WALYO YERTA

'waylo root ground'

Walyo Yerta is taken from the Kaurna language, the original language of the Adelaide Plains, now being reclaimed by the Kaurna people.

Walyo is probably the yam daisy and likely to have been one of the major food sources on the Adelaide Plains. Teichelmann & Schürmann (1840: 52) said walyo was ‘a white native root resembling radish, eaten by the natives’ while Teichelmann (1857) defines wailyo as “the leaves of the ‘kandarra’” whilst noting that ngampa is “the last years root of the ‘wailyo’”. It is likely that ngampa (see Park 5), walyo and kandarra (see Park 3) all refer to the yam daisy (Microseris scapigera) but perhaps refer to the tuber at different stages of maturity or to different parts of the plant.

Yerta is the Kaurna word for ‘earth; land; soil; country’.

Pronunciation Tips:

• a is pronounced is in father and data or like the u in but;
• ly is a single sound similar to lli in English million;
• yerta would have been better spelt yarta as it is in Adnyamathanha and should be pronounced that way with the tongue tip curled back when pronouncing the t (a retroflex stop);
• stress the first syllable of each word.