District of Mount Barker
Extent of Mount Barker District shown in light green.The Mount Barker District is characterised by picturesque countryside, bustling townships and sleepy hamlets. The major township is Mount Barker. Situated in the Adelaide Hills Region and only 30 minutes away from Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, the Mount Barker District is one of the fastest growing locations in Australia offering outstanding lifestyle and business opportunities within a diverse and progressive community.
For South Australian colonists in the 1840s, the old Mt Barker District stretched from approximately Macclesfield and Meadows in the south to Mt Torrens in the north. The District’s eastern borders were the Bremer-Scott Creek headwaters, while the New Tiers directly across the Onkaparinga River marked the boundary to the west. Mt Barker township lay strategically in the centre of the region.
Currently, the Mount Barker District is bounded by the South Eastern Freeway in the north, the locality of Mount Barker Summit, Springs Road, Back Callington Road, Lakeview Road, the locality of Petwood, Frames Firetrack and Klenke Road in the east, Wellington Road and the locality of Bugle Ranges in the south, and the localities of Echunga and Paechtown in the west.
The total land area of the Mount Barker District is 59,466 hectares (595 Km2 or 230 miles2) which is predominantly rural with rural residential areas, plus rapidly growing urban areas. The official population for the District was 31,011 at 30 June 2012 which is expected to increase by a further 30,000 within the subsequent 15 years as a result of the South Australian Government's contentious rezoning of 1200 hectares of prime rural land adjacent to the town of Mount Barker to residential in December 2010.
Towns and localities located within the Mount Barker District Council include: Blakiston, Brukunga, Callington, Dawesley, Echunga, Flaxley, Hahndorf, Harrogate, Jupiter Creek, Kanmantoo, Kuitpo, Littlehampton, Macclesfield, Meadows, Mount Barker, Nairne, Paris Creek, Prospect Hill, Totness, and Wistow.
Town of Mount Barker
Sign at Entrance to Town of Mount BarkerMount Barker is the main Township located within the picturesque Adelaide Hills Region of South Australia, Australia, and is the seat of the Mount Barker District Council.
Mount Barker is an expanding town in South Australia that is 33 kilometres east from Adelaide (capital city of South Australia) along the South-Eastern Freeway. It the largest town in the Adelaide Hills Region, and is one of the fastest growing areas in the state. The population of Mount Barker was 11,809 at the 2011 census.
Mount Barker is close enough to Adelaide that many people commute there on a daily basis, although it is far enough away from the city that people call it "the country".
The Town of Mount Barker lies near the base of a local mountain of the same name, called Mount Barker Summit by locals. Mount Barker was traditionally a farming area, and many of the lots just outside the town area are still farming lots, although a considerable number of them are increasingly being replaced with new housing and other developments in recent times.
Some Relevant Mount Barker & District Sites
Mount Barker - Gawler Street
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Mt Barker and District Residents' Association (the peak district residents' lobby group) has developed a website to keep locals up to date with community issues.
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The Town of Mt Barker (JK Stokes Rootsweb site). A complete copy of JK Stokes data on Mount Barker as contained in her Ancestory.com (rootsweb) Genealogy Website has been included on the Adelaide Hills LocalWiki site with her permission. This includes extensive early historical information and details of births, deaths and marriages within the district.
Some Relevant Adelaide Hills LocalWiki Pages
List of Mount Barker Tagged Pages
For further information, see the List of Pages tagged
