18 Facts About Collet Barker

Collet Barker was a British military officer and explorer.

Collet Barker explored areas of South Australia, Western Australia and Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory.

Collet Barker joined the British Army on 23 January 1806, as an ensign by purchase in the 39th Regiment of Foot; he became a lieutenant in 1809 and a captain in 1825.

Collet Barker was a veteran of the Peninsular Wars, serving in Sicily, Portugal, Spain, and France.

Collet Barker served in Canada and Ireland before embarking with his regiment, the 39th Regiment of Foot 1st Battalion, on the prison hulk Phoenix for Australia; he arrived in Sydney on 18 July 1828.

When Collet Barker arrived to take up command at Fort Wellington, relations between the Aboriginal people and the settlers under the previous command of Captain Henry Smyth had deteriorated to the point of mutual fear and hostility.

Collet Barker made desperate resistance, rushed into the water, and he gave her a wound with the bayonet; this he certainly should not have done had he been certain it was a woman; but fearing that an escape would be made, he was determined if possible to secure the person.

Collet Barker first made contact with the local Aboriginal people on 25 November 1828, when Costello the stockman reported that he had made contact.

Collet Barker recorded his second contact with the local inhabitants in his journal, dated 2 December 1828, as follows.

Orders to abandon the settlement had been received before Collet Barker's dispatches reporting the success of his contacts with the Macassan fishers and the improvements in their relations with the Aboriginal inhabitants could affect the outcome of Governor Darling's decision.

Collet Barker then moved on to become commandant of the British settlement at King George Sound, stopping off at the new settlement of Swan River, Perth, on the way.

Collet Barker was an excellent administrator and proved to be a humane friend to the Indigenous people at both commands.

Collet Barker recorded Aboriginal place names, people, traditions and beliefs which otherwise might have been lost.

In 1831, on the recommendation of Charles Sturt, who had visited the shoaled mouth of the Murray River the previous year, Collet Barker was sent to explore the east coast of Gulf St Vincent in South Australia to see if another channel from the Murray entered the sea there.

Collet Barker examined the coast and found that there was no channel.

Collet Barker then explored the ranges inland, north of the present site of Adelaide, and climbed Mount Lofty where he sighted the Port River inlet, Barker Inlet and the future Port Adelaide, his most important sighting.

Collet Barker then moored Isabella near present Yankalilla Bay and went overland to explore the area around Lake Alexandrina and Encounter Bay.

Mount Collet Barker was named for him by Captain Sturt, who erroneously thought it was Mount Lofty, and the eponymous town is named for the mountain.