As notified elsewhere it will be seen that negotiations with the Government regarding the surrender of the Rocky River pastoral lease (situated at the south-west corner of Kangaroo island) have reached finality, Mr C. J. May having received 9,000 acres of freehold land in exchange for the surrender of the balance of the lease. The holding embraced 104 square miles on which there is a large tract of good country. There is good rainfall and most of the land (which is of a light loamy nature) is admirably adapted for the growth of fruit or cereals. Mr May has been on the country for fifteen years and, at the homestead, he has grown potatoes up to 4lbs in weight, in fact the root of one potato plant alone weighed 10lbs 1oz. He has had sheep running on the country for some time. The rainfall at Rocky River is an inch or two in excess of that at Cape Borda which ranges from 24 to 26 inches. There are hundreds of acres of big timber on undulating country—stringybarks and red, blue and sugar gums. Some of the stringybark trees are 10 feet in diameter. The scrub in the Rocky River country is much easier to deal with than the scrub at this end of the Island ; it consists mostly of a species of wattle and mallee. The last bush-fires materially improved the country. There is no doubt that this part of the Island would form an admirable terminus for the proposed railway as, at the lowest estimate, it will easily support 50 or 60 families.
Kangaroo Island Courier (Kingscote, SA : 1907 - 1951), Saturday 9 May 1908, page 4