephone: (08) 8568 2134 Facsimile: (08) 8568 3037 Rating: ****
	Cottages & Cabins
	Saunders Gorge Santuary Walkers Flat Rd Sanderston Mount Pleasant SA 5235 Telephone: (08) 8569 3032 Facsimile: (08) 8569 3036
	Swan Lake Country Cottages Swan Reach Rd Mount Pleasant SA 5235 Telephone: (08) 8568 2134 Rating: ****
	Totness House Cottage Lot 3 Melrose St Mount Pleasant SA 5235 Telephone: (08) 8568 2383
	Caravan Parks
	Talunga Park Caravan Park Melrose St P.O. Box 159 Mount Pleasant SA 5235 Telephone: (08) 8569 3048
	Restaurants
	Totness Inn Hotel Melrose St Mount Pleasant SA 5235 Telephone: (08) 8568 2346