 The area was called Pradli, which means “baldness”, because the appearance of the area when looking south from the Adelaide Plains was “bald like the moon.” The first Europeans to set foot in the area were crewmen from the Coromandel in 1837.The first European to settle in the area was a squatter, E. Nicholas Foott, who in 1839 dug a well and built a stone cottage, spending £500 despite not holding a title to the land.In 1840, South Australian governor George Gawler set the land aside for a government farm, forcing Foott to leave the land, though he was paid £300 for his improvements to the land (he later became a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly).