Place Names of South Australia - B
Baratta - Barker, Mount
Baratta
Nomenclature
The name applied to several features of the Flinders Ranges near Parachilna. The land was originally taken up by W.R. Swan in January 1854 at 'Siccus River'. Andrew Tennant held the 'Baratta Run' from 1863.
General Notes
The Baratta copper mine was "situated 70 miles NE of Carrieton and 15 miles from Baratta Station" - see Record of the Mines of South Australia (fourth edition), page 27.
Also see South Australia - Mining - Coal.
A photograph of the station's homestead is in the Chronicle,
24 March 1932, page 31.
Baratta - Barker, Mount
B
Place Names
Barker Knoll
Nomenclature
On 30 April 1831 Captain Collet Barker was supposed to have been speared by an Aborigine at this site near the mouth of the River Murray. The prominence has since disappeared by erosion.
General Notes
The Register of
10 January 1860, page 2f says "... it will be seen that Barker's Knoll has lost [since April 1859] 130 yards; that the spit of Port Pullen has advanced to the same extent as the knoll has receded..." Also see Observer,
9 April 1859, page 7d,
13 September 1919, page 43a.
The Register of 27 June 1883 at page 6f has a statement emanating from George Bates, a settler on Kangaroo Island before settlement, alluding to Collet Barker's murder as told to him by Aborigines:
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George Bates states that he showed Sir John Morphett the country around Yankalilla and that he helped in the search for Captain Barker who was killed by the natives on the Murray Beach. The captain had walked from Yankalilla to the Murray mouth to correct or verify some observations. He swam across the Murray with his instrument on his head and disappeared over the sand hills on the other side and was never seen alive again. The natives' account to Bates was that he was coming along the beach where he was attacked. He took to the surf but had to come back and was killed as he landed. Bates and his mate, Nat Thomas, were sent out as special constables with a warrant to arrest the murdered, but were unsuccessful...
Biographical information on Collet Barker's life is in the Register,
30 April 1885, page 6b,
15 December 1900, page 3g,
Observer,
26 October 1901, page 2c,
2 November 1901, page 2c,
The Mail,
18 April 1936, page 4.
"The Murder of Captain Barker" is in the Advertiser,
1 January 1887, page 7d,
"The Murder of Captain Barker - Narrative of a Survivor" on
30 October 1894, page 6a,
"The Death of Barker" in the Observer,
29 December 1900, page 33b,
"How Captain Barker Disappeared" on
31 January 1903, page 41a.
Information on a monument in his honour is in the Chronicle,
24 January 1903, page 32c.
"A Notable Anniversary" is in the Register,
30 April 1927, page 9d.
