Heavy snow blankets the Mount Lofty Ranges, accumulating several inches deep and disrupting daily life

The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide) Thu 30 Jun 1904: ‘On Thursday morning [30 June], at about 10 o’clock, a fall of snow occurred on the Mount Lofty Ranges, and it continued for some time, so that the country affected presented a pretty picture. The snow extended north to and beyond Norton’s Summit, where three falls were recorded. The weather was intensely cold and the surface of the country embraced within the area of the storm was clothed in white for several hours. In places the snow was several inches thick, and in many parts the pastime of snow-balling was indulged in. Our Norton’s Summit correspondent walked to the telegraph office to telephone the news of the fall, and when she reached the building she was enveloped in a mantle of snow’.

Evening Journal (Adelaide) Thu 30 Jun 1904: ‘Probably many Adelaide citizens who rose early on Thursday morning and waked out into the chill air almost instinctively looked towards the hills to see whether the summits were capped with snow Those who had the, special facilities of multi-story elevations might have been gratified with a sight of this phenomenon, which in the vicinity of the capital is comparatively rare. Residents at Mount Lofty report that it has not been very cold there for the past two or three days, but about Stirling and Mount Lofty dense mists have settled in the valleys, almost obscuring the whole prospect for hours at a stretch. On Thursday morning, however the thermometer was very low, and early risers had the pleasure of seeing a fine fall of snow. To a number of visitors from other parts the fall of the feathery flakes proved of great interest. The snow storm continued until well on into the morning, when it lay on the ground several inches deep, and was banked in drifts by the wind against walls and other obstacles to the depth of a foot or more. Residents keenly enjoyed the pastime of snowballing for some time, but a heavy drizzling rain succeeded the snowstorm, and soon, reduced the beautiful mantle of white to an unlovely slush. A snowstorm in the Adelaide hills proves as great an attraction to English people as to Australians, for the reason that the effect of snow in gardens and orchards crammed with dense foliage is quite another thing from that of the same phenomenon in a climate where all the trees are bane of leaves. Snow began to fall at Summertown this morning about 8 o’clock. This was succeeded by a heavy shower of rain, which obscured everything. Then followed a heavy hailstorm, which strewed the ground, and was followed at about 11 o’clock by more snow. This continued in fairly heavy showers, and at 2 o’clock this afternoon, was still falling. The depth was at least 4 inches, and there is every prospect of a heavy fall’.

The Register (Adelaide) Fri 1 Jul 1904: ‘The need for better accommodation for scholars at the Thebarton School is painfully apparent during this cold, wintery weather. Situated in a fast-enlarging district the school is overcrowded. For months classes have been taught in the galvanized iron sheds out in the yard, owing to the lack of room in the school building. The difficulties under which the teachers labour with the children in these places can be easily realized, as without any fire, and with cold draughts coming in all around, it is impossible for the scholars to keep warm. On Thursday [30 June] the teachers, owing to the cold, were compelled to alter the routine, and nearly the whole of the morning the children were kept doing physical exercises, as it was out of the question to attempt teaching other lessons’.