[10][11] It is known as Witawali or Witawodli[12] by the traditional owners, the Kaurna people, and is of significance as being the site of a freshwater spring said to be created by the tears of Tjilbruke, the creator being.

The suburb consists of land bounded in the north by Button Road, in the east by the Main South Road, to the south by the boundary of the cadastral unit of the Hundred of Willunga and to the west by the coastline with Aldinga Bay.

There is a significant site associated with the Kaurna Dreaming of the creator ancestor Tjilbruke, with a commemorative plaque on the end of Francis Street on the Esplanade.

This was unveiled in 1986, the year of the South Australian sesquicentenary, as part of the Tjilbruke Dreaming Track.

[15] The name originated in 1925 as a sub-division of part of section 665 of the cadastral unit of the Hundred of Willunga called "Sellicks Beach Estate", which was developed by George and Robert Herrick, two farmers who lived at Aldinga.