Big Cadna-owie Spring was an important traditional camping site until 1919 when the entire group of traditional people living there was killed by an influenza epidemic brought by a passing camel-driver. Cadna-owie or Kadnjawi is also the name given to Mt Dutton and means hill-water or hill with springs. Big Cadna-owie, and four other springs in the vicinity of Mt Dutton including the Wandillina Springs are all connected with the story of the ngampa or nardoo stone. A ngampa stone is a large stone on which nardoo and other large seeds are broken up with a hammer stone. The outline of the story is that the Aranda ancestor Indarra could hear the beautiful ringing sound of the ngampa far far away to the south. It drew him towards the lower Finke, and then to the northern tip of the Alkaowra flood flats before he tracked the sound all the way to Mt Dutton. He camped first at the Ngampayiwalanha spring and asked the Kadnjawi people for the stone. They tried to fob him off with a broken stone and then inferior ones. He moved onto other springs and repeated his request. Finally they had to give him their favourite ngampa stone. Big Cadna-owie was one of the places where Indarra camped and the main camp of the Kadnajawi people was nearby.

Between the ruins of Wandillina homestead and the main Marree-Oodnadatta road there are three springs almost in a straight line to the north-east. In the far distance, almost in a straight line and visible from far away is Mt Arthur. As soon as Indarra got the ngampa stone, he said he was going back, and that now it was indeed he who would beat seed with the stone. He put the stone on his head and without looking back he set off towards home via Mt Arthur or Pakalta. He stayed there for a while, put down the stone and just looked at it and admired it. Mt Arthur represents the stone. The Kadnjawi song cycle, much of which is in Aranda, goes with this story.

This story was taken from SA Dept of Environment & Planning (1986) Heritage of the Mound Springs: The assessment of Aboriginal Cultural Significance of Mound Springs in   South Australia prepared by Dr Luise Hercus & Dr Peter Sutton.