Two Ngarrindjeri men were controversially executed by hanging along the Coorong on 22 August 1840, after a drumhead court-martial conducted by Police Commissioner O'Halloran on the orders of Governor George Gawler.
A substance of similar physical character is found in the Coorong district of South Australia, and is hence termed coorongite.
In 1874 a flock of 7,000 sheep from Ketchowla was stopped in the Coorong on the way to market by inspectors who detected several animals infected with fluke within the flock.