Tirranangku

Abstract

Tirranangko (or in KWP’s New Spelling Tirranangku) is the Kaurna name for the freshwater springs under the sea at Port Willunga off the coast of Section 391, running parallel to the beach southwest from the jetty ruins. The springs were remembered by Aboriginal people from the Encounter Bay and Lakes region from their travels to Adelaide in the late 19th century; and they had probably obtained the name originally from Kaurna-speaking people, either locals or (probably) wives and other relatives by intermarriage on Fleurieu Peninsula. It was recorded sometime in the late 19th century by one of the Thomas Martin family of Port Willunga, whose note was preserved by Tindale in his unpublished papers and maps as “Terenangu: spring below tide level”.