Yarnauwingga

Abstract

Yarnauwingga was the Kaurna name for an area within and immediately surrounding the current property of Wirrina Resort (2019); or perhaps of a site within this area. The name is a contraction of Yarna-kauwingga, ‘bald [or naked] water-place’. This almost certainly refers to (1) the many sources of fresh water in this area, and (2) ‘bald’ or relatively bald hills around it, especially on areas with very shallow soil over hard rock. Early descriptions tend to confirm that this area contained significant stretches of grassland with few trees, even before settlement. The area called Yarnauwingga by its Aboriginal occupants was known to 19th-century settlers as a district called ‘Poole’s Flat’. Local historian Lucy Webb in 1919 recorded it as the Aboriginal name of ‘Pool’s Flat’, “Yarnouinga”, from the memories of an unnamed lady who was “living at this place in 1854.” In this context Webb wrote that ‘Yarnouinga’ was “a great meeting place” for Aboriginal people, which is likely from its combination of terrain and resources.