Eagle On The
Hill is an unbounded locality of
Adelaide in the
Adelaide Foothills. It borders Mount Osmond and Waterfall Gully.
The village is located on Mount Barker Road, which was formerly the connection from
Adelaide to the South Eastern Freeway. Once the freeway was extended through the Heysen Tunnels in 2000, through the ridge underneath Eagle On The
Hill, the locality went into a precipitous decline.
It is now a relic of its former self; its restaurant, hotel, bottle
shop and service stations have all closed, leaving behind a quiet suburb with a small resident
population. Eagle On The
Hill is now a very popular spot for downhill speedboarders who travel down the road at speeds close to 65 kilometres per hour.
The now-closed Eagle on the
Hill Hotel
The Eagle on the
Hill Hotel was first opened in 1853 by William Anderson, who named it Anderson Hotel. The hotel went through further name changes in 1855 to The Eagle on the
Hill, then to Eagle's Nest in 1859 and back to Eagle on the
Hill in 1860.
The hotel has twice been ravaged by bushfires. First in 1899; a fire destroyed all of the old hotel with the exception of two rooms. Again on Ash Wednesday (16 February 1983) the hotel suffered, with it being completely destroyed. It was rebuilt and operated with much success until its closure after the construction of the new freeway route