Punduwalluwatingg

Abstract

‘Punduwallu-watingg’ is a name of uncertain language, probably a combined adaptation by the Ramindjeri of the Kaurna names Parndalilla (see PNS 3/06) and Wita-wattingga (see PNS 2/21). It was recorded in the early 1840s from Ramindjeri informants who had visited Adelaide, and referred to the area around ‘Tapley’s Hill’ (i.e. the northern side of O’Halloran Hill). The location was given as “neighbourhood of Tapley’s” (his land extended right across the crest of Tapley’s Hill, including his Victoria Hotel). This was deep inside Kaurna-speaking lands. Parndalilla was also on Tapley’s Hill, and Wita-wattingga was around Seacliff Park just below Parndalilla. Wattinga in Kaurna means ‘in the middle, between, on account of’. Ngarrindjeri words rarely end in a, and adaptation by the Ngarrindjeri would probably omit the final a, leaving it similar to their standard Ngarrindjeri locatives -angk, -ong, etc. The language of Punduwallu is uncertain and the meaning is unknown