Place Names of South Australia - B
Berri - Bethel
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Berri
Also see South Australia - Industries - Rural, Primary and Secondary - Viticulture.Nomenclature
In 1910, Berri was an undeveloped portion of the Cobdogla station, of which the first recorded occupier was John Chambers. The town, which was proclaimed on 9 February 1911, owes its beginnings to Samuel McIntosh, 'the father of irrigation in South Australia'. Surveys of the area were made in 1909 by a party led by E.A. Loveday. W.H. Wade, who held former section 1, County of Hamley, surrendered his lease on payment of £450 in 1910 when the town was surveyed by A.D. Smith, who later became Surveyor-General.
In addition to the cash payment Mr Wade was allowed to select a town allotment when surveyed and to be allotted a block of irrigable land of fifty acres next to the pipe track and 150 acres of other land at prices to be fixed by the Land Board. The town site was called beri-beri by the Aborigines, thought to mean 'wide bend in the river', but this suggestion is unconvincing because there is no significant 'bend' in the river at this place.
General Notes
The Beri Beri tribe of Aborigines is mentioned in the Observer, 18 August 1906, page 45a:
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The river tribes accused the Murray god of treachery - Is this the return for the devotion of the children of our ancestors:, angrily demanded one of the Beri Beri tribe...
Also see South Australia - Aboriginal Australians.
"The Beri Beri Settlement" is described in the Register,
22 June 1909, page 7d,
17 February 1913, page 10a,
Advertiser,
26 July 1909, page 6g,
28 August 1909, page 8g; also see
29 October 1925, page 19.
Photographs are in the Observer,
3 June 1922, page 25,
Chronicle,
7 May 1921, page 27,
4 December 1926, page 38,
Observer,
15 October 1927, page 35.
Photographs of the distillery are in The Critic,
12 June 1918, page 15.
Irrigation works are described in the Observer,
22 February 1913, page 13a.
Also see South Australia - Industries - Rural, Primary and Secondary - Irrigation.
"Pioneer Irrigationist of Berri", W.H. Wade, is in The News,
18 September 1930, page 10c.
Its school opened as "Berri Berri" in 1910.
"Minister of Education Fined - An Overcrowded School" is in the Advertiser,
3 October 1923, page 9i.
"Faulty School Premises" is discussed in the Register,
4 April 1924, page 8d-9e; also see
21 July 1924, page 9h,
Observer,
26 July 1924, page 59d,
19 April 1924, page 35b.
A photograph is in the Observer,
19 July 1924, page 34.
"A Mushroom Town" is in the Advertiser,
4 May 1920, page 6g;
the opening of the hospital is reported on
13 July 1921, page 6f.
A peanut growing venture is described in the Register, 9 April 1915, page 9f:
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Mr. L. Peacock of Berri has sent to Adelaide an excellent sample of peanuts grown on his block at the River Murray settlement.
The town and district are described in the Register,
2 November 1915, page 9i,
15 March 1927, page 7.
Information on an experimental orchard is reported in the Register,
14 July 1917, page 10a,
12 April 1919, page 12a,
15 August 1919, page 6e,
19 October 1920, page 5f.
Observer,
2 February 1924, page 7d.
Also see South Australia - Industries - Rural, Primary and Secondary - Fruit and Vegetables.
"Salt and Seepage" is in the Register,
14 October 1925, page 7e.
A photograph of an aeroplane crash is in the Chronicle,
28 August 1920, page 24, Also see South Australia - Transport - Aeroplanes
of a swimming club in the Observer,
7 March 1925, page 33,
of a football team in the Chronicle,
13 June 1935, page 36.
"Berri Hotel Case" is in the Register,
5 February 1920, page 7f.
"Historic Glimpses" is in the Observer,
20 March 1920, page 4a,
"Berri's Magic Rise" in The Mail,
18 December 1920, page 24g.
"Cotton on the Murray" is in the Register,
25 February 1922, page 6d. Also see South Australia - Industries - Rural, Primary and Secondary - Cotton
Information on the distillery is in the Register,
3 April 1925, page 14d,
Advertiser,
11 June 1934, page 17d.
"A Punt Wanted at Berri" is in the Advertiser,
21 January 1926, page 13g.
Also see River Murray.
The opening of the first country branch of the State Bank of SA is reported in the Register,
3 August 1926, page 10g.
"Through the Mallee - Murray Bridge to Berri by Motor Car" is in the
Register,
5 October 1926, page 3e.
Also see South Australia - Transport - Motor Cars and Cycles.
Information on the hotel is in the Register,
18 February 1928, page 11d.
"A River Pioneer [W.R. Lewis]" is in the Observer,
21 April 1928, page 5c.
The opening of the Memorial Park is reported in the Register,
13 October 1928, page 12e and
of the Gate of Honor in the Advertiser,
15 June 1929, page 8f.
Also see South Australia - World War I - Memorials to the Fallen.
"Returned Soldiers, Once On Breadline, Now Make Good" is in the
Register,
15 January 1929, page 11a.
Also see South Australia - World War I - Repatriation.
The opening of the packing shed is reported in the Advertiser,
28 January 1929, page 10f.
"Clash in Berri Street - Fruitpickers Fight" is in the Advertiser,
7 March 1932.
"Berri's Mystery Creature" is in The News,
19 December 1932, page 8a.
"Back to Berri" is in The Mail,
14 November 1936, page 24.
Berri - Obituaries
An obituary of Ernest G. Mitton is in the Register,
24 October 1921, page 6g,
of A.E.M. Norton on 10 June 1922, page 9b,
of William Bland in the Observer,
21 April 1923, page 35c,
of Ray Letheby in the Register,
28 March 1927, page 8g,
of John Burgess on 4 July 1928, page 13b.
Berwick
The Register of 18 May 1839, page 5b advertises this subdivision:
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To be sold in half-acre blocks. The vicinity of this eligible site to the Park Lands, Hindmarsh and Islington, with the advantage of the New Port Road running through it, renders this beautiful village a most desirable investment for artisans and others.
(Also see Southern Australian, 24 November 1838, page 1d.)
Bethany
The loss of houses by fire is reported in the Observer, 8 January 1848, page 2d:-
Several houses in the German Village of Bethany, Angas Park, were burnt to the ground, through incautiously kindling a fire in the open air too near the stubble and other combustible substances. The whole village had a very narrow escape. All the benevolent persons in the neighbourhood propose subscribing for the sufferers... Should the kindly disposition manifested by the good people of Angaston be felt by other colonists, subscriptions may be left at the office of this paper, or forwarded to G.H. Angas, Esq., at Tarrawatta, Flaxman's Valley; or to Mr. James Smith, Angaston.
Photographs of the silver jubilee of the Lutheran Church are in the Chronicle,
11 July 1908, page 31.
An obituary of Rev H.A.E. Meyer is in the Register,
24 December 1862, page 2h,
of Rev G.A. Heinrich (Heidenreich?) in the Observer,
20 August 1910, page 39b.
Bethel
Nomenclature
When German migrants settled in the Kapunda district the first village established by Pastor C.S.D. Schondorf, 8 km west of Kapunda, was named 'Bethel', a German word meaning 'place of God'. The post office, opened in 1896 by Rev. Paul G. Buck, stood on section 260, Hundred of Light, while the school was opened in 1870 with Annie Roe in charge; it closed circa 1959. The remnant settlement consists of the Lutheran Church, a 1908 house built for the incumbent pastor and a few farm houses.
General Notes
Of interest is a letter from Rev F.W. Cox which appears in the Register on
24 July 1865, page 3f - In it he speaks of a "Bethel Flag" being hoisted on ships at Port Adelaide to indicate that religious services would be held.
The Register of
9 May 1882 at page 5c reports that:
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The Master of the Anama is a member of the Bethel Society in London and on Sundays he displays the Bethel Flag from the ship...
22 December 1849, page 2e reports the laying of the foundation stone of a church at Bethel at the Western Sources of the Torrens:
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The foundation stone of another edifice to answer the purpose of a school room and place of worship was laid on Tuesday the 11th instant at Bethel on the Western Sources of the Torrens, by the Reverend W.R. Squibb. The ground chosen for the site is an acre of land given by Mr. A. Hoad, of the Prairie...
This report may refer to the "Bethel Chapel" at Lin(d)field - see Register
7 November 1851, page 3b.
An obituary of Mrs Doecke is in the Observer, 8 September 1906, page 38e,
of Mrs C.L.A. Vogt in the Register, 14 October 1918, page 6f,
of Mrs Amilie Geue on 9 February 1926, page 8f,
of Mrs C.A. Linke on 9 November 1927, page 19g.
The closure of the "German" school is reported in the Advertiser,
12 June 1917, page 4h.
Also see South Australia - World War I - Germans in Australia.
