The Belvidere Range is a mountain range of the Northern

Mount Lofty Ranges The Mount Lofty Ranges are a range of mountains in the Australian state of South Australia which for a small part of its length borders the east of Adelaide. The part of the range in the vicinity of Adelaide is called the Adelaide Hills and ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The range was named in 1840 by early

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

/explorer

Johannes Menge Johannes Menge (4 January 1788 – 1852), is regarded as South Australia's first geologist, though he had no formal qualifications. An early explorer of the new colony, he was influential in the settlement of the Barossa Valley. He has been call ...

because he thought the highest point commanded a beautiful view (Latin ''Bellus'' meaning beautiful and ''videre'' meaning sight). The range commences in the south at Nain and

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

, where it is also known as the Nain Range, and rises almost exactly northwards to end near Black Springs. The

Hundred of Belvidere The Hundred of Belvidere is a Cadastral divisions of South Australia, cadastral unit of Hundred (country subdivision), hundred located in the north Barossa Valley of South Australia in the County of Light. The lightly-populated localities centra ...

(proclaimed in 1851) and

Belvidere Mine St Johns is a locality southeast of Kapunda in the northern Barossa Valley, South Australia. Originally a private subdivision on sections 1450, 1451 and 1533 of the Hundred of Belvidere, the boundaries of the locality were formalised in 2000 and ...

(a historic marble mine) south-east of

Kapunda Kapunda is a town on the Light River and near the Barossa Valley in South Australia. It was established after a discovery in 1842 of significant copper deposits. The population was 2,917 at the 2016 Australian census. The southern entrance ...

beside a crossing of the

River Light The Light River (Kaurna: ''Yarralinka''), commonly called the River Light, is a seasonal and significant river in the Mid North region of the Australian state of South Australia named for early surveyor William Light. The River Light has give ...

, was likely named for the Belvidere Range which overlooks the mine and the west of the hundred.

References

Mountain ranges of South Australia Geology of South Australia {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub