Barossa (Barrosa) and Thebarton (Theberton) are spelling mistakes in the fertile flux of South Australian place names
The Barossa Valley was named “Barrosa” by Colonial William Light after a battle in Spain in 1811.
“Barossa Valley” and “Thebarton” are spelling mistakes. Both are clerical errors in registering the names given by Colonel William Light to those places.
“Barrosa” was the name given by Light to an area of ranges he surveyed in 1837. This was in memory of the British victory over the French in Spain during 1811. Light had taken part in that battle. “Barrosa” became “Barossa” in a clerical error.
The same applied to Thebarton. Light had named his allotments to the west of the city Theberton after Theberton Hall in Suffolk. This is where Light, who spent his infant years in Penang, had been sent at six to be educated by his father’s friend Charles Doughty.
A typographical error in the publication of Light’s Brief Journal and assorted conveyancing documents of allotments had it spelt both as “Theberton’ and “The barton” from 1839.
The spelling of Halifax Street in Adelaide city centre has led to theory that it is named one of London's leading 19th Century bankers Thomas Hallifax, and due to a mispelling in the South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register in 1837, the street became known as the name with only one L.
Thomas Hallifax is supposed to be acknowledged by Adelaide’s colonial settlers for introducing “letters of credit” that customers travelling overseas could confidently present to banks in South Australia. Yet other sources attribute Halifax Street’s name to Charles Wood, later first Viscount Halifax and member of the British parliament for Halifax during the South Australia’s settlement. He is often blamed for 19th Century starvation in Ireland due to his laissez faire economic policies.
Other South Australian place names are burdened with obscure origins, such as Mount Compass: the place where second governor George Gawler lost his compass in 1840.
Many original names have been overthrown. Kilburn residents used to live in Little Chicago, Morphett Vale was once known as Emu Downs, Rosewater was Paddington, and Burnside used to be Slapes Gully.
Many German names – such as Blumberg to Birdwood and Peterburg to Peterborough – were changed during World War I.
Other names evoke a past environment: Munno Para is an Aboriginal word meaning "golden wattle creek". Origin of Pinky Flat, beside the River Torrens, is uncertain but could from pingku for bilby in the Aboriginal Kauna language. Blackwood was named after dark-barked blackwood or peppermint gum trees that grew there.
Rules have now been brought in for naming South Australian places. Names can’t be duplicated and they have to relate to the state’s heritage or history. Thus, for example, Lambert Christie, who settled and established a farm in the area, is readily identified as giving Christies Beach its name.