Ockert le Roux Photography

17/06/2026

Leslie Raymond (Les) Hill (1912–2003) was arguably Mount Gambier's most influential local historian and photographic archivist. His work has shaped much of what we know today about the early history of Mount Gambier and the wider Limestone Coast.

Les Hill was born in Mount Gambier in 1912 and was the grandson of pioneer settler Samuel Hill, who arrived in the district in 1873. Before becoming a historian, he worked as a watchmaker, a Rawleighs salesman, and later a sports journalist. During the Second World War he served with the Australian Imperial Force for three years before being discharged in 1944 and taking over the family's newsagency business.

His passion for local history appears to have been sparked when an old photograph was brought into his newsagency. What started as a goal to collect 100 historic photographs evolved into a lifetime project. Over approximately three decades he amassed a collection of around 16,000–16,500 historic photographs documenting Mount Gambier and the surrounding district.

Remarkably, Hill often paid personally to copy and preserve photographs so that original images could be returned to owners or archived safely. His work was largely voluntary and driven by a desire to preserve local heritage. Hill wrote six major books and numerous booklets on local history.

His photographic and historical collections became so important that the City of Mount Gambier established the Les Hill Historical Centre within the Mount Gambier Library Service. The centre houses manuscripts, newspapers, family histories, organisational records and other historical material relating to the region.

The accompanying Les Hill Photographic Collection now contains more than 16,500 photographs dating from the nineteenth century onwards and remains one of the most important visual archives in regional South Australia.

Those who knew him described Hill as generous with his knowledge and always willing to assist researchers, students and family historians. Despite producing thousands of pages of research, he reportedly remained a "one-fingered typist" on an old Re*****on typewriter.

His influence extends well beyond his lifetime. Many local historians, including members of the Mount Gambier History Group, credit him as a mentor and inspiration. The fact that the city's principal historical archive bears his name reflects the regard in which he is held.

Image - Les Hill with staffers at his News Agency in Mount Gambier circa 1950’s - Courtesy SLSA B-20014 (colourised)

16/06/2026

Few building materials are as closely tied to Mount Gambier’s identity as its limestone. Gambier stone was used in the construction of the city’s 19th century hotels, cottages, churches, walls, civic buildings and farmhouses.
The stone is made largely from the remains of marine sediment, compressed over time into a workable, pale-coloured stone soft enough to be sawn, shaped and dressed, yet strong enough to harden and endure once exposed to air and allowed to dry.

Early quarrying was hard, physical work. Overburden had to be removed, often by hand, before the stone bed could be exposed. Quarrymen then cut blocks from the quarry floor using hand saws, wedges, winches and later mechanical cutting equipment. Large blocks were freed, lifted and carted away to be further sawn into ashlars: the regular rectangular blocks that became familiar in local construction. In Mount Gambier, the word “ashlar” came to mean more than a masonry term; it described a local product, cut directly from the district’s limestone floors.

The older quarries were scattered around the district, including areas north of the town, but over time production concentrated where the best stone could be found in deeper, cleaner deposits. The Marte area, west of Mount Gambier, became especially important. There, quarrying developed on a scale that would eventually supply not only local buildings but also a much wider construction market in Australia.

Today, the mining and sawing of limestone blocks remains part of the region’s construction story. Modern quarrying is more mechanised, regulated and precise than in the days of hand saws and timber tripods, but the essential idea is unchanged: cut the stone from the ground, shape it into useful blocks, and send it out to become part of buildings that may stand for generations in Australia.

The later sets of images were taken in in 2017 at the Bruhn quarry west of Mt Gambier (Ockert le Roux) and the earlier set by Arthur Studio at the Coraline quarry in 1955 (Courtesy Arthur studio via State Library of South Australia- colourised)

13/06/2026

A beautifully clear and crisp evening at the Little Blue Lake, with the bright planets Venus and Jupiter shining above Mercury low on the northwestern horizon. The International Space Station also made a brief appearance overhead, while at the opposite end of the sky, the core of the Milky Way was rising above the eastern horizon. On the edge of the Little Blue Lake a Bollywood crowd of about 15 in size, arriving in two mini busses, was doing a dance with flashing lights. Quite a light show we had tonight.

12/06/2026

Constellations & Cluny — from distant stars to Coonawarra red earth

On a winter evening in Coonawarra, we invite you to look down into a glass of Zema Estate Cluny — then look up to the stars.
The deep red terra rossa soils that help shape Coonawarra’s famous red wines carry an ancient story. Their colour comes from ferric oxides — iron transformed in the soil — but that iron itself was forged long ago in the hearts of distant stars and scattered across the Universe before eventually becoming part of our Earth.

Join Zema Estate Wines and local night-sky photographer Ockert Le Roux for Constellations & Cluny, an intimate Cellar Dwellers evening of wine, storytelling and stargazing. The night begins in the warmth of the barrel hall with soup and a glass of Cluny, before Nick Zema shares stories of family, land and Coonawarra heritage. The evening then turns skyward as Ockert guides guests through the southern winter constellations, illustrated with his astrophotography captured across the region. Weather permitting, guests will step outside among the vines for a relaxed stargazing experience beneath the Coonawarra night sky.

Come and discover how the colour red travelled from ancient stars into Coonawarra’s terra rossa — and finally into your glass of Cluny.

Friday 3 July 2026 | 6pm–9pm | Zema Estate
Tickets: $49, including soup and a glass of wine
Bookings essential. Limited numbers.
Book here: https://zema.com.au/constellations/

12/06/2026

The two first dwelings in Mount Gambier was the primtive bark and timber huts constructed for Henty's stockmen. One at what is today the Cave Gardens and the other on the high ground between Browns and Valley Lakes in circa 1839/40. Both were chosen for their proximity to water sources for men and cattle. Shortly after circa 1845 the first stone dwelling was constructed near where the Jens hotel southern parking is today.

11/06/2026

Looking east along Commercial Street on a busy summer morning (clock tower says its 8:35am) in 1880, with Jens Hotel and the Town Hall visible in the background. On the right is the Produce and Dairy Foods Company of A.W. Sandford, now the site of the Main Corner, and to its left are the Telegraph and Post Office buildings. The two poplar trees in front of the Telegraph Office stand out prominently in their full summer foliage.

11/06/2026

08/06/2026

The wild, untamed power of the Southern Ocean.

06/06/2026