St. Kilda on QI

[chiwigi]

Just watched an episode of QI when they spoke of the original St.Kilda Island where there are no trees and many people hadn't seen one until they voluntary left the island in the 30's.

Now everyone knows St. Kilda never existed and that it is merely a distortion of an old Norse word for shield, but could anybody here enlighten me as to why the suburb was named such?

It's kind of footy related.

 

[SaintLex]

Give this thread a read:

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/who-was-st-kilda.1005774/

There was no Saint Kilda, the name of the club comes from the name of the suburb which comes from the name of a ship, which comes from the name of an Isle in Scotland whose name is the result of cartographical and transcription errors over 100's of years.

Although it has been joked that Saint Kilda is the patron saint of lost causes.

Hi Dalphonso,

I'm a Church historian, and I can confirm Ice Wolf's story. The Scottish island of St Kilda was long held by Vikings for strategic purposes, and they named it "Skilda", which in Norse means "Shield", because of it's tactically defensive role. When it eventually was taken back by the Scots, who were Christian, they saw the name, and thought it was "S Kilda" - back then, a Saint was dilineated by a "S", not a "St", so they assumed it must be named after a Saint called Kilda. Being a fair old way from official Church heirarchy in Rome, and thus unable to confirm or deny that there was once a really nice Christian bloke called Kilda, the name stuck.

And, as Ice-Wolf said, somebody named a ship after that, which landed in a then unnamed suburb in Melbourne. They decided to name it after the ship.

 

[TheBalls]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Kilda,_Scotland

 

[chiwigi]

Give this thread a read:

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/who-was-st-kilda.1005774/

Excellent, thanks for the answer!
The ship name makes a lot of sense, if I may ask a supplementary question;
What is the German connection to the area? Is it just the colours (old and current) and the Germanic sounding name or is it like large areas of South Australia where lots of Germans settled?
I have tried searches but they are too vague.

 

[Munga]

Excellent, thanks for the answer!
The ship name makes a lot of sense, if I may ask a supplementary question;
What is the German connection to the area? Is it just the colours (old and current) and the Germanic sounding name or is it like large areas of South Australia where lots of Germans settled?
I have tried searches but they are too vague.

German connection? The only non-player connection I can think of is changing our colours during WWII. Changed from the Nazi red, white and black to Belgian allies red, yellow and black.

 

[Nutsngum]

German connection? The only non-player connection I can think of is changing our colours during WWII. Changed from the Nazi red, white and black to Belgian allies red, yellow and black.

WW1 actually.

 

[chiwigi]

German connection? The only non-player connection I can think of is changing our colours during WWII. Changed from the Nazi red, white and black to Belgian allies red, yellow and black.

Might be a local thing here (I live near the Barossa) a lot of those of German descent who still identify as GErman go for St.Kilda, mainly those who watched old VFL stuff as their vic team.

 

[Dr Spaceman]

Might be a local thing here (I live near the Barossa) a lot of those of German descent who still identify as GErman go for St.Kilda, mainly those who watched old VFL stuff as their vic team.

Maybe they were attracted to Carl Ditterich (then) and Nick Riewoldt (now)

 

[chiwigi]

Maybe they were attracted to Carl Ditterich (then) and Nick Riewoldt (now)

Or that they get high on their own supply (of fine Shiraz).

 

[Fehring]

Just watched an episode of QI when they spoke of the original St.Kilda Island where there are no trees and many people hadn't seen one until they voluntary left the island in the 30's.

Now everyone knows St. Kilda never existed and that it is merely a distortion of an old Norse word for shield, but could anybody here enlighten me as to why the suburb was named such?

It's kind of footy related.

Seems like Grant Thomas was a true Saint: wouldn't recognize tall timber if it bit him in the arse.

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk

 

[gringo2011]

I drove past a shit hole near Port Adelaide called St Kilda in Adelaide...it looks like the island. Was it a busy ship or a statement on the Adelaide badlands.

 

[Munga]

WW1 actually.

That's the one!

 

[stephinboots]

Just watched an episode of QI when they spoke of the original St.Kilda Island where there are no trees and many people hadn't seen one until they voluntary left the island in the 30's.

Now everyone knows St. Kilda never existed and that it is merely a distortion of an old Norse word for shield, but could anybody here enlighten me as to why the suburb was named such?

It's kind of footy related.

 

[stephinboots]

I think it was more of a boat than a ship. The Scottish St Kilda became a favourite tourist day trip in the nineteenth century - go out to the Outer Hebrides and look at the weird puffin-eating peat-digging folk. So lots of people knew of it that didn't live there, and could have associated it with holidays.
There's a painted version of it on the railway bridge over Balaclava Rd in East St Kilda.

 

[Fehring]

Found this recent article on the New Yorker about the island of St Kilda. Nice read, quite lyrical. I remembered this thread and thought it was the appropriate place to put it...

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/a-trip-to-st-kilda-scotlands-lost-utopia-in-the-sea

 

[#1_pigeonracer]

Visual piece on the Rail Bridge at Carlisle Street to the Lady of St Kilda boat.

 

[By a Point]

I drove past a shit hole near Port Adelaide called St Kilda in Adelaide...it looks like the island. Was it a busy ship or a statement on the Adelaide badlands.

named after the same ship. There was a model of the vessel St Kilda in the Adelaide Maritime Museum