Wellington Square, also known as Kudnartu (and formerly Kudnarto), is a

public square A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true square, geometric square, used for community gathe ...

in the

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 ...

suburb of

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

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 ...

, in the

City of Adelaide The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of South ...

. It is roughly at the centre of the largest of the three grids which comprise North Adelaide. It is one of six squares designed by the founder of Adelaide,

Colonel William Light William Light (27 April 1786 – 6 October 1839), also known as Colonel Light, was a British- Malayan naval and army officer. He was the first Surveyor-General of the new British Province of South Australia, known for choosing the site o ...

, who was Surveyor-General at the time, in his 1837 plan 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 Ade ...

and North Adelaide. The square was named in 1837 by the Street Naming Committee after the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...

, and in 2003 it was assigned a second name, Kudnartu, in 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 ...

language of the original inhabitants, as part of the

Adelaide City Council The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of Sout ...

dual naming Dual naming is the adoption of an official place name that combines two earlier names, or uses both names, often to resolve a disagreement over which of the two individual names is more appropriate. In some cases, the reasons are political. Some ...

initiative. Kudnartu was a

woman from the Clare District. Hers was the first official Aboriginal/settler marriage in South Australia.

History

Pre-colonial history

The Adelaide area was inhabited long before European settlement in 1836 by one of the tribes which later came to be known as the Kaurna people, or Adelaide tribe.

As Wellington Square

The square was named on 23 May 1837 after

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister o ...

, Irish-born

field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

and statesman, victor at Waterloo and

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...

from 1828 to 1830, who is credited with securing the passage of the '' South Australia Foundation Act'' through the

British House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in ...

in 1834. Colonel Light, first Surveyor-General of South Australia and a member of the Street Naming Committee, had briefly served under Wellington as a junior staff officer, a Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General (DAQMG), during the Peninsular War. Light's 1837 plan of Adelaide included Wellington Square.Copy of William Light's Plan of Adelaide, 1837
Held by the History Trust of South Australia, HT2001.166, adelaidia.sa.gov.au

Dual naming

In March 2003, as part of the

's dual naming project in association with the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

, the square was assigned the name "Kudnartu", to commemorate a Kaurna woman from the Clare District ( Crystal Brook area) called Kudnartu, also spelt Kudnarto, who married a settler, a

shepherd A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

named Tom Adams, in January 1848 at the Registry Office in

Waymouth Street Waymouth Street, often spelt as Weymouth Street in the early days, is an east–west street running between King William Street and West Terrace in the Adelaide city centre in South Australia. The street is named after Henry Waymouth, a foundi ...

. This was the first recorded official Aboriginal/settler marriage in South Australia. The name Kudnarto/Kudnarto means "third born if female". Also known as Mary Ann Adams, Kurdnatu had attended the "Native Establishment School" (later re-purposed as the Destitute Asylum) in

Kintore Avenue, Adelaide Gawler Place is a single-lane road in the city centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It runs north to south from North Terrace to Wakefield Street, parallel to and approximately midway between King William and Pulteney Streets. ...

, to learn "the arts of domestic life and household duties", and subsequently taught the

illiterate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...

Adams to write. They had two sons, Tom (born 1849) and Tim (1852), but they and their father were left destitute after Kudnartu's death at about 23 years old, around 1855, after land allocated to Kudnarto was repossessed by the government. Kudnarto continues to have many descendants.

Today

Wellington Square is one of only two of Light's six squares,

Whitmore Square Whitmore Square, also known as Iparrityi (formerly Ivaritji), is one of five public squares in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. Occupying 2.4ha (24,000 m2), it is located at the junction of Sturt Street, Adelaide, Sturt and Morphett St ...

being the other one, which still retain the original configuration, neither having been dissected by roads like the others. The square has

jacaranda ''Jacaranda'' is a genus of 49 species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. The generic name is also used as the common name. The species ''Jacaranda mimosifolia'' has achie ...

trees,

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

s, and

cherry trees A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The na ...

, and the walking trail around the perimeter is about .

Notes and references