Marble Hill Properties take delivery of the Reform H7 X
The Marble Hill Group of Properties is a family owned business with rural landholdings in the Adelaide Hills, just 30 minutes from the city of Adelaide between the villages of Cherryville and Basket Range. The properties cover an area of about 300 acres and include a mixture of native bush and land cleared for horticulture in the steepest, wettest part of the Mount Lofty Ranges.
The “jewel in the crown” is Marble Hill itself, a 134 year old heritage-listed hill-top ruin, which was previously the summer residence of the South Australian Governor, until it burnt to the ground in a bushfire in 1955. The ruin is being restored to its former glory and will become a focal point in the region as an event venue, to help revive tourism.
The other properties were all previously worked orchards and market gardens, but economic decline in the region after the 1955 fire saw them fall into disrepair. Most of the slopes had been cleared over 100 years ago, initially for timber and then for fruit and vegetable production. Once neglected they quickly became infested with woody weeds, such as blackberry and broom, or reverted to dense degraded eucalypt forest, and access has proven difficult.
The owners of the Marble Hill Properties were not daunted by the task of restoring the environment, because they have historical connections to the area and understand its potential. They are committed to protecting the land from further degredation and recognise its picturesque value as complementary to their plan for greater tourism in the area.
Each property presents particular problems, depending on past use and whether the land is creekside or hilltop. Given the steep topography and the degraded nature of the landscape, we recognised the need for a machine that combined stability and safety on steep slopes along with speed and efficiency of operation, together with operator comfort and convenience.
Many of the properties had been worked with crawler tractors in the past, but while effective on slopes, crawlers are slow and uncomfortable, and unable to readily travel between properties along roads.
The specifications of the Metrac H7X seemed to be a very good fit for our requirements. And so far, it has proven to be all we had hoped: stable and tractable; comfortable and quiet; and above all, very effective and efficient. In combination with the Noremat flail mower, it is quite capable of mulching down heavy broom and blackberry bushes, while still being able to produce a nice cut on grass.
The tractor and mower form a very important part of our program of renovation of rundown land, and are also integral to bushfire mitigation in this most bushfire prone region, by maintaining well-tended scrub-edges, grassy areas and firetracks. It maneuvers well close to fences, vines and trees and enables us to maintain a park-like appearance throughout the estate.
Contact Stocker-Crew for more information and pricing on Reform hillside and municipal tractors.