Thebarton, South Australia

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Thebarton (located at 34°54′S 138°34′E, postcode 5031, altitude 31m) is a suburb of the city of Adelaide, South Australia. The suburb itself is bounded by the River Torrens to the north, Port Road and Bonython Park to the east, Kintore Street to the south, and South Road to the west.

Many buildings and landmarks which bear the name of Thebarton are actually in the adjoining suburb of Torrensville, including Thebarton Oval, the Thebarton croquet and bowls club, Thebarton Theatre and Thebarton Senior College.

Thebarton has a significant Greek Australian population, and is the suburb with the largest Greek Australian population per capita in Australia. In fact, according to census data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2001, the suburbs of Thebarton and neighbouring Torrensville together, are home to 4,471 Greek Australians, that is 18.7 per cent of the total population. Thebarton also has Adelaide's largest Greek Orthodox church, St. George.

[edit] History

The suburb of Thebarton was named after the home of Colonel William Light, the first Surveyor-General of the colony of South Australia. The Colonel Light named his home, after the Theberton Hall of Suffolk, England where he was educated. The variant spelling is accredited to a typographical error. The area was known as Theberton until approximately 1840.

Prior to European settlement, the areas now known as Thebarton and Hindmarsh were called Karraundongga (meaning "reg gum spear place") by the Kaurna people, who would craft spears from the red gum branches gathered on the banks of the Torrens there (Payne 1996).

Colonel Light surveyed the town-acre as Section 1 and built Theberton Cottage towards the northern part of the acreage. The area was first subdivided for housing in February 1839, although it took a number of years for the housing to establish. By 1866, the population was estimated at around 450 people.