Record snowfall blankets large parts of South Australia amid severe hail, damaging winds and flooding

Evening Journal (Adelaide) Wed 30 Aug 1905: ‘Snow fell in numerous localities, but in no place more heavily than on the Mount Lofty Ranges. Adelaideans will remember the big snowstorms in the hills on Sunday, July 28, 1901, and again on June 30 of last year, But the present fall is easily a record. Old residents of the ranges, who have been bred and born there, say that they remember nothing like the present visitation. The country was transformed into a wonderful world of white’.

The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide) Tue 29 Aug 1905: ‘When residents of the hills in the neighborhood of Mount Lofty got out of bed on Tuesday morning they were surprised to find the surrounding country snow-clad. There had been a fall between 4 and o’clock, and the hills presented a beautiful picture. From the city the snow-covered north-western slopes near the top of the range stood out prominently, and in. the hope of seeing a further fall many citizens secured cabs or motor-cars and proceeded to the hills with the least possible delay. Soon after ten o’clock another fall commenced, and for more than an hour the descent of the feathery flakes continued, so that by 11 o’clock the whole of the country for miles and miles was under snow. The fall was described by old residents of the hills as the heaviest they had seen there. Trees, fences, telegraph wires, hedges, and everything else carried snow, and our Norton’s Summit correspondent telegraphed that the fruit trees, which are wearing their spring attire, were all laden with snow. Our correspondent said: “The fall is the heaviest within my recollection. It is falling now (10.45) thickly, and the whole of the hills, as far back as I can see, and north and south, are white. I have never seen such a magnificent sight. “We have never had anything here to approach it.”’

The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide) Wed 30 Aug 1905: ‘Some idea of the heavy nature of the fall of snow at Mount Lofty on Tuesday [29 August] may be gathered from the face that snow could be seen on the hillsides this after noon from the city streets’.

The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide) Wed 30 Aug 1905: ‘Hallett, August 29. Many of the inhabitants of this locality were taken by surprise on arising this morning to see everything covered with a white mantle. Snow must have been falling for some time, for at about 7 o’clock the ground was already covered. The Broken Hill express was 35 minutes late, through waiting for passengers, who jumped out at every station and indulged ai the good old English game of snow balling. It is still snowing heavily’.

The Register (Adelaide) Thu 31 Aug 1905: ‘Eudunda, August 29. A correspondent writes: “Never before in the annals of Eudunda since I left old England (26 years ago) has such a grand sight been witnessed. It was really beyond the dreams of imagination to see the grand, picturesque appearance of the large mountainous hills which surround the beautiful little town of Eudunda covered with snow. It was indeed a novelty to both old and young, playing at the grand old game— snowball. It took me back to boyhood days. This wonderful weather has come in the nick of time to save what would have been an utter failure to several of the crops around here.”’

Southern Argus (Port Elliot) Thu 31 Aug: ‘The weather for the past few days has been of exceptionally cold, rough, and wintry nature, establishing a record for hailstorms, which have taken place almost by the dozen in the hills and south district, Monday night and Tuesday having so rapid a succession of them that banks of hailstones lay piled up in many parts right through the day and night. In the hills squalls were of unusually severe nature, the wind at times rising to hurricane power, doing a good deal of damage in parts to fruit trees and gardens generally, and in one or two parts flood waters added to the damage done by washing away whole plots of vegetables and garden soil. Snow fell heavily on the Mt. Lofty, Flinders, and Willunga ranges, and also on the northern plains, and many places in the state which had never before been visited by snow had unique experiences, much to the delight of the inhabitants. The scene on the hills was very beautiful, but the high wind and the sleety rain which fell at frequent intervals made out of doors sight-seeing rather too unpleasant for people to indulge in as much of it as they would have done under more favorable circumstances. The snowfall did not extend to Strathalbyn, but reached to within about four miles of the town, in the direction of Macclesfield’.