The land on which Kangarilla was settled by Europeans was formerly inhabited by the
Kaurna people, who called it Kangkarrilla.
Manning's Index reports that
Norman Tindale thought that
kanggarila may mean "birthplace", and that it was spelt "Kungirilla" in
The South Australian on 17 March 1843.
Ngarrindjeri man
David Unaipon was recorded as saying that
Kang means "two" and ''Ra'mulia'' means "outflow or water flowing", referring to two waterholes, "place of rest with water and trees", and "shepherding place". The land around Kangarilla was first settled in around 1840, with wheat and vineyards the main produce. A town was founded in 1849 by John Bottrill, and properly surveyed in 1860 on section 875 in the
Hundred of Kuitpo, named
Scaldwell. It was later called
Eyre Flat or '''Eyre's Flat''', The historic settlement of
Dashwood Gully (also known as
Dashwoods Gully) existed within the present-day bounded locality of Kangarilla. It was named for
George Frederick Dashwood, who settled there in 1841 and was appointed as a member of the South Australian parliament in 1843. The first Dashwood's Gully post office opened in November 1863 and closed in 1867; a second post office opened from December 1871 to December 1930. ==Governance==