Hundred of Belvidere
The Hundred of Belvidere is a cadastral unit of hundred located in the north Barossa Valley of South Australia in the County of Light.
The lightly-populated localities central to the hundred are St Johns, Moppa, Koonunga, Ebenezer and St Kitts. The more populous towns of Kapunda, Greenock, Nuriootpa, Stockwell and Truro, and the localities of Bagot Well and Fords, also cross the boundaries of the hundred, but the townships are all outside the hundred bounds.
The name appears to be derived from the Belvidere Range, spanning from Nain, south-easterly adjacent to the hundred, to Black Springs, further north. The range was named by geologist explorer Johannes Menge in 1841 because of the view it commanded.
History
The hundred was proclaimed by Governor Henry Young in 1851, the northern boundary being defined as a line due west from Mount Rufus to the River Light.
The District Council of Belvidere was established in 1866 bringing dedicated local government administration to the hundred. There were no towns within the hundred then, as is presently the case, but a council chamber was erected at Koonunga and housed the council until the hundred was annexed by the District Council of Kapunda in 1932 more than 65 years later. When Kapunda amalgamated with the District Council of Light in 1996, the hundred came to be administered by the much larger Light Regional Council.
