Myponga is a

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. At the 2016 census, the locality had a population of 744, of whom 393 lived in its town centre. Myponga is located within the federal

division of Mayo The Division of Mayo () is an Australian electoral division located to the east and south of Adelaide, South Australia. Created in the state redistribution of 3 September 1984, the division is named after Helen Mayo, a social activist and th ...

, the state

electoral district of Mawson Mawson is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It covers the entirety of Kangaroo Island, and parts of the local government areas of Alexandrina Council, the City of Onkaparinga, and the District Counc ...

, and the local government area of the District Council of Yankalilla.

History

Before

British colonisation of South Australia British colonisation of South Australia describes the planning and establishment of the colony of South Australia by the British government, covering the period from 1829, when the idea was raised by the then-imprisoned Edward Gibbon Wakefield ...

, 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. Kau ...

occupied the land from the

Adelaide plains The Adelaide Plains (Kaurna name Tarndanya) is a plain in South Australia lying between the coast ( Gulf St Vincent) on the west and the Mount Lofty Ranges on the east. The southernmost tip of the plain is in the southern seaside suburbs of A ...

and southwards down western side of the

Fleurieu Peninsula The Fleurieu Peninsula ( ; locally mainly ) is a peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia located south of the state capital of Adelaide city centre, Adelaide. History Before British colonisation of South Australia, the western s ...

, including Myponga. 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. Kau ...

name for the area was Maitpungga.

Geoff Manning Geoffrey Haydon Manning (1926–2018) was an Australian author and historian. He is known particularly for his books on South Australian placenames; ''Manning's Place Names of South Australia'' (1990) is particularly well-known and available onli ...

reports that "according to H.C. Talbot it is derived from the Aboriginal word ''miappunga'' – 'divorced wife'", and

Norman Tindale Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. He is best remembered for his work mapping the various tribal groupings of Aboriginal Australians ...

concluded that it probably meant "vegetable food place, from aiand angkara a term applied to swamps & lagoons". However linguist

Rob Amery Robert Maxwell Amery (born 1954) is an Australian linguist and specialist in Australian Aboriginal languages, in particular language revitalisation of endangered languages, and focused primarily on the Kaurna language of the Adelaide Plains r ...

of the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

and Kaurna educator Jack Buckskin concluded that it was just a name and does not have a literal translation. One of the first pioneer families to settle the area, was the family of Con Polden and Mary Windsor (c.1840) along with their children from

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

in South West England. Myponga began as a settlement as a series of land purchases on section 521 of the cadastral unit of the Hundred of Myponga in 1858. In 1939, a sub-division was laid out on part of Section 521. Boundaries for the locality were created on 5 August 1999 for the "long established name." On 31 January 1971, Myponga was home to the Myponga Open Air Festival, where Daddy Cool and

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

played. It was Black Sabbath's first live performance in Australia. The reported attendance was 15,000 people.

Weather station

Myponga has been the site of an official weather station since 1914.

References

Towns in South Australia Fleurieu Peninsula {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub

History

Weather station

See also

References