Stun Sail Boom River

The Stun Sail Boom River (or Stuns'l Boom River) is located on the rugged south coast of Kangaroo Island, a large island off the South Australian coast. The southern and western coast of this island is notorious for its shipwrecks as it lies directly on the path of ships bound for the free settlers colony of South Australia. The [http://www.abc.net.au/backyard/shipwrecks/sa/vennachar.htm Loch Vennachar] provides another chilling example. The river was named after the boom of the stuns'l, sailors slang for studding sail located on the outside of the square rigging, of the British merchant ship, Montebello.

The ship sank in deep water in 1901 after colliding with a reef several hundred metres off the shore. Survivors of the wreck reputedly clung to the boom and were pushed ashore onto the sandy shores of the river mouth. They were eventually rescued by local sheep farmers the Tilka Sisters, after whom the proximate Tilka Hut was named.