Tiddy Widdy
Tiddy Widdy takes its name from a well along the coast just north of the town which was well known to the Aborigines as Tiddy Widdy Ned.
Source: Salt Winds Across Barley Plains, Beryl Neumann, 1983, Gillingham Printers, page 39
There are a great many holiday homes erected at Tiddy Widdy beach and it is a popular crabbing resort. There does not appear to be any record of how it came by its unusual name but as it was well known and used by the natives it is probably a corruption of the native name for the area.
The well lies about midway between the beach and the foreshore road amidst the sandhills. It has been lined with corrugated iron and had a steel structure, with a lid covering it. In early 1983 it was in a state of deterioration with bottles and tyres thrown into it.
Early records contain many references to this well as it was a reliable source of good water for the early settlers on this portion of the peninsula. Farmers came as far as 48 kilometres (30 miles) travelling by horse and dray to obtain the water and in bad times they had to climb down into the well and fill the bucket with a tin pannikin before hoisting it to the top and tipping it into their container. It sometimes took all night. They then had to convey the water home.
