The History Spot – Alexandrina, Lake -Nomenclature
Did you know?………..
Discovered by sealers in 1828, Lake Alexandrina was named by Captain Charles Sturt on 9 February 1830. At a later date he said: “Considering this lake to be of sufficient importance and in anticipation that its shores will, during her reign, if not at an earlier period, be peopled by some portion of her subjects, I have called it, in well meant loyalty, ‘The Lake Alexandrina’.”
At the time of its discovery Princess Alexandrina was heiress to the British throne; she became Queen Victoria. It was proposed to change the name to ‘Victoria’ and as late as 1853 it was used in official Government records.
The mouth of the River Murray where it enters the lake was called jeratang by the Aborigines, based on jera -‘leaf’ and tanga – ‘man’, which referred to men hiding behind hand-shields of leafy branches when stalking game; this is the place from which Ponde escaped into Lake Alexandrina.
Information from: www.slsa.sa.gov.au/manning/pn/a/a5.htm