Barossa Valley – Did You Know?

Published 21 Jul, 2020

A world-renowned wine producing region in South Australia full to the brim with delicious wines and produce.
Think you know all there is to know about the Barossa? Here’s a few interesting facts about the Barossa Valley that may surprise you.

Barossa is a spelling mistake, caused during clerical registration. Colonel William Light named the Valley “Barrosa”, after a Spanish battle, but it was misspelt during the registration process and ended up being named “Barossa”. Thebarton in Adelaide is another example of this type of clerical error, it was meant to be named “Theberton”.

Barossa is not just one council catchment, at Local Government level. It actually takes in both the Light Council region and the Barossa Council region.

The Barossa lies in the SA electoral seat of Schubert, which was re-mapped and named Schubert in 1994, after the SA winemaking icon, Max Schubert. Schubert was the first Grange winemaker for Penfolds, was born near Angaston and lived most of his life in the Barossa. Currently the seat is held by sitting Liberal member, Stefan Knoll – many of whom believe is being groomed to be next SA Premier, should the Libs stay in power in SA.

The Barossa was settled by Lutheran Silesian immigrants, starting in 1842 in the congregation of Bethany, followed by the congregation of Langmeil – although the Peramangk and Ngadjuri people have a very long local history, spanning tens of thousands of years, within the Mt Lofty Ranges, which takes in the Barossa. One of the Peramangk dreaming stories tells of Nganno the Giant, who upon his death fell to the ground – and his body became the Mt Lofty Ranges.

According to geological theories, parts of the Eden Valley surface date back over 3/4 of a billion years, to when Australia was part of the supercontinent Gondwana. The Mount Lofty ranges )of which the Barossa and Eden Valleys ar epart) is very ancient land.