150 Years of WilliamstownPrint Page

The plaque commemorates 150 years of the settlement of Williamstown.

Soon after the arrival of colonists in South Australia in July, 1836 expeditions were sent out to explore the hinterland. By December 1837 explorers had reached Lyndoch and by 1838 other explorers had reached the Murray River passing through the Barossa Valley. The valley was named by Colonel Light after Barrosa (Hill of Roses) in Spain where he had fought against the French in 1811 in the Peninsula War. The spelling mistake was never corrected.

By 1839 Colonel Light, the Surveyor General of South Australia, was selling off large tracts of land in the valley. The first person to settle at Williamstown was Thomas Adams who called the place Victoria Creek. The land was considered of such little value that Adams traded the land for a mob of horses and a man named Johnstone cut the land up into allotments. He named the small town after his eldest son, William and Elizabeth Street he named after his wife.

Location

Details

Dedication