PLACE NAMES - The Romance of Australian - The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982) - 13 May 1964 (original) (raw)

Wed 13 May 1964 - The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982)
Page 45 - PLACE NAMES

The Romance of Australian PLACE NAMES

A Scotsman's idea of preserving the bal-

ance between Aberdeen and Glasgow.

After a village in Kent which it re-

Appears on an early plan as Bika. Abo-

riginal meaning: "Beautiful."

Governor Macquarie founded here an

institution for aboriginal children. His wife

personally, taught them to sew and sing.

From native Boondi, describing noise of

Named by the Government; originally

Said to be from native Nganbirra, ''a

meeting place." First mention is in a letter

from Joshua Morre, who fought at Water-

loo, to the Colonial Secretary, December 16,

1826: "The land which I wish to purchase

is situate at Canberry . . ." Subsequently

a deed was issued to him for land at Cam-

From the name of Clarke Irving's station,

taken from Cassino, 85 miles from Rome.

At this point in 1797 W. Clarke and two

others found coal and with it built fires to

warm themselves. The fires were seen and

they were rescued—the sole survivors of 17

men who, after a wreck, had attempted to

walk 320 miles to Port Jackson.

Aboriginal: Koojah, "rotten seaweed."

Dapto Aboriginal: "Lame native."

From Tubbo, native word for "possum-

fur head-covering". At Marthaguy Creek, near here, John Dunn, bushranger, of Gar-

diner's gang, was wounded and captured.

He was hanged at Darlinghurst on a Christ-

CAPE BYRON, on the New South Wales north coast, is the most

easterly point of Australia. Captain Cook named the adjacent

Byron Bay as a compliment to Commander Byron, of H.M.S.

Dolphin, who also voyaged to the South Seas.

After the first Chief Justice of N.S.W.

Advertising the attractiveness of the town

in the late '60s, a publication said: "A four-

horse coach arrives daily from Sydney."

After Major Innes, whose son, as

Attorney-General, went to Fiji on the occa-

sion of the ceding of the island to Britain

by King Thakombau. Thakombau's second

son was educated at Newington College,

Sydney. Like his father, King Thakombau

had been a ruthless cannibal. On one occa-

sion, when an English trader demanded

money for goods supplied, Thakombau's

father reminded him that the flesh of white

men tasted like ripe bananas.

Aboriginal: "Many white stones."

Aboriginal: "Fish can be caught."

Aboriginal: "River with red banks."

Honors the memory of the commander

of a submarine which in 1914 dived be-

neath five rows of mines in the Dardan-

elles and torpedoed a battleship. He was

given the Victoria Cross.

Known to natives as Binoomea. Their

name for a prominent peak some miles

from the Caves was Genowlan. Name be-

stowed by C. Cooper, who marked the

bridle track from Katoomba. Some main-

tain the name is derived from J. Nolan,

Aboriginal: "Frog." The aborigines pro-

Aboriginal: "Katta-toon-bah," "waters

Aboriginal: "Plenty wild fowl about."

After C. A. Lee, a Minister for Public

Because it was thought to resemble

scenery at Lismore, Ireland. St. Carthage

wrote in 636: "Lismore is a famous and

holy city of which nearly one-half is an

asylum where no woman dare enter."

Aborigines knew it as Tuckurimbah,

After two pioneer Macs—MacKay and

Aboriginal: "Little mountain." On a

farm here worked Martin Cash, a bush-

ranger who ravaged Tasmania. Sentenced

to death, reprieved, a "lifer" at Norfolk

Island, he eventually became respectable

and was caretaker of Hobart Botanical

Gardens. The first attempt to manufacture

pig-iron in N.S.W. was made near here.

Aboriginal: "Wild turkey."

Aboriginal: "Contented." The natives

From native name for Murwillumbah

A pastoral holding had this name origin-

ally. Aboriginal: "Man carrying honey."

After the English Newcastle. The port

was first entered by boat in 1797 in pur-

suit of escaping convicts. Newcastle was

first King's Town and the Hunter River

was Coal River. The native name of the

Named by Thomas Mitchell after the

Prince of Orange (later King of Holland),

who was A.D.C. to Wellington. Mitchell,

too, was an A.D.C. to the Iron Duke. The

actual village reserve was known as Black-

man's Swamp until 1846 (after John Black-

man, chief constable at Bathurst), when it

became the village of Orange.

In its earliest days it boasted the names of

Mad Mick's Hollow and Cranky Alice's

After Sir Henry Parkes (1815-1896).

It has been said of him that he was the first

Australian statesman to meet British states-

Aboriginal: "Clear water." There was a

station thereabouts called Quinbeam. In

1828 John Stephens wrote to the Surveyor-

General, asking for a grant at Quinbean.

The S.-G. endorsed the application: "Quin-

bean is a hackneyed native name for part

of country not yet surveyed."

Sydney Cove. Named by Governor

Phillip after Lord Sydney, British Home

Secretary. An ancestor introduced the

Government sign of the broad arrow. The

Governor's despatches were at first headed

Sydney Cove, and there are records in-

dicating that the new town might be called

Albion. The natives called it Warrane.

From aboriginal word for wild fig—

Aboriginal: "Resting place by river."

Aboriginal: "Safe harbor." Once popu-

larly referred to as "Holey Dollar." At

Kerminton, near here, Henry Kendall, the

An aboriginal word meaning "opening

where floodwaters rush through."

According to different authorities, the

word means "hard ground near water" and

an expression of fear used by natives when

they first saw a ship in full sail.

After Sir John Young, Governor of

CONTINUING: The Romance of Place Names

VICTORIA

Ararat The nearby hill was named Mt. Ararat
by an early squatter who rested there after

a weary journey, like Noah's Ark, which

came to rest on the mountain (now in
Turkey). Aboriginal name for the hill: Gorambeepbarak, for the town site Butting-

itch.

Armadale

From Armadale House, residence of the

Hon. J. Munro Cooper.

Avoca

Explorer Major Mitchell named it after
the Irish river identified with the "sweet
vale" 0f the poet Moore.
Bairnsdale

Natives called it Wy-yung. Bairnsdale

was the name of a homestead in the dis-

trict "so called because bairns arrived
annually with unfailing regularity." It has
suggested, however, that it is a corrup-
tion of the name of a place on the Isle of

Skye.

Ballarat

Said to have been derived from "balla"

(an Irish meaning of which is "main
road") and hut—"hut on the main road."
It has been argued, however, that it is
from Balaarat, a native word suggesting
"reclining on elbow." One of its earliest
names was Yuille's Swamp.

Balmoral

Native name: Daarangurt. Balmoral,
after the Royal residence in Scotland,
which was purchased by the Prince Con-
sort Albert and bequeathed to Queen Vic-
toria. The Prince paid £32,000 for the
original estate.

Beechworth

Once known as Mayday Hills. Mr.
Cameron, a storekeeper and later a Mem-

ber of Parliament, rode into Beechworth in
1856 on a horse called Castor, shod with
g golden shoes, each shoe weighing 7oz. 4dwt.

Ned Kelly, the bushranger, was sent here
from Melbourne by special train, and pre-
liminary proceedings in connection with his
trial were heard in the local court.

Benalla

Through an error by a clerk in the
Lands Department it became Benalla,
although the real name is Benalta, said to
be an aboriginal name for musk duck.

Bendigo

A corruption of Abednego, the Christian
name of William Thompson, the British
champion pugilist, famous at the time the
settlement was christened. His brothers,
likewise were biblically named Shadrack

and Meshach. He retired from the ring and

became a nonconformist minister. The
Gold Commissioner renamed the town

Sandhurst because his father had been
Governor of Sandhurst Military College,
England, but the diggers and settlers stuck

to Bendigo. Sandhurst means "sandy

wood."

Bonegilla. Aboriginal: "Deep waterhole." Once owned by Charles ("Robinson Crusoe")

Ebden. (See Ebden.)

Bunyip

From the fabulous amphibious being
dreaded by the natives and said by them
to rise at night from the depths of lagoons
and waterholes and utter strange cries,
identified by some white settlers as the
boom of the bittern. The aborigines
believed that the bunyip would engulf

solitary fishermen, canoe and all, in its
vast jaws, and then sink like a stone to
his undiscoverable den. An early Australian writer mentioned six aborigines who pre-

ferred death by bushfire to taking shelter
in a waterhole.

Burnley

After William Burnley, original land-
owner. Birthplace of the great Australian
singer Dame Nellie Melba, May 19, 1861.
She was Helen Porter Mitchell, and her
first music lessons were given by the mother
of Annette Kellermann, famous swimmer.

Castlemaine

Once simply Forest Creek. Named by
Captain Wright after his uncle, Viscount

Castlemaine.

Caulfield

From John Caulfield, who was on the
committee of the first Mechanics' Institute,
1839. The first racecourse was a failure.
The site was about to be turned into a

cemetery when a sporting publican adver-
tised a race meeting and by shrewd pub-
licity saved the course.

TAGGERTY RIVER near Buxton. Taggerty was the natives'
name for the clay used for ceremonial staining of their bodies.
Buxton was named after the town in Derbyshire, England.

(Mineral springs there were famous in Roman times.)

Picture by J. O. Colohan

Dandenong

Letters written in 1837 refer to Dan-y-
nong, and a Government surveyor recorded
it as Tanjenong; it means "Lofty."

Ebden

Charles Ebden, known in the early days
of Sydney when he drove tandem through
the ill-made streets, was a pioneer of the
district and invariably wore a fur jacket
and cap in imitation of Robinson Crusoe.

Echuca

Aboriginal: "Meeting of waters." It was
once Hopwood's Ferry.

Eureka

Means "I have found it." Said to have

been the exclamation of Greek philosopher
Archimedes when he found how to deter-

mine by specific gravity the proportion of
base metal in gold. Became the name of
a goldfield claim.

Miners, indignant at high licence fees,
became restive, and, during an argument,

one of them was killed at the Eureka Hotel.
The landlord, charged with murder, was
discharged; later the hotel was wrecked and

burnt. Troops were sent from Melbourne

and the miners defied them in a stockade.

Euroa

Aboriginal: Yera-o, "joyful." The Kelly
gang robbed the bank here of £2200,
December 11, 1878, after they had seized
a hawker and put on the new clothes they

stole from him.

Flemington

Named after Robert Fleming, who
brought some cattle to Australia and was
one of the earliest settlers. He provided
the meat eaten at the earliest race meetings,
and there is still in existence in the family
the handsome bracelet the racing fraternity
of the day gave to his wife. His son was
John Wood Fleming, born on the site of
present Flinders Street Railway Station,

Melbourne.

Footscray

After a village in Kent, Foots-Cray,
which took its name from Goodwin Foot,
the landowner in the days of Edward the

Confessor.

Geelong

Jillong, native word said by various
authorities to mean: "Place of the cliff,"
"white seabird," "curlew," "resort of the
native companion," and "swampy plains."
In 1840 they were calling it Coraiya.

Gisborne

Named by Latrobe after Henry Fysche
Gisborne. Born in England of a very old
family, he came to Sydney and was a magis-

trate at 21 and rode his own horses in rac-

ing events. He became Commissioner of
Crown Lands at Port Phillip. One of his
horses ran at the first meeting at Fleming-
ton. A street in East Melbourne is named
after him.

Glenmore

In the vicinity, Henry Power, bush-
ranger, who had stuck up the mail coach
within five miles of Beechworth, was cap-
tured while sleeping. When sentenced to
15 years in Pentridge he asked the judge
to "draw it mild." After serving the sen-
tence, while taking a holiday on the Mur-
ray, he was drowned.

Glenrowan

Named by the brothers Rowan, who had
a station there. Scene of the Kelly gang's

last stand.

Horsham

Darlot, pioneer, named it in 1848 after
his native Horsham, Sussex, England. The
aboriginal name was Wopet Bungundilbah,
"house of feathers." The old English mean-
ing of Horsham was "horse enclosure."

Maryborough

Once simply Simpson's. It got its present
name through a surveyor whose birthplace
was Maryborough, Ireland.

Melbourne

When Lonsdale, Melbourne's first police
magistrate, arrived it was Bearbrass and
had no lack of other names, including
Bearport, Bareheap, Barebury, all varia-
tions of the native Bararing, or Berrern.

It was known also as Batmania. Lonsdale
called it Glenelg, but Governor Bourke
re-christened it Melbourne, after William
Lamb (Lord Melbourne), who guided the
footsteps in royalty of the young Queen

Victoria.

Portland

When Lieutenant Grant, in the Lady
Nelson, was at Cape Town he received
instructions from the Duke of Portland to
make for Sydney and pass through the
Bass Straits, which had just been discovered.
The natives called Portland, Laywhollet,
"the place of long grass."

Port Fairy

Named after the cutter Fairy (Wishart,
master), which was driven in and sheltered
there, 1827. Natives knew the locality as
Py-ip-gil.

Serviceton

Named in honor of Sir James Service
(1823-99). He came to Victoria in the
gold-digging days and four years later was
in Parliament, becoming, in succession,
Lands Minister, Treasurer, and Premier.

Seymour

Named by the explorer Major Mitchell
after Lord Seymour, a British Minister.

Shepparton

Sherbourne Sheppard was the owner of
Tallygaroopna Station in the 1840s.

Stawell

William Foster Stawell was first Attor-

ney-General when the colony of Victoria

was formed. He drafted the Victorian Con-
stitution Act and became first Chief Jus-
tice. He died at Naples, Italy. Settlers first

knew Stawell as Pleasant Creek.

Swan Hill

Major Mitchell called it so because the
noise of swans spoiled the sleep of the
explorers. The natives knew it as Martirag-

nir.

Tallangatta

From native word meaning "many trees."
Wangaratta

Is a corruption of native word Wanga-
ralta, "home of cormorants." It was named
Wangaratta, but a clerk in the Lands Office
made the error, which has been perpetu-

ated.

Warrnambool

Originally spelt Warnimble, from a
native word meaning "plenty." It was also
the name given by the aborigines to the
"walking place of the blessed dead."

Wonthaggi

From a native word meaning "pull
along."

Overleaf: W. Australia,

Tasmania

CONTINUING: The Romance

of Place Names

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Albany

First called Frederick Town. A village
was founded on the site of the present
Albany in 1827 by Edmund Lockyer, who
was sent by Governor Darling in Sydney
to establish a settlement on King George
Sound, because it was feared the French
would forestall British occupation.

Dumont d'Urville saw it in 1826 and
wrote that he found aborigines with red

hair.

There was quite a celebration in Albany
in 1837 on the arrival of a cargo of red
flannel, the gift of the Duchess of Kent
to the aboriginal women.

From this town Edward John Eyre, the
intrepid explorer, took the King George
Sound native Wylie to South Australia.
Wylie was subsequently his faithful com-
panion on his historic journey from Fowlers
Bay, when his only white mate, Baxter, was
murdered by two aborigines.

Broome

After Sir Federick [Frederick] Napier Broome, Can-
adian-born son of a missionary. He was a
pastoralist in New Zealand, a leader writer
on the London "Times," and Governor of
Western Australia. Later he was Governor
of Trinidad. He published two volumes of

poems.

Bunbury

Called after Lieut. William H. Bunbury,

of the 21st Fusiliers.

Busselton

Takes its name from the Bussel family,
which arrived in the colony in the Warrior,

1830.

Grace Bussel was the Australian heroine

of the wrecked Georgette in Geographe Bay,
1876. An aboriginal brought news that a
vessel was breaking up off the shore. Eight
people were drowned when the lifeboat was
launched, and the rest were in grave danger.
Indomitably, Grace Bussel swam her horse
through the boiling surf and came to shore
again carrying a child, with a woman riding

behind her.

She repeated the perilous trip over and
over for the next four hours, rescuing in
this way no fewer than 48 people.

Collie

Named after Dr. Alexander Collie, sur-
geon of the Sulphur, who explored the river.
A street in Fremantle also bears his name.

Coolgardie

First referred to as "the new find," or
Bayley's. In the first rush, in 1893, food was
so scarce that two men died of starvation.
The water supply department had men on
all waterholes, soaks, and tanks on the Cool-
gardie road, charging men 6d. a gallon,
horses 6d. a drink, camels 6/- a drink.

Cottesloe

So called because a member of the Fre-
mantle family became Lord Cottesloe.

Esperance

So called because d'Entrecasteaux's vessel
l'Esperance (hope) entered the bay in 1792.

Eucla

From native Yirculyer, the name of a
bluff near Eucla. The aboriginal name for
the present site of the town was Chiniala.

Fremantle

After Captain Charles Fremantle, of the
Challenger, a son of Admiral Fremantle,
companion of Nelson. On May 2, 1829,
Charles hoisted the British flag on the south
head of the river, where Fremantle now

stands.

Kalgoorlie

Corruption of the native name for the
locality, variously suggested as Calgoola and
Kalgurli.

Londonderry
The find made by a party of six

tired and disheartened gold-diggers return-

ing from Lake Lefroy in 1894. The mines

which produced the "Big Ben" nugget
valued at £3000, was sold by the prospector

to the Earl of Fingall for, it is said £180,000

and a sixth interest.

New Norcia

From Nursia, the Italian town, birth place

of St. Benedict.

The W.A. settlement was named by two
Spanish priests, Dom Salvado and Dom
Serra. First they established a mission for

the aborigines at Batgi Batgi, five miles
from what became New Norcia. It did not

survive, and Dom Salvado, who was a fine

musician, walked to Perth and gave a con-
cert to raise funds. He was the sole per-
former and appeared in the concert in rags
and tatters. It is said he invariably travelled
more like a pedlar than a priest.

When lost in the bush he is reported to

have addressed his bullocks, when they re-
fused to pull, in this way: "My friends, if

you don't know the way, I don't."

When the first settlement failed, the in-
domitable priests tried the site now known
as New Norcia. The valley was then called

Maura Maura.

Onslow
Takes its name from Captain Arthur
Onslow, who served on H.M.S. Howe (120
guns), which was commanded by Captain

James Stirling, the first Governor of West-
ern Australia. After a distinguished career,
Onslow settled in New South Wales and
married into the well-known Macarthur
family.

Perth

Founded by the simple ceremony of cut-
ting down a tree, and named as a compli-
ment to Sir George Murray, who was born

in Perthshire.

Pilbara

Here at Shark's Gully was found the
"Bobby Dazzler" nugget, weighing 487oz. A
lad named Withnell picked up a stone and
found gold in it. He reported to the Govt.-

Resident, who was so excited he sent off a
telegram to Premier John Forrest reading:

"Withnell looking for horses picked up a
stone to throw at crow—(signed) Angelo."
Forrest guessed what had happened, but
couldn't resist wiring back: "What happened
to crow?—(signed) Forrest."

Rottnest Island
The Dutch navigator de Vlamingh an-
chored here in 1696, saw "rats as big as
cats," and called the island Rottnest (Rats'

Nest).

Southern Cross

Received its name because its discoverer

found his way there at night by the aid of
stars. Here the notorious murderer Deeming

was arrested. Employed, under an alias, as

a mining engineer, he was so personally

popular that residents regarded the police

charges as preposterous and even attempted
to prevent his arrest.

Yilgarn

Aboriginal for "white quartz."

York.
The York Road was originally King Dick's
Road, after a native who acted as guide to

early settlers.

There was a stone near the present site

of York which the natives believe was in-
habited by the spirits of children, and if

a woman went near it she would get one
of the children.

Yunderup

Aboriginal: "Place for water."

CONTINUING: The Romance

of Place Names

TASMANIA

Arthur: Port, River, Mt., Range

Aborigines' name for the river, Tungan-

rick. Called in honor of Governor Sir

George Arthur (1824-1836). Before coming
to Van Diemen's Land he was given the
Freedom of the City of London for his
military services abroad. Although, in the
popular mind, he is sometimes remembered
as a tyrant (there were more than 100
executions in Hobart during the first 12
months of his regime), his administration
was so able that trade in 12 years grew from

£75,000 a year to £900,000 and the popula-
tion trebled. The aborigines' name for Port
Arthur was Premaydena.

Avoca

Near here the bushranger Dunn tied up

an old couple who kept an inn and then
attempted to set fire to the premises. The
victims were rescued by John Batman, born
at Parramatta, N.S.W., in 1800, and prom-
inent in the earlier history of Melbourne
and also exploration.

Badger Island

This island was once virtually ruled by a

Mrs. Beedon, known as Queen of Bass
Strait. She and her two daughters were
each over 6ft. and weighed, between them,

57 stone.

Beaconsfield

Thus named by Governor Weld in 1879,

after Lord Beaconsfield (Benjamin Dis-
raeli). It was first Cabbage Tree Hill, and
on the discovery of gold by the Dalley
brothers (1877) was known as Brandy

Creek. The mine yielded gold valued at

over £3 million.

Burnie

William Burnie, a director of the Van
Diemen's Land Co.

Campbelltown

After Henriette Campbell (wife of Gov-

ernor Lachlan Macquarie).

Elizabeth Town

After Governor Macquarie's second wife, Elizabeth.

Glenora

After Glen Norah, the daughter of a

pioneer.

Glenorchy

The Gaelic meaning is "tumbling
waters." Martin Cash, the bushranger, died here.

Golconda

Name associated with fabulous wealth,
because in Golconda, Hyderabad, diamonds
were brought, cut, and sold.

Gormanston

Viscount Gormanston was Governor of Tasmania, 1893-1900.

Hamilton

On the site this town the bushranger
Dunn was captured while concealed in a

haystack. He once shot the husband of a

native woman and, when she refused to
leave the body, cut the head off and,

making a hole through the nape of the
neck, suspended it by a cord about the neck

of a woman, whom he drove before him at the point of a knife.

When she got free she aroused her tribe

and led them against the white settlers,
judging all by the conduct of the bushranger.

Dunn appeared on the scaffold in a long white muslin robe with a huge black cross before and behind, a muslin cap, and a rosary in his hand. He continually struck his breast and exclaimed,"Lord, deliver us."

Heemskirk. Named by Flinders after one of the ves-

sels commanded by Abel Tasman (Heems-

kerck, 200 tons, carrying 60 men), 1642.

Native name: Romanraik.

Hobart

The name given to the settlement at
Risdon by Lieut. Bowen, 1803, in honor of
Lord Hobart, head of the Colonial Office.
When Collins removed the settlement he
retained the name but made it Hobart
Town. Officialdom called it Hobarton, but
in 1881 the legislature definitely made it

Hobart.

Latrobe

Charles Joseph Latrobe. For a few
months, 1846-7, he was Lieut.-Governor of

Tasmania.

Launceston

Governor King named it Patersonia after
Colonel Paterson, but the name was
changed to Launceston (the Cornish birth-
place of the Governor). The Cornish pro-

nunciation is Lahnson.

Mathinna

This was the name of an aboriginal
girl befriended by Governor Sir John
Franklin and his wife. After their departure

she reverted to native habits.

Mt. Bischoff

Named after James Bischoff, chairman
of the Van Diemen's Land Co., which, in
1825, got from Britain 250,000 acres of
land in the north-west of the island for 2/6
an acre. It was in difficulties when the
discovery of tin at Mt. Bischoff helped it
considerably.

Mt. Lyell

Opened as a goldmine in 1883 and 15
years later became one of the world's richest
copper mines. Named after Sir Charles
Lyell, the geologist.

Parattah

Aboriginal: "Ice."
Strahan

Major Sir George Cumine Strahan acted
for Britain in the Ionian Islands, Malta,
Bahamas. Lagos, Gold Coast, Windward
Islands, and Cape Colony. He was Gov-
ernor of Tasmania, 1881-86.

Sorell

Named in honor of William Sorell,
Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania, 1817-24.
He was the victim of organised wowserism
and recalled, although he had done a great
deal of valuable work. Earl Bathurst, a
little ashamed, gave him a pension of £500

a year.

The town of Sorell was captured by the
bushranging gang led by Matthew Brady,
an educated man who had been transported
for forgery. He disciplined the members
of his gang who were brutal to women,
would not countenance "unnecessary vio-
lence," and claimed that he never killed a
man intentionally. He was captured by
John Batman.

The natives' name for Cape Sorell was

Panatama.

Tamar

Named because the Tamar, in England,
is navigable to Launceston, which was the
birthplace of Governor King.

Aboriginal name: Penrabbel.
Tiberias, Lake

A name left by a British regiment which

had seen service in Palestine.

Waratah

From the flower. Its scientific name is
Telopea, meaning "far seen."
Wurrawana

Aboriginal: "Haunted."

Overleaf: S. Australia,
Northern Territory

CONTINUING:

The Romance of Place Names

SOUTH AUTRALIA

Adelaide. Native name was Tandarnya or Tan-
darynga. Named at the request of William

IV after his wife, the pious Queen Adelaide,

who in her will, left, some of her library to

South Australia.

Augusta, Port

Perpetuates the name of the wife of

Governor Young. Aboriginal name was

Kurdnatta, "place of drifting sand."

Barossa Range. Was named after the Battle of Barossa,

Spain.

Blanchetown

From the Christian name of Blanche

Skurray (Lady MacDonnell, wife of Gov-
MacDonnell). Blanchetown is in the
Hundred of Skurray. Blanche Water, from
same source, was named by Benjamin Babbage.

Bordertown

Named when the border line was in
dispute. The town is some miles from the
border. At one time gold escorts passed
through the district and it was suggested
that it be named Tolmer after the police

chief.

Cheltenham

Named by John Denman, a mason, who

came from Cheltenham, England.

Coonalpyn

Aboriginal: "Barren woman."

Gawler

After Governor Gawler, who fought at

Badajos and Waterloo.
Aboriginal: Kaleeya.

Georgetown

After George Fisher, who owned Bun-
daleer Station. The town was part of the
Bundaleer estate. Fisher was drowned when
the Admella was wrecked on a voyage from
Adelaide to Melbourne in 1859. Fifty-nine

out of 83 were lost.

Goolwa

Aboriginal: "The elbow." Early maps
show it as Port Pullen, after Captain Pullen,
second in command to Adelaide founder

Colonel Light. The captain became an

Arctic explorer.

Hahndorf

Native: Bukartilla—"swimming place."
Hahndorf was named after Captain Hahn,
of the Zebra, which brought 199 German

immigrants to S.A. in 1838.

Inglewood

A workman building a hotel won a prize
of five gallons of beer for suggesting the name.

Kangaroo Island

On February 2, 1802, the great navigator
Matthew Flinders went ashore. He wrote:

"It would be difficult to guess how many
kangaroos were seen, but I killed ten, the
rest the party making the number up to
31 . . . Half a hundredweight of heads,
forequarters, and tails were stewed down
into soup for dinner on this and succeeding
days." (Flinder's men had had no fresh
food for almost four months.) "In gratitude
for so seasonable a supply I named the
southern land Kangaroo Island." The name is Karta.

Largs Bay, Derived from the Gaelic "learg," meaning hillside. Named by the brother of Sir

Thomas Elder.

Macclesfield

The native name was Kangowirranilla,
"place for kangaroos and water." Named
by the original holders after the Earl of
Macclesfield, for whom their father worked.

Murray River

Named after Sir George Murray, presiding
over the Colonial Office when explorer
Sturt bestowed the name. Native names
for various parts of the river: Tongwillum,
Yoorlooarra, Goolwarra, Parriang Ka Perre.
Moorundie, Ingalta.

Nullarbor Plain

The name was bestowed by surveyor-
explorer Alfred Delisser, 1866, and recorded
as Nullus Arbor (Latin, "no tree"). The

native name was Bunda Bunda.

Oodnadatta

Aboriginal: Utnadata—"the blossom of
the mulga."

Peterborough

Formerly Petersburg. Named after Peter
Doecke, then in Germany. Name changed

during 1914-18 war.

Pirie, Port

Pronounced Pirie as in "pit." Named
after a Lord Mayor of London, one of
original directors of the S.A. company.
An early name was Germein's Roads. The
natives called it Tarparrie, "muddy creek."

Quorn

Abbreviation of Quorndon, Leicestershire.
Named by Governor Jervois because his
secretary succeeded to estates there.

Renmark

From native name for "red mud." It
was once part of Bookmark Station.

Riverton

Named by early settler James Masters,

who owned the site of the town in 1854.

Spencer Gulf

Named by Matthew Flinders in 1802 "in
honor of the respectable nobleman who pre-
sided at the Board of Admiralty when the
voyage was planned" (Earl Spencer). The
French navigator Baudin named it Golfe
Bonaparte.

Tanunda

Aboriginal: "Abundance of wild-fowl."
Tintinara

Corruption of aboriginal Tinyinlara, the
native name for the stars in Orion's Belt,
described in aboriginal mythology as a
number of young men hunting emus and
kangaroos in the sky.

GLENELG RIVER. After Lord Glenelg, who gazetted the
colonisation commissioners for South Australia. Aboriginal

name: Patawilya, "cloggy, green place."

Torrens River

Named in 1836 by Colonel Light after
the father of Torrens, author of the Torrens
title, which, by the way, the legal profession
at first opposed. Native names for various
parts of the river were: Karra Wirra Parri
(river of red-gum forest), Korra Weera,
Witoing. When in flood, Yertala.

Wilpena Pound

Wilpena is a native word signifying "place
of bent fingers."

Campbelltown

After Charles Campbell, who was so
strong it is said he once ran a race with
another man and won, although he carried
a pony half the distance.

Onkaparinga River

The aborigines' name for it, according to
different authorities: Ponkepurringa ("shad-
ows in water"), Unkaparinga, Ingangki
parri, Ungkeperringa (mother river; plen-
tiful). Once Field's River, but, through in-
fluence of Governor Gawler, reverted to

native name.

Ooldea

Native meaning is "meeting place where

there is water."

Wakefield, Port

Previously called Port Henry. Named
after the Rover Wakefield, which was
christened by its discoverer in honor of
Edward Gibbon Wakefield, the great col-
oniser. Wakefield, when a young man, was
described as "a fashionable idler" and "of
wild and almost insolent spirits, ready for
any frolic, and not discriminating too nicely
between frolic and mischief." He was tried
in England for the abduction of a school-
girl heiress and sentenced to three years in
Newgate, where he devised his scheme for
scientific colonisation. Wakefield St., Ade-
laide, was named after a brother.

Yorke's Peninsula

Matthew Flinders called it after the Rt.

Hon. Charles Philip Yorke, one of his pat-
rons, who became the Earl of Hardwicke.
The navigator Baudin called it the Peninsula
Cambaceres, after the French statesman
prominent in legislative work during the
Reign of Terror, who received the title of

Duke of Rome.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Alice Springs

Called after the wife of Sir Charles Todd,
South Australia's Postmaster-General, who
was primarily responsible for the building
of the overland telegraph line to Darwin.

Aborigines' name: Tjauritji.
Arnhem Land

After the ship of the Dutch navigator
who discovered it. Arnhem is an ancient
town in Holland.

Ayers Rock

Discovered by explorer Gosse, 1873;
named after Sir Henry Ayers, who arrived
in S.A. 1840, became secretary of a mining
company and later had a long Ministerial
career. His political rival, James Boucact,
called him a "brooding genius of obstruc-

tion."

Charlotte Waters

R. R. Knuckey, in charge of Section A
of the Overland Telegraph Line construc-
tion, wrote: "I jumped off my horse and
tasted the water. You can imagine my
delight when I found it fresh . . . We
solemnly filled our pannikins and I named

the 'waters' Charlotte after Lady Charlotte
Bacon, 6th daughter of the Earl of Ox-

ford."

Coburg Peninsula

After H.R.H. Prince Leopold of Saxe-
Coburg (son-in-law of George IV), who
became first King of the Belgians in 1831.

Daly Waters

After Sir Dominick Daly, Governor, who

died in Adelaide in 1868.

Darwin

After the author of "Origin of Species"
and "Descent of Man," who visited Aus-
tralia in the Beagle. Named by the Beagle's
captain. The cruise has been termed the
Columbus voyage of biology. When Darwin
came home from his voyage his father
exclaimed, "Why, the shape of his head is
quite altered."

Melville Island

Named after Viscount Melville, First
Lord of the Admiralty. Natives knew it
as Yermalner. Thc settlement was founded
by Captain Bremner, who began his sea
training on a guardship at eight years of age.

Powell's Creek

Explorer John McD. Stuart wrote June 19,
1861: "Crossed a large gum creek where I
watered my horses. This I have named
Powell's Creek after J. W. Powell, Esq., of

Clare."

Todd River

After Sir Charles Todd, whose Overland
Telegraph Line connecting Australia with
the rest of the world was completed in
August 22, 1872.

He said the proudest moment of his life
was when Alice Bell (see Alice Springs), the
girl to whom he was engaged, agreed to
marry him and go with him to Australia,
and the next proudest when he sat on the
ground at Central Mt. Stuart on the very
cold night of August 22, 1872, and with a
pocket instrument spoke to both Darwin and

Adelaide.

Overleaf: Queensland

CONTINUING: The Romance of Place Names

QUEENSLAND

Adavale This town takes its name from Mrs.
E. J. Stevens, who, while travelling to
Tintinchella with her husband in 1870, lost

her veil at the crossing of Blackwater

Creek "There goes Ada's veil," Mr. Ste-
vens cried, and ever after referred to the
spot as Ada's Veil Crossing.

Bowen

Named after George Ferguson Bowen,
first Governor of Queensland and a scholar
of note. Bowen was settled in 1861 by 111
persons who arrived in the Santa Barbara
and Jeannie Dove, and a few others who
came overland under the protection of

native police.

Bribie Island

Named after one of the early convicts.
Bribie Island aborigines ( Jindobarres)

were cannibals.

Brisbane

John Oxley named the River Brisbane
after the Governor of New South Wales.
The river had been found accidentally by
four timber workers who, in an open boat,
had been blown before the gale from a
few miles south of Port Jackson. During
the voyage one died of thirst. When their
boat piled up on what was later called
Stradbroke Island they thought they were
south of Sydney.

Oxley later selected the site (now North
Quay) for the new settlement, and Chief
Justice Forbes approved but wanted the
place called Edinglassie, a combination of
Edinburgh and Glasgow. His choice was
unpopular and the settlement took the name

of the river.

Buderim

Aboriginal: "Honeysuckle."
Bundaberg

The Bunda part of it is a name given
to an early surveyor of the district by the
Bunda tribe, who "adopted him," so that
the place became known as Bundaberg or

Bunda's town.

Bert Hinkler, the aviator, first to fly
solo from Great Britain to Australia, was
born here; so was Vance Palmer, the
author, and singer Gladys Moncrieff.

Cairns

Its first name was Thornton, after a
Queensland Collector of Customs. Later,
on discovery of gold at the Hodgkinson, it
became Dickson, after a Colonial Trea-
surer. When eventually laid out in 1876
it settled down as Cairns, after the Gover-
nor, William Wellington Cairns.

Charleville

Named by Surveyor-General Tully after
the small market town in County Cork,

Ireland, where he was born.

Charters Towers. The Charters is from the name of the gold warden who followed Hugh Mossman,
Clarke, and Fraser, the discoverers of the
site. Towers is a corruption of "tors," or
Peaks.

Dalby. Its first name was Myall Creek.
Dunk Island

Captain Cook christened it after the

Earl of Halifax, whose baptismal name was
George Montagu Dunk. Edmund Banfield
lived on this small island with his wife
from 1897 till his death in 1923, studying

tropical nature and writing books.

Esk

First owned by Alexander and Gideon

Scott and called by them after one of the Esk rivers in Scotland.

Gatton. From Gatton, Surrey, England where
the magnificent marbled Gatton House was

built by Lord Monson, whose ancestor had been falconer to James I.

Gayndah

From a native word, Gi-un-da, "thun-
der." It was part of a station called Ider-

away.

Goondiwindi

From the native '"goona" and "winnah,"
the droppings of ducks or shags. Many
birds resting on a rock had made it white.

Hughenden

Built on old Hughenden Station, formed
in 1863 by two pioneers who followed on
the heels of explorer Landsborough.

Ingham

After W. Bairstow Ingham, an engineer,
who was an early sugar-grower in the dis-
trict, owning Ing's Plantation. The settle-
ment had been called Lower Herbert. Mr.

Ingham was murdered by natives in New

Guinea in 1879.

Innisfail

The town took its present name from a
plantation owned by Mr. FitzGerald, estab-
lished in 1880. Innisfail is the poetical
name for Ireland, meaning the island of
the fail or stone of destiny on which Jacob
is supposed to have slept and which, it was
believed, was brought to Ireland. The
place was originally known as Nind's
Camp after P. N. Nind, the first white
settler, and then took the name of Gerald-
ton from Thomas FitzGerald, of "Innis-
fail." Geraldton gave way to Innisfail in

1911 to avoid confusion accentuated when

an American vessel surprisingly appeared
with a cargo for Geraldton, W.A.

Ipswich

At first known as Limestone Hill. A

post office, bearing the name Limestone,

was established there in 1846. Natives
called the locality Tulmur.

Jericho

After the biblical city, which in its hey-
day was known as the City of Palms.

Longreach

So named when surveyed because of a
long, deep reach in the river.

Mackay

John Mackay, a gold-digger at Armidale,
N.S.W., led a party of six whites and one

GLASSHOUSE MOUNTAINS were named by Captain Cook,
because of their appearance, as the Endeavour made its

voyage of discovery up the coast of Queensland.

Picture by J. O. Colohan

aboriginal ("Duke") with 28 horses and
discovered what is now called the Pioneer
River, but named Mackay by him on
May 18, 1860. The party suffered great
privations and Duke died on his horse's
back. Mackay arrived at Rockhampton on
July 10, tendered for the land he wanted,
and returned to Sydney by boat for stock.
He left Armidale again in July 26, 1861,

with 1200 head of cattle and arrived at

Rockhampton three months later. The land
he took up he called Green Mount. Cap-
tain Burnett had already named a stream
near Rockhampton the Mackay, and the
river discovered by John Mackay was re-
christened the Pioneer after Burnett's
vessel. As compensation the Government
named the new settlement after Mackay.

Nambour

Aboriginal: "Tea-tree bark."' Captain
Cook in his "Voyage Towards the South
Pole" refers to leaves of the "tea plant"
making tea and improving beer.

HINCHINBROOK ISLAND, from Cardwell, North Queensland. The
island was named by Lieutenant King in the Mermaid, after the
second title of Lord Sandwich, whose first was given to the Sandwich
Islands in the Pacific (now the Hawaiian Islands) and South
Atlantic. Cardwell was named after a British Cabinet Minister.

Picture by Adelie Hurley

Nudgee

Aboriginal: "Green frog."
Rockhampton

The name was suggested by W. H.
Wiseman, Crown Lands Commissioner,
because he came from Hampton, England.
One of the surveyors of the town was
A. F. Wood, who assisted in laying out

Melbourne.

Roma

Named after Lady Diamantina Bowen,
daughter of Count Roma, a noble of an
ancient Venetian family. She was the wife

of Governor Bowen.

St. George

Sir Thomas Mitchell in 1846 built a
bridge of rocks to cross the Balonne, and
named the crossing on St. George's Day.

Southport

After the English Southport. The natives
knew it as Goo-en, and it was once called
Nerang Heads. The Scottish Prince went
ashore here in 1887 and gradually broke
up; quantities of whisky were pilfered and

hidden on Stradbroke Island and there-

abouts, and were still being recovered

decades later.

Toowoomba

For some years the settlement was
known as The Swamp. Archdeacon Ben-
jamin Glennie preached at The Swamp in
1848, using the largest room in a local inn
for his sparsely attended services. He
apparently disliked the name of the settle-
ment, and at Drayton in 1852 baptised
children whose parents were entered in the
register as residing at Toowoomba. The
name got the endorsement of settlers at a
sports gathering on New Year's Day, 1858,
when the word was displayed in white let-

ters on a sheet of red calico and erected
at the winning post.

Townsville

Called after Robert Towns, who, as a
boy, showed remarkable aptitude for a sea-
faring life and at 17 was a skipper. He
saved his money and built a vessel, The
Brothers, which in 1827 was the crack ship
visiting this country. He married a sister
of W. C. Wentworth, the Australian patriot,
poet, and statesman. His vessels visited
not only Townsville but also Burketown
and other settlements before they had their

present names.

Winton

Was previously known as Pelican Water-
holes. The Winton is from a place near

Bournemouth, England.

Zillmere

After the Rev. Zillmere, who started a

German mission station.