Finnis Point

This article is about a hill. For Finniss Point, a headland at the mouth of the Finniss River, see Currency Creek, South Australia.

Finniss Point South Australia
Finniss Point
Coordinates	34.2319°S 138.8191°E / -34.2319; 138.8191
Postcode(s)	5373
Time zone	ACST (UTC+9:30)
• Summer (DST)	ACDT (UTC+10:30)
LGA(s)	District Council of Clare and Gilbert Valleys
State electorate(s)	Frome
Federal division(s)	Grey

Finnis Point (or Finniss Point) is a hill in the Belvidere Range and historic locality on the western side, a few kilometres south of Riverton, west of Hamilton and north of Tarlee in South Australia.^[1]

A small town of the same name once lay about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) due northwest of the peak at the north end of Finnis Point Road. A school operated there from 1864 to 1893.^[2] A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was opened early in 1864.^[3] It was one of fourteen churches in the Kapunda Circuit listed in 1863^[4] and the congregation held its first anniversary in October 1864.^[5] It was still operating into the early 1940s.^[6] The church was on the corner of Finnis Point Road and Leeward Road, and is now a private residence.^[7]

Frederick Hannaford MHA had a farm on Finnis Point Road, some 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of Riverton.^{[citation needed]}

Etymology

The spelling of the town's name is problematic: "Finniss" was used for earliest land sales^[8] and should be correct if it were named for Boyle Travers Finniss (though he was originally "Finnis"). The alternative spelling was, however, too common to be ignored, especially by the nearby Kapunda Herald in the 1920s, when it was the norm. As B. T. Finniss was well known in the colony and it may have been a common spelling error. Some reports use both "Finnis" and "Finniss" in the same article, as early as 1858.^[9]

References

1. "Map of Finnis Point". Geoscience Australia. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
2. "Manning index of South Australian placenames". State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
3. "AUSTRALIAN FLORA". South Australian Register. Vol. XXVIII, no. 5400. South Australia. 18 February 1864. p. 2. Retrieved 17 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
4. "A RELIC OF WESLEYANISM". Kapunda Herald. Vol. XXXVIII, no. 3, 120. South Australia. 7 February 1902. p. 3. Retrieved 10 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
5. "FINNISS POINT". The South Australian Advertiser. Vol. VII, no. 1950. South Australia. 26 October 1864. p. 5. Retrieved 10 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
6. "Advertising". Kapunda Herald. Vol. LXXVI, no. 5, 146. South Australia. 16 May 1940. p. 2. Retrieved 10 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
7. "Riverton, South Australia". graememoad.com. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
8. "Last Thursday's Government Land Sale". South Australian Register. Adelaide. 8 March 1861. p. 2. Retrieved 27 July 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
9. "PUBLIC MEETING AT RIVERTON". The South Australian Advertiser. Vol. I, no. 137. South Australia. 17 December 1858. p. 2. Retrieved 11 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia.