Green’s Dictionary of Slang

an illicit liquor (blacks were not allowed to buy ‘white man’s liquor’ before 1962) composed of bread, malt, sugar, yeast and warm water; thus Barberton queen, a brewer/seller of the drink.

1948		E. Hellmann Rooiyard 48: Babaton and shimeya were brewed in Rooiyard.
1950		Report of Commission to Enquire into Acts of Violence Committed by Natives at Krugersdorp (UG47-1950) 10: Illicit concoctions are still being brewed on a large scale. They consist chiefly of skokiaan, shimayane, barberton, etc [DSAE].
1963		L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 99: 500 gallons of illicit brew, inluding barberton, which is the worst of them all.
1972		Drum (Johannesburg) 8 Mar. 13: Every boozer who has downed methylated spirits or barberton knows the gnawing fear of going blind or mad [DSAE].
1982		Fair Lady 1 Dec. 188: Blacks weren’t allowed to buy ‘white man’s liquor’ in those days (this only became legal in 1962) and the drink served was known as Barberton – a concoction made of bread, malt, sugar, yeast and warm water ... strictly illegal, of course [DSAE].
1987		(con. 1950s) G. Moloi My Life 122: We drank at Manana’s, a joint that sold almost all kinds of booze, the speciality being ‘buck-shot’ or Barberton. Manana’s yard was always full of buck-shot guzzlers.
2003		‘The Dialect of Zimbabawe’ at www.people.fas.harvard.edu 🌐 barbie [...] is ‘coloured slang’ for ‘hangover,’ [...] It is possible, however, that the term ‘barbie’ is an abbreviated form of ‘Barberton,’ an ‘illicitly concocted liquor sold in shebeens made of bread, malt, sugar, yeast, and warm water, which fermented rapidly strictly illegal, of course,’ served to South African blacks by ‘Barberton queens’ brewing the poison in their backyards.