Description

First published 1985. This second (revised) edition reprinted 2020 is profusely illustrated with wonderful sketches by Sue Speck and an excellent selection of photographs.

Second Valley is a seaside township on the Fleurieu Peninsula about a 100km from Adelaide.

The following has been extracted from a 2002 book review by John Healey, History Editor, History Society of South Australia.

“Rather than a dry, step-by-step recounting of names and dates, the book is arranged in chapters dealing with different aspects of community life, occupations, industries, notable characters and landmark structures. We are treated to stories of early snakebite remedies, the romance of mail deliveries by coach, the changing fortunes of farmers, storekeepers and timber cutters, the “playing at soldiers” of the Volunteer Rifles, and anecdotes of the Hotel, the Jetty House and the wreck of the Marion’.

The scope of the book ranges from Colonel Light’s investigations in 1836 and the hardships of the first settlers to present day developments such as the marina and the scuttling of HMAS Hobart to form an artificial reef. The author’s prose style is a pleasure to read and he also includes intriguing details of activities that readers may know little about … the procedures involved in the building of wattle and daub houses, the mechanics of stone-grinding flour, the processing of wattle bark for tanning and the extraction of gum from yacca stumps. ……Etc. It is a model of what a district history should be.”