Names
Australian Placenames of German Background
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South Australian Placenames of German Background
Below is a list of German names of places and landscape features in South Australia, that were identified by the Nomenclature Committee in 1916 during World War I. These names were changed by the South Australian government in 1918. The government only partly followed the suggestions for new names made by the Committee. The list includes the new names, the locations of these places/features and explanatory notes.
* = original name restored in 1935
+ = original name restored in 1975
"Hundred" = an old administrative term, meaning district
| Old place name | New name | Location | Explanatory notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bartsch's Creek | Yedlakoo Creek | About 40 km south-east of Lake Eyre | The creek is approximately 15 km long. Since 1986 it has had the name 'Bartsch Creek'. |
| Basedow, Hundred of | Hundred of French | This 'hundred' (an administrative area of land) is located approx. 45 km north-east of Hawker, near the Flinders Ranges. | Martin Basedow, born near Hamburg in Germany, arrived in South Australia at the age of 19. He was a member of the South Australian parliament from 1876-1890 and became known as an educational reformer. He was Education Minister in South Australia in 1881. The Australian Dictionary of Biography has an article about him. The Hundred of Basedow was proclaimed in 1895. In 1916 the Nomenclature Committee proposed the Indigenous name 'Perawillia' as the new name, but the government rejected this and gave the hundred the name of a British general (John French). |
| Cape Bauer | Cape Wondoma | Approx. 16 km north-west of the town of Streaky Bay, on the western side of the Eyre Peninsula. | The British explorer and navigator Matthew Flinders named this headland in 1802 after Ferdinand Bauer, an Austrian botanical artist on Flinders' ship Investigator. The South Australian government officially reinstated the name Cape Bauer in 1948, although, at the time of writing, Google Maps shows the name Cape Wondoma. |
| Berlin Rock | Panpandie Rock | A rock in the ocean about 14 km east-southeast of the town of Louth Bay on the east side of the Eyre Peninsula. Latitude: -34.590236663 / Longitude: 136.065872192 | Berlin Rock was named after the steam ship Berlin that hit this rock that was not marked on sea charts up to that time. The rock is submerged and lies about 5 metres below the surface and would pose a hazard to larger ships. The name Berlin Rock was restored by the government of South Australia in 1986. |
| Bethanien | Bethany | A small village about 2 km south-east of Tanunda in the Barossa Valley. | The village was the first German village in the valley in 1842. Many of the initial settlers at Bethany arrived in South Australia in 1841, with Pastor Gotthard Fritzsche on the ship Skjold. Bethanien/Bethany is a biblical name. You can read more about Bethany here... |
| Bismarck | Weeroopa | About 5 km west of central Adelaide, near the northern end of Adelaide Airport | The place name Bismarck was suggested by the Austrian consul, who was the original seller of the land where the settlement arose. The State Library of South Australia has a historical photo of Bismark Gully Farm [photo: B 70683/9] taken around the year 1906, which shows members of the Dohse family outside the farmhouse. The photo can be viewed at this link. Weeroopa, which was suggested by the Nomenclature Committee, is an Indigenous word for a crested parakeet. The place name Weeroopa was replaced by the name Brooklyn Park in 1944. |
| Blumberg | Birdwood | 44 km from Adelaide, in the Adelaide Hills | Blumberg → 'hill of flowers'. William Birdwood was a British Field Marshal and commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) during the First World War. |
| Blumenthal | Lakkari | The location with this name does not seem to be recorded with the state authorities. | Blumenthal → 'valley of flowers'... |
| Buchfelde | Loos | A locality 2.7 km west-southwest of Gawler, north of Adelaide | Named after the German geologist and geographer Leopold von Buch. The brothers Richard and Otto von Schomburgk left Germany after revolutions there failed in 1848 and established a farm on land which they named 'Buchfelde' in honour of Leopold von Buch, who had given them money to enable them to emigrate. Richard von Schomburgk later became the Director of Adelaide's Botanic Garden. Loos - a city in France and the site of a battle in 1915. The original name Buchfelde is recognised again and shown on maps. |
| Carlsruhe | Kunden | A locality about 120 km north-east of Adelaide, near Waterloo | One street there is still called Carlsruhe Road. The name 'Kunden' comes from an indigenous language and happens to have the same spelling as a German word (the plural form of 'Kunde' = customer). |
| Ehrenbreitstein | Mt. Yerila | West of Lake Callabonna, a dry salt lake in the Far North region of South Australia. | A trigonometric point named by surveyor Samuel Parry in 1858 after the Prussian fortress Ehrenbreitstein. This fortress is located on the hill of the same name (180 m high) on the eastern bank of the Rhine river, where the river Moselle flows into the Rhine, and overlooking the city of Koblenz, in western Germany. |
| Ferdinand Creek | Ernabella Creek | In the Musgrave Ranges, a mountain range in the north-west of South Australia, on the border with the Northern Territory. | The explorer Ernest Giles named this stream after the German-Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1873. |
| Mt. Ferdinand | Mt. Warrabillinna | Also in the Musgrave Ranges, about 340 km south-west of Alice Springs. | A mountain about 1100 m above sea level. Also named after Ferdinand von Mueller. |
| Friedrichstadt | Tangari | Near Hahndorf, Adelaide Hills | Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Paech came to South Australia on the ship Zebra (1838) and later bought land near Hahndorf, which he named Friedrichstadt. The names Friedrichstadt and Tangari are no longer used. |
| Friedrichswalde | Tarnma | A locality 13 km north-northwest of Eudunda, in the Mid North region | Friedrich W. Pfitzner arrived in South Australia in the ship La Rochelle in 1855 and bought blocks of land at this place in 1867. There was a school there from 1888 to 1947. The place name Friedrichswalde ('Friedrich's forest or wood') derived from Pfitzner's first name. |
| Gebhardt's Hill | Polygon Ridge | About 40 km north of Cadell, a township on the River Murray | Named after Gustav Gebhardt, from Hannover in Germany, who ran several farms north of the River Murray from 1876 onwards. Polygon Wood was a battlefield in Belgium in World War I. The place name Gebhardt's Hill was reinstated in 1986. |
| German Creek | Benara Creek | A rural locality 22 km west of Mount Gambier in the southeast of South Australia | You can read more about this place name and its origins in this article. South Australia restored the name German Creek in 1986. |
| German Pass | Tappa Pass | 600 metres north of Angaston, Barossa Valley | |
| Germantown Hill | Vimy Ridge | On the southern edge of Bridgewater, northwest of Hahndorf, in the Adelaide Hills | A hill approximately 400 m high. Named after a battlefield in France. This is one of the many cases where the South Australian government rejected the Nomenclature Committee's suggestion of an Indigenous name and came up with a name related to the War. |
| Gottlieb's Well | Parnggi Well | The area around Terowie, about 25 km south of Peterborough, in the Upper North region. | For many years in the middle of the 19th century the entire district was a large pastoral property named Gottlieb's Well Station (the German name Gottlieb means 'beloved by God'). The farm was established by James Logan, but there seems to be no record of who Gottlieb was. |
| Grunberg + | Karalta | 9 km east of Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley | Named after Grünberg, a town in German-speaking Silesia, which is now known as Zielona Góra, in the west of Poland. South Australia restored the name Grünberg in 1975. |
| Grunthal | Verdun | In the Adelaide Hills, approx. 25 km east of Adelaide | Grünthal = 'green valley'. Verdun in France was the site of a significant battle in World War I. |
| Hahndorf * | Ambleside | In the Adelaide Hills, 28 km east of Adelaide | You can read more about this place name and its origins in this article. South Australia restored the name Hahndorf in 1935. |
| Hasse's Mound | Larelar Mound | 105 km southeast of Maree in the north of the state. | A peak about 257 m above sea level. |
| Heidelberg | Kobandilla | 6 km north-east of Adelaide | Named after Heidelberg, the historic university town in south-western Germany. The name Kobandilla is now obsolete; the place has been absorbed into Klemzig. |
| Herrgott Springs | Marree | 590 km north of Adelaide, in the north of the state | Herrgott was Joseph Albert Franz Herrgott, a German botanist who participated in a journey of exploration in 1859 and discovered the springs, which John McDouall Stuart (the expedition leader) named after Herrgott. The town named Herrgott Springs grew up not far from the springs. |
| Hildesheim | Punthari | 10 km north of Mannum | Hildesheim is a historic city about 30 km south-east of Hannover in the German state of Lower Saxony. Rodney Cockburn, a member of the Nomenclature Committee in 1916, claimed that the name ‘Hildesheim’ for the village near Mannum was suggested by the local school teacher, ‘a French lady'. |
| Hoffnungsthal + | Karawirira | Barossa Valley, around 3 km south of Lyndoch | A former German pioneer settlement that was abandoned in the 1850s due to flooding problems. South Australia restored the historical name Hoffnungsthal in 1975. This German name means 'valley of hope'. |
| Homburg, Hundred of | Hundred of Haig | This administrative area lies about 100 km north of Port Lincoln. | Robert Homburg, from Braunschweig in Germany, was the first migrant of non-British origin to be appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia in 1905. Douglas Haig was a British Field Marshal in the First World War. |
| Jaenschtown | Kerkanya | Part of present-day Murray Bridge, 78 km east-southeast of Adelaide | In 1909 Friedrich Wilhelm Jaensch subdivided land in the Hundred of Mobilong and it became known as Jaenschton or Jaenschtown. The place name Kerkanya is obsolete; the place was absorbed into Murray Bridge. |
| Kaiserstuhl + | Mt. Kitchener | 7 km south-east of Tanunda | A 600 metres high peak in the Barossa Range, and named Kaiserstuhl ('Emperor's Seat') by the geologist and explorer Johannes Menge. He named it after the Kaiserstuhl mountain range near Freiburg in south-western Germany, a well-known winegrowing region. In South Australia the earlier German name was restored in 1975. Field Marshal Lord Kitchener was a senior British Army officer in the First World War. |
| Klaebes | Kilto | 73 km north-northwest of Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula | A post office named after Richard Klaebe, an early settler. Later the name Kilto was replaced by the name Kaldow for the railway station there. |
| Klemzig * | Gaza | 6 km north-east of central Adelaide on the Torrens River | Klemzig is a suburb of Adelaide and was the first settlement of a German immigrant group in South Australia. It was named after the village of Klemzig in what was then part of German-speaking Prussia and is now called Klępsk in western Poland. This first group of German settlers was led by Pastor Kavel, and many British settlers in Adelaide described the Germans as hard-working and reliable people. South Australia reinstated the name Klemzig for the suburb in 1935, however when the Second World War started, some residents asked the government to change the suburb's name back to 'Gaza'. The government rejected this request. After the Second World War the local sporting club decided to keep the name Gaza for the club (Gaza Sports & Community Club). The name Gaza commemorated the British victory in the Third Battle of Gaza in southern Palestine during the First World War, a battle in which Australian troops played an important role. |
| Krause Rock | Marti Rock | This rock in the sea is south-west of Point Drummond near Coffin Bay on the Lower Eyre Peninsula, about 20 km from the shore. | There are two rock lumps that make up Krause Rock. They do not break the surface of the waves, and are located approximately 10 m below the surface. The name ‘Marti Rock’ never appeared on hydrographic maps. Therefore in 2004 this rock was given the dual name of Krause/Marti Rock. |
| Krichauff, Hundred of | Hundred of Beatty | This administrative area is located in the Murraylands region. | Friedrich Krichauff was born in the Prussian province of Silesia in 1824 and emigrated to South Australia in 1848. He is considered to be the founder of the SA Forests Department and was a member of the South Australian parliament. The new name (Hundred of Beatty) referred to Admiral David Beatty, a British naval officer, who played a significant role in the British Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. |
| Krichauff | Beatty | About half-way between Eudunda and Morgan on the Thiele Highway (named after the famous German-Australian writer Colin Thiele). | The town was proclaimed in 1884 and was named after Friedrich Krichauff, who was born in the Prussian province of Silesia in 1824 and emigrated to South Australia in 1848. He is considered to be the founder of the SA Forests Department and was a member of the South Australian parliament. In 1940 Beatty was renamed 'Mount Mary'. |
| Kronsdorf + | Kabminye | Barossa Valley, 4 km south of Tanunda | It is believed to have received this name (meaning 'crown village') because it is located on the foothills below the Kaiser Stuhl ('Emperor's seat'). The area was settled by Germans who were among the original settlers at Bethany in 1842. South Australia restored the historical name Krondorf in 1975. The Nomenclature Committee of 1916 had mis-spelled the name Krondorf (Kronsdorf). In 2003 descendants of a Silesian settler, Johann Christian Henschke, who had arrived at Krondorf in the mid-1800s, set up a winery which they named Kabminye Wines. |
| Langdorf | Kaldukee | Near Tanunda, Barossa Valley | The place name Kaldukee seems to have vanished from use; Kaldukee became part of Tanunda. A winery in the area calls itself 'Langdorf' and markets some of its wines using the brand name 'Kaldukee'. |
| Langmeil + | Bilyara | Part of Tanunda in the Barossa Valley | South Australia restored the historical name Langmeil in 1975. |
| Lobethal * | Tweedvale | In the Adelaide Hills, 33 km east of Adelaide | You can read more about this place name and its origins in this article. The government of South Australia restored the historical name Lobethal in 1935. |
| Mt. Meyer | Mt. Kauto | A hill about 107m above sea level; 113 km east of the salt lake Lake Eyre; about 675 km north of Adelaide; about 225 km east-southeast of Cameron Corner, a point in the outback where the borders of the states of Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales meet. | |
| Muller's Hill | Yandina Hill | About 30 km west of Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in the northern part of the Flinders Ranges. | A mountain about 650 m high. |
| Neudorf | Mamburdi | In a valley about 3 km north-west of Lobethal. | Neudorf was the first of several smaller settlements established by German farmers not far from Lobethal. German construction methods are evident in some distinctive timber-slab or timber-framed buildings that survive in this area. The government of South Australia restored the name Neudorf in 1986. The name is most prominent in the street name Neudorf Road. |
| Neukirch + | Dimchurch | Barossa Valley, approx. 7 km north of Nuriootpa | A locality that was laid out by Adam Bartsch around the year 1860; he had arrived in South Australia in the ship Victoria in 1848. The Pilgrim Lutheran Church still stands with only minor modifications since it was built in 1857. Originally it had a thatched roof. The German name Neukirch was restored in 1975. |
| New Hamburg | Willyaroo | 3 km south-east of Strathalbyn, on the south-eastern edge of the Adelaide Hills. | This former village was laid out by John Bentham Neales around 1853. |
| New Mecklenburg | Gomersal | A locality on the western side of the Barossa Valley, about 5 km south-west of Tanunda | In the mid-1850s the area was settled mainly by a group of people who came from both of the twin grand duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz in north-eastern Germany. The Neu-Mecklenburg school opened in 1864. The first Lutheran church was built here in the same year (the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church). Archibald Peake, the Premier of South Australia when the German names were changed in 1918, exploited his position as leader of the government - Gomersal in Yorkshire (England) was the birthplace of his father. |
| Oliventhal | Olivedale | Part of Birdwood (which was called Blumberg prior to 1918), in the Adelaide Hills | Oliventhal began on land bought by J.G. Lindner and J.C. Aberle in 1857, and adjacent to Blumberg. A street in Birdwood is called Olivedale Street. An historic building in Birdwood called 'Oliventhal Cottage', and built using German construction techniques, is listed in the SA Heritage Register. |
| Paech, Hundred of | Hundred of Cannawigra | This hundred is located adjacent to the Victorian border in the state's upper south-east, north of Bordertown and the Dukes Highway. | The hundred was named after Friedrich Wilhelm Paech, who was born at Hahndorf on 3rd October 1861, and was a member of the South Australian parliament from 1899 until his death in 1908. |
| Petersburg | Peterborough | A town 220 km north of Adelaide, in the Mid North region. | It was named Petersburg after the landowner, Peter Doecke, who sold land to create the town. Many residents of the town were unhappy with the forced name change to Peterborough. A major road that leads into Peterborough from the north-west carries the name Petersburg Road. There are at least 4-5 towns and cities in the USA named Petersburg. |
| Pflaum, Hundred of | Hundred of Geegeela | This administrative area is located in the south-east of the state, near the border with Victoria. | Friedrich Pflaum was a member of the South Australian parliament from 1902-1915. He also ran a successful flour mill at Blumberg in the Adelaide Hills, using the latest German and American technology. The anti-German atmosphere of the First World War stopped his parliamentary career. The Australian Dictionary of Biography has an article about him. |
| Rhine Park | Kongolia | A locality to the east of Cambrai (formerly Rhine Villa) in the Murray and Mallee region. | Rhine Park was the name of a post office that was opened in 1914 between Rhine Villa and Black Hill. The post office was renamed Kongolia in 1918 and was closed in 1980. |
| Rhine Hill | Mons | A hill about 17 km south-east of Angaston, east of the Barossa Valley | The peak of the hill is about 475 m above sea level. The new name was the name of a battle in Belgium in 1914 during the First World War. |
| Rhine River North | The Somme, Somme Creek | The river flows southwards from its source between Moculta and Keyneton, near the Barossa Valley | Also known as North Rhine River. The German Johannes Menge is often considered to be South Australia's first geologist and was an early explorer of the new colony of South Australia. He named the Rhine River North and the Rhine River South after the famous river in western Germany, not because the landscape looked like the German river valley, but because he thought those South Australian rivers would be good wine growing areas. The name North Rhine River was reinstated in 1971. |
| Rhine River South | The Marne | The river's source is south of the small town of Eden Valley on the eastern slopes of the Mount Lofty Ranges. The river flows mainly to the east before joining the River Murray at Wongulla. | The river was named by Johannes Menge. In 1918 during World War 1 the name was changed to the name of a French river. In 1914 French and British armies stopped a German advance on Paris at the Marne River valley, east of Paris. |
| Rhine (North), Hundred of | Hundred of Jellicoe | This administrative area is located in the foothills of the eastern side of the Mount Lofty Ranges, not far from the Barossa Valley. | The new name refers to Admiral John Jellicoe, a British naval officer, who commanded the British Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. |
| Rhine (South), Hundred of | Hundred of Jutland | This administrative area is also located in the foothills of the eastern side of the Mount Lofty Ranges, not far from the Barossa Valley. | The Hundred of South Rhine was proclaimed in 1851; the Marne River, which flows through this hundred, had the name Rhine River South until 1918. The new name of the hundred commemorated the Battle of Jutland, a naval battle between British and German ships in 1916. |
| Rhine Villa | Cambrai | About 10 km south of Sedan, and about 30 km west of the Murray River | The town was laid out as ‘Rhine Villa’ by Abel Pollard Skinner, in 1882. Cambrai was a battlefield in France in the First World War. |
| Rosenthal | Rosedale | Barossa Valley, 11 km west-southwest of Tanunda | Settled in 1849 by Germans who named the village Rosenthal ('Rose Valley'). |
| Scherk, Hundred of | Hundred of Sturdee | On the state's west coast | Theodor Johannes Scherk, born in the city of Kiel in Holstein, emigrated to South Australia at the age of 25 and worked as a real estate agent and was a member of the South Australian parliament from 1886-1905. In Lobethal he married Agnes Wilhelmine Wilke, from Hamburg, Germany, a sister-in-law of Friedrich Pflaum (see 'Hundred of Pflaum'). The Hundred of Scherk was proclaimed in 1892. The Australian Dictionary of Biography has an article about Theodor Johannes Scherk. Vice-Admiral Doveton Sturdee commanded British warships that defeated German warships in a naval battle off the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic in December 1914. |
| Schoenthal | Boonoala | Locality approx. 3 km east-northeast of Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills | Like Neudorf, Schöntal (meaning 'beautiful valley') was one of several smaller settlements established by German farmers not far from Lobethal. The government of South Australia restored the name Schoenthal in 1986. |
| Schomburgk, Hundred of | Hundred of Maude | In the state's Mid North region | Moritz Richard Schomburgk was a German botanist and curator of the Adelaide Botanic Garden. One of the many "48ers", who left Germany on the ship Princess Louise after the failed revolutions of 1848 and who contributed much to Adelaide's intellectual and scientific circles. The Australian Dictionary of Biography has an article about him. Frederick Stanley Maude was a British general of World War I. |
| Seppelts | Dorrien | Barossa Valley, 3.5 km south of Nuriootpa | Named after the winemaker Joseph Ernst Seppelt, who bought land there after arriving in South Australia in 1849 from the Prussian province of Silesia. The locality is now generally known as Seppeltsfield, also the name of the famous winery. General Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien was a British Army General. |
| Schreiberhau + | Warre | Barossa Valley, a locality 2 km south of Tanunda | Named after a village in the Prussian province of Silesia - that village is now in south-western Poland and is called Szklarska Poręba in Polish. South Australia restored the historical name as 'Schreiberau' to the Barossa Valley locality in 1975. |
| Siegersdorf + | Bultawilta | Barossa Valley, locality between Tanunda and Nuriootpa | A German word meaning ‘village of victory’. The place was named by early German settlers after a village in the Prussian province of Silesia. Since the border changes after 1945, that village has been in south-western Poland, close to the German border, and has the Polish name Zebrzydowa. Although South Australia restored the historical name Siegersdorf in 1975, Siegersdorf in the Barossa Valley is today a small locality that does not feature on most maps. The Siegersdorf cemetery has a picturesque location next to grape vines. A road named Siegersdorf Road traverses the area between Tanunda, Nuriootpa and Angaston in a south-east to north-west direction. In Old Reynella, 20 km south-west of central Adelaide, a street has the name Siegersdorf Crescent. |
| Steinfeld | Stonefield | A locality east of the Barossa Valley, and 19 km north-northeast of Truro. | South Australia restored the historical name Steinfeld in 1986. |
| Summerfeldt | Summerfield | Locality approx. 13 km west of Mannum in the Murraylands region | |
| Vogelsang's Corner | Teerkoore | Locality in the Goyder area, about 10 km east of Robertstown, on Spring Hut Creek, and about 118 km north-northeast of Adelaide. | Vogelsang's Corner is located at a road junction and the owner was Franz Vogelsang from 1911-1945. South Australia restored the historical name Vogelsang's Corner in 1986. |
| Von Doussa, Hundred of | Hundred of Allenby | In the southern Mallee region, in the state's south-east, next to the border with Victoria | Alfred von Doussa was a businessman and member of the South Australian parliament from 1901-1921. He was born in Adelaide in 1848. His father had been an officer in the Prussian army. He died at his home "Detmold" (named after a town in Germany) in Hahndorf. The Australian Dictionary of Biography has an article about him. The Hundred of Von Doussa was created in 1907. Allenby was a senior British Army officer during the First World War. His forces at the Third Battle of Gaza in Palestine in 1917 included Australian soldiers (see the name Klemzig in this list). |
| Wusser's Nob | Karun Nob | A hill, 332m above sea level, about 6 km east of Copley and the Outback Highway, 8.5 km northeast of the town of Leigh Creek, near the North Flinders Ranges mountain range. | South Australia restored the historical name Vogelsang's Corner in 1983. |
♦ References:
Much of the information in the explanatory notes was summarised from these two sources:
Manning, Geoffrey H. (2012). A Compendium of the Place Names of South Australia. From Aaron Creek to Zion Hill. With 54 Complementary Appendices. Available online here.
Munchenberg, Reginald. (1992). Gazetteer. In: Munchenberg, Reginald S et al. (1992). The Barossa, a Vision Realised. The Nineteenth Century Story. Barossa Valley Archives and Historical Trust Inc. pp.193-204
Information was also received from the National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia, Department for Environment and Water.