see also Victoria Square, Birmingham, England

Victoria Square is a public square located in the centre of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. The Adelaide CBD is set out on a grid of one square mile with Victoria Square at the centre. The square is named after Queen Victoria, whose statue stands in the square. The Kaurna Aborigines know the area as Tarndanyangga. Its geographic coordinates are .

Victoria Square is bordered by important public institutions, such as the Supreme Court of South Australia , the Adelaide Magistrate's court, the Federal Court of Australia, the Treasury and the Adelaide General Post Office. The Adelaide Central Market is located to the west of the square.

King William Street passes around the square making a diamond shape with the southbound carriageway passing to the east, and the northbound carriageway around the west of the square. It is bisected by Wakefield Street entering from the east meeting Grote Street entering from the west.

Tarndanyangga

translated: red kangaroo dreaming

Tandanya (or Tarndanya) was the name recorded for "the site of South Adelaide" by Teichelmann & Schürmann (1840) and Ivaritji gave Dharnda anya as a place name in the Adelaide area and referred to her people as the Dundagunya tribe who had "their central camp in or near Victoria Square" (Advertiser, 8 Dec. 1927). Tarndanyangga derives from tarnda 'red kangaroo' + kanya 'rock'. -ngga is a location ending 'in, at, on' frequently found in Kaurna place names. The Kaurna language has distinctive words for the male red kangaroo (tarnda), the female red kangaroo (kurlo), male grey kangaroo (nanto), female grey kangaroo (wauwe) and these species all occurred within Kaurna country, if not within the Adelaide city environs itself. Tarnda, the male red kangaroo, plays a central role in Kaurna religion. The coat of arms of the Adelaide City Council, which dates back to 1929, features a red kangaroo.

Victoria Square / Tarndanyangga is still an important meeting place for Indigenous peoples from all over. It is the focus for many political and community-based Indigenous events, such as the Journey of Healing and it is the starting point for the annual NAIDOC march to Parliament House. The Aboriginal Flag, designed by Harold Thomas, was first flown here in 1971 and now flies permanently on one of the two big flag poles in Victoria Square / Tarndanyangga.

Pronunciation tips

• the initial T is pronounced with the tongue between the teeth;
• a is pronounced as in father and data or like the u in but;
• rn is pronounced like and n with the tongue curled back or retroflexed;
• stress the first syllable.