Lobethal

Lobethal is a town in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Hills Council local government area, and is nestled on the banks of a creek between the hills and up the sides of the valley. It was once the centre of the Adelaide Hills wool processing industry, which continued until around 1950. The mill buildings are now used by a number of cottage industry and handcraft businesses. At the 2006 census, Lobethal had a population of 1,836 which had grown to 1957 by the 2011 census.The town is famed during the Christmas season for its display of Christmas lights and decorations, which have attracted visitors from around the state since the 1950s.HistoryOrigin of the nameLobethal is German for "valley of praise". On the day of the division of the land, according to Reverend I. Ey's account, 'it received the name Lobethal, taken from the II Book of Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 26 (EN) (DE), which, according to Luther's translation, means Lobethal or 'Valley of praise'.Due to the Great War in Europe, in 1917 the South Australian state government changed many German place names. The name Lobethal was changed to Tweedvale (honouring the town's major industry). Lobethal was re-instated as the town's name with the enactment of the South Australia Nomenclature Act of 1935 on 12 December 1935.