Hallett Cove is a coastal suburb of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

located in the City of Marion south of the

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre (Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Ad ...

. It has a population of more than 12,000 people. Adjoining suburbs are Marino to the north, Trott Park and Sheidow Park to the east and Lonsdale to the south. The name Kareildung has been mistakenly ascribed to Hallett Cove as an

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

name. The

Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurn ...

name of Murrkangga was derived from the meaning of Kareildung and applied specifically to the Amphitheatre in the

Hallett Cove Conservation Park Hallett Cove Conservation Park is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located in the suburb of Hallett Cove on the coast of Gulf St Vincent about south of the centre of the state capital of Adelaide. Hallett Cove is one ...

. Sites within the conservation park are of great

geological Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other E ...

and archaeological significance, as well as containing sites of great cultural significance to the

Kaurna people The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurna ...

, including a significant site on the Tjilbruke Dreaming Track. The park features Aboriginal artefacts used by the Kaurna people about 2,000 and the Kartan people up to 40,000 years ago. Geological features include

glacial striation Glacial striations or striae are scratches or gouges cut into bedrock by glacial abrasion. These scratches and gouges were first recognized as the result of a moving glacier in the late 18th century when Swiss alpinists first associated them w ...

s on the clifftop which form part of the evidence for the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last ...

glaciation of southern Australia, then part of Gondwana. Hallett Cove itself is a small rocky beach, named after John Hallett, who came across it in 1837 whilst searching for missing stock. The Field River runs out to sea at the southern end. The cliffs to the north are part of the conservation park. The Hallett Cove Shopping Centre is the suburb's largest shopping centre, and includes underground parking, a food court, a

Big W Big W (stylized as BIG W) is an Australian chain of discount department stores, which was founded in regional New South Wales in 1964. The company is a division of Woolworths Group and as at 2019 operated 176 stores, with around 22,000 employee ...

department store, and Woolworths and Foodland supermarkets.

History

Aboriginal settlement of the Hallett Cove area is among the earliest documented in Australia. Archaeological evidence in the form of more than 1700 large stone tools near the coast and at a campsite at Waterfall Creek, north of Black Cliff, shows the presence of the Kartan people of

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...

, shows a settlement dating back to 40,000 years BP. More recently, the

lived on two campsites dating back 2,000 years. The site of a

freshwater spring A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust (pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fres ...

said to be created by the tears of

Tjilbruke Tjilbruke (also Tjirbruki, Tjilbruki, Tjirbruke, Tjirbuk or Tjirbuki,) is an important creation ancestor for the Kaurna of the Adelaide plains in the Australian state of South Australia. Tjilbruke was a Kaurna man, who appeared in Kaurna Drea ...

, the creator being, is of particular significance. The spring, and Hallett Cove more broadly, has in the past mistakenly been ascribed the place name Krildhung (by Albert Karlowan) or Ka`reildung (

Norman Tindale Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. Life Tindale was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1900. His family moved to Tokyo and lived ther ...

); however, this word is derived from a verb in the

Ngarrindjeri language The Ngarrindjeri people are the traditional Aboriginal Australian people of the lower Murray River, eastern Fleurieu Peninsula, and the Coorong of the southern-central area of the state of South Australia. The term ''Ngarrindjeri'' means "bel ...

, and found to be the result of mistaken location. A Kaurna version of the meaning of this word ("crying place") was created in 2008 as Murrkangga, and applied to the Amphitheatre. The small rocky beach was named Hallett Cove after John Hallett, who came across it in 1837 whilst searching for missing stock.

Geology

Geological features include

s on the clifftop discovered by Professor

Ralph Tate Ralph Tate (11 March 1840 – 20 September 1901) was a British-born botanist and geologist, who was later active in Australia. Early life Tate was born at Alnwick in Northumberland, the son of Thomas Turner Tate (1807–1888), a teacher of m ...

in 1877, which along with similar striations found earlier at Selwyn's Rock at Inman Valley, to the south in 1859, provide evidence for the

glaciation of southern Australia, then part of Gondwana. There are also a number of large

glacial erratic A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundre ...

s on the beach.McBriar, E.M. & Mooney, P.A. (Eds. 1977): ''Geological Monuments in South Australia'', Part 1. Geological Monuments Subcommittee of the S.A Division of the Geological Society of Australia Inc. pp32-39.

Schools

The suburb has three schools. Hallett Cove School was established in 1987 and is situated in the middle of the suburb. Hallett Cove East Primary School is in the Karrara estate on the northern side of the suburb. The Hallett Cove South School is the oldest school in the suburb and is situated near the Hallett Cove School.

Transport

Hallett Cove railway station is on top of the cliffs to the north of the beach, and services the greater Hallett Cove area. Originally the line ran inland from there to

Reynella Reynella is a metropolitan suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located 20 km south of the Central Business District of Adelaide in the north of the City of Onkaparinga. It is bordered to the east by Main South Road, to the south ...

and ultimately to Willunga but the section from Hallett Cove onwards was closed in the 1960s. The Coast to Vines rail trail is a cycle and pedestrian path that now follows the old line. A new railway extension was built south along the coast to Noarlunga; Hallett Cove Beach is the first station on this line. Both stations underwent a refurbishment in 2011, giving them a more modern look. Bus routes serviced by the

Adelaide Metro Adelaide Metro is the public transport system of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is an intermodal system offering an integrated network of bus, tram, and train service throughout the metropolitan area. The network has an ann ...

run through Hallett Cove, terminating at the Hallett Cove Shopping Centre and Hallett Cove Beach Station.

References

{{City of Marion suburbs Suburbs of Adelaide Gulf St Vincent

History

Geology

Schools

Transport

See also

References