Mitiwarti

Abstract

Mitiwarti (in KWP’s New Spelling 2010) is the Kaurna name for a place on the Gawler River, or perhaps the South Para, in the vicinity of the junction with the North Para; i.e. somewhere on Sections 1, 2, 3 or 24, Hundred of Mudla Wirra. It was recorded as “Mete Watte River” by Colonel Light in December 1837, as he began to explore the Gawler and South Para Rivers, beginning a short distance downstream from the junction. Miti means ‘hip, thigh, upper leg’, and is used also to refer to ‘someone who climbs’. ‘Watte’ could represent either of two separate words which may be homophones, both spelled warti (KWP New Spelling): (1) watte OR warte, ‘middle, cause, origin’ and ‘reason’; or (2) worti, ‘tail or penis’.