Sketch of Mount Barker viewed from a shallow, wooded valley.

Mount Barker was named after the Mount Barker Summit which lies about 2 km's east of the township. This mountain was first sighted by Captain Charles Sturt during his Murray River voyage in 1830, where he mistook the mountain for Mt Lofty. It was named in honour of Captain Collet Barker in 1831, after he lost his life at Lake Alexandrina, and then officially recognised in 1834 by King William making it existent before the colony of South Australia had even started (Colonisation of South Austalia began in 1836).

Alexander Charles Kelly was born at Leith, Scotland in 1811. He was awarded a medical degree by Edinburgh University in 1832. Kelly acted as a surgeon on the East India Company's ships in 1833. He emigrated to South Australia aboard the Baboo in 1840 and began a medical practice at Port Adelaide. A year later, he was appointed assistant surgeon at Adelaide Hospital.

He subsequently bought land at Morphett Vale in 1842 and named the property 'Trinity'. In 1845, Kelly began planting vines on his property, and became a partner in Tintara Vineyard Company in 1862. Kelly was married in 1854 to Annie Worthington (1826-1912). He sold his Trinity vineyard and began planting vines for Tintara at Willunga in 1863. Tintara went into voluntary liquidation in the 1870s. Kelly retired in 1876 and died in 1877.

Adelaide Hills (S. Aust)

Kelly, Alex C., 1811-1877

Williams, Gwenneth South Australian exploration to 1856 Adelaide: Board of Governors of the Public Library, Museum, and Art Gallery of South Australia, 1919

Threadgill, Bessie South Australian land exploration, 1856 to 1880 Adelaide: Board of Governors of the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of South Australia, 1922

Torrens, Robert Colonization of South Australia Adelaide: Public Library of South Australia, 1962

Then and now, photographic Mount Barker, Mount Barker, SA: Mount Barker and District Branch of the National Trust of South Australia, 2001

SA Memory, The Foundation of South Australia 1800-1851 Plan of the Mount Barker special survey

SA Memory, The Foundation of South Australia 1800-1851 Part of Southern Australia from 132 to 141 degree of east longitude

SA Memory, Taking it to the edge: Coast: Towards white settlementsee Collett Barker