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Revised Interesting Place Names and History of Australia Compiled by Emily Stehr Edited by Matthew Lau

Interesting Place Names and History of Australia

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Coonabarabran, New South Wales? Nganmarriyanga, Northern Territory? Mount Remarkable, South Australia? Beauty Point, Tasmania? Gannawarra, Victoria? Jerramungup, Western Australia? If you are wondering where these names came from, this is the book for you! Other interesting place names included, plus interesting history of Australia!

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Page 1: Interesting Place Names and History of Australia

Revised Interesting Place Names and History of Australia

Compiled by

Emily Stehr

Edited by

Matthew Lau

Page 2: Interesting Place Names and History of Australia

To Australia

With Love

Page 3: Interesting Place Names and History of Australia

*INTRODUCTION*

My name is Emily Stehr. I am by profession a physical therapist. I am by hobby a collator of historic geography. This is my attempt to pay homage to Australia. Any errors are fully mine. Please take time to do further investigation. I have done extensive endnotes regarding the supply of information I have obtained, including specific names, addresses, e-mail information, etc. If you have any corrections, additions, or feedback, please contact me at [email protected]. I have learned a lot about ‘Down Under’ through this process (I am from Pennsylvania, USA). Knowledge is power! Enjoy!

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*TABLE OF CONTENTS*

*TOPONYMY*

** ABORIGINAL RIGHTS **

**ABORIGINAL RIGHTS AND STATUS**

**ABORIGINAL STRUGGLE**

**‘BLACK LINE’**

**‘BUSH LEGEND’**

**CITIES OF SILVER AND GOLD**

**CLASH OF CULTURES**

**THE DREAM**

**GREAT DIVIDING RANGE**

**GOLD RUSH**

**INDIAN-PACIFIC AND NULLARBOR PLAIN**

**MASSACRES OF AND BY ABORIGINES**

**‘PIONEER LEGEND’**

**‘WHITE AUSTRALIA POLICY’**

**CHRISTMAS ISLAND**

***FLYING FISH COVE, CHRISTMAS ISLAND***

***POON SAAN, CHRISTMAS ISLAND***

***SILVER CITY, CHRISTMAS ISLAND***

**COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS**

***BANTAM, COCOS ISLANDS***

**NEW SOUTH WALES**

***ARAKOON, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***BAAN BAA, NEW SOUTH WALES***

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***BARYULGIL, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***BEN BULLEN, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***BIBBENLUKE, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***BILLINUDGEL, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***BOTANY BAY, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***BREEZA, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***BROKEN HILL, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***BROOKLYN, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***CAPTAINS FLAT, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***COONABARABRAN, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***COUTTS CROSSING, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***FREEMANS WATERHOLE, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***GIN GIN, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***HANGING ROCK, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***JEMBAICUMBENE, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***JERRABOMBERRA, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***KENTUCKY, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***LIGHTNING RIDGE, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***MICHELAGO, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***MOLLYMOOK, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***MOTH-HUNTERS, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***MULLUMBIMBY, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***MYALL CREEK MASSACRE, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***MYSTERY BAY, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***ONE TREE, NEW SOUTH WALES***

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***OOTHA, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***PEMULWUY, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***TAYLORS ARM, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***TEA GARDENS, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***TELEGRAPH POINT, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***THE ROCK, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***TOORAWEENAH, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***TUMBARUMBA, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***URANQUINTY, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***WALLA WALLA, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***WANTABADGERY, NEW SOUTH WALES***

***YOSEMITE, NEW SOUTH WALES***

**NORFOLK ISLAND**

***BURNT PINE, NORFOLK ISLAND***

***FATA FATA, NORFOLK ISLAND***

***GODS COUNTRY, NORFOLK ISLAND***

***STEELS POINT, NORFOLK ISLAND***

**NORTHERN TERRITORY (NT) **

***ALICE SPRINGS, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

***DARWIN, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

***FANNY CREEK, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

***KATHERINE, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

***KUNBARLLANJNJA (GUNBALANYA), NORTHERN TERRITORY***

***MARY RIVER, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

***NGANMARRIYANGA, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

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***NYIRRANGGULUNG MARDRULK NGADBERRE, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

***TAPATJATJAKA, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

**QUEENSLAND**

***BANANA, QUEENSLAND***

***BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND***

***GOLD COAST, QUEENSLAND***

***GREAT BARRIER REEF, QUEENSLAND***

***GYMPIE, QUEENSLAND***

***PORMPURAAW, QUEENSLAND***

***TOOWOOMBA, QUEENSLAND***

***WUJAL WUJAL, QUEENSLAND***

** SOUTH AUSTRALIA **

***BAROSSA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

***COPPER COAST, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

*** FLINDERS RANGES, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

***MARALINGA TJARUTJA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

***MOUNT REMARKABLE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

***ONKAPARINGA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

***PORT ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

***PROSPECT, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

***VICTOR HARBOR, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

**TASMANIA**

***BEAUTY POINT, TASMANIA***

***BREAK O’DAY, TASMANIA***

***CRADLE MOUNTAIN, TASMANIA***

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***PUNCHBOWL, TASMANIA***

***SCAMANDER, TASMANIA***

***WARATAH-WYNYARD, TASMANIA***

***ZEEHAN, TASMANIA***

** VICTORIA **

***ARARAT, VICTORIA***

***AUSTRALIAN ALPS, VICTORIA***

***BALLARAT, VICTORIA***

***BAW BAW, VICTORIA***

***BOROONDARA, VICTORIA***

***FRENCH ISLAND, VICTORIA***

***GANNAWARRA, VICTORIA***

***MOONEE VALLEY, VICTORIA***

***MOUNT HOPE AND DISAPPOINTMENT, VICTORIA***

*** MURRINDINDI , VICTORIA***

**WESTERN AUSTRALIA**

***JERRAMUNGUP, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

***JOONDALUP, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

***KALAMUNDA, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

***MOUNT MAGNET, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

***NGAANYATJARRAKU, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

***PEPPERMINT GROVE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

***PLANTAGENET, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

***SERPENTINE-JARRAHDALE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

*** SHARK BAY , WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

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***ULURU, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

Page 10: Interesting Place Names and History of Australia

*TOPONYMY*

Toponymy is the study of place names (toponyms), their origins, meanings, use, and typology. The word “toponymy” is derived from the Greek words topos “place” and onoma “name.” Toponymy is a branch of onomastics, which is the study of names of all kinds.1

**ABORIGINAL RIGHTS**

The beginning of Australian place names starts with the Aboriginal peoples of the region. While their entire history is a rich one, their long road to equality under foreign rule bears the most relevance here, as it brought with it a renewed interest and respect for the Aboriginal history and names of many places. Kenneth Morgan reports: “Aborigines had the right to vote in some Australian colonies, but Queensland in 1885 followed by Western Australia in 1893 debarred them from voting. The creation of the Australian nation in 1901 was concomitant with the exclusion of Indigenous people from the right to vote, from citizenship and from the census. When state and federal election rolls were standardized in 1922, Aborigines were excluded from the franchise. Legislation in 1949 confirmed those on state rolls could vote as well as those who had served in the armed forces. All were enfranchised in 1962. The success of the Civil Rights movement in securing advances for black people in the United States influenced this change. In Australia itself, the work of Aboriginal activists was also important. Harold Holt’s Liberal government held a national referendum in 1967 on whether the Commonwealth should be given the power to legislate for Indigenous Australians. Voters overwhelming supported this major political change. The inclusion of Indigenous groups in national politics was so limited by the early 1970s, however, that activists set up tents with an Aboriginal flag on the lawn outside Old Parliament House, Canberra, as an alternative parliament called a Tent Embassy.

“A major concern of Aboriginal groups lies in securing land rights. Two centuries of settler expansion throughout Australia led to pastoralists and mining companies operating businesses on lands that had ancestral, sacred significance for Indigenous people. The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act (1976) was the first legal recognition of the Indigenous system of land-ownership. It granted freehold title to Aboriginal groups to hold land that had previously been ‘reserves’. Two landmark legal decisions of the 1990s were also important. The Mabo judgment issued by the Australian High Court in June 1992 recognized for the first time that native title existed in parts of Australia and that Indigenous inhabitants were rightful owners of the soil. This implicitly contradicted the European colonizers’ understanding that Australia was terra nullius, but the legal decision only covered vacant Crown lands, national parks, and some leased land. Some state governments refused to cooperate over national legislation dealing with new land leases and compensation payments to Aboriginal communities.

“In 1996, in the Wik judgment the native Wik peoples and the Queensland government, judges ruled that native title and pastoral leases could coexist but that leases did not necessarily annul native title. This blurred the situation over the entitlement, occupation, and use of land. In the late 1990s, the Liberal government was unsympathetic to the implicit advance to Aboriginal rights operative in the Wik judgment, and it spent two years drafting legislation to protect owners of mining and pastoral leases. Howard summed up his government’s attitude on the matter by stating that ‘the pendulum had swung

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too far towards Aborigines and had to be reset.’ In 1999, Howard moved a ‘Motion of Reconciliation’, which expressed ‘deep and sincere regret that Indigenous Australians suffered injustices under the practices of past generations.’ Mounting evidence about violence, health problems, and sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities led the government to intervene in the Aboriginal affairs of the Northern Territory. On 13 February 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Labor government offered an official apology for the treatment of Aborigines by non-Indigenous Australians. Howard was the only living Australian prime minister who was absent on that occasion.”2

**ABORIGINAL RIGHTS AND STATUS**

JH Chambers declares: “It was in relation to the Aborigines that the largest shift in Australian attitudes occurred. Developments during the last two decades have been so extraordinary and so counter to most of Australia’s history since 1788 that ‘revolution’ is hardly adequate to describe them. Change began slowly both in Aboriginal consciousness and in white Australian attitudes, and it was several decades after World War II before the real changes began. The right to vote varied from state to state, and some Aborigines had to wait until 1962.

“Gradually Aborigines came to be more important in public life. In 1944, Reginald Saunders became the first Aboriginal army officer; in 1971 the Queenslander, Neville Bonner (1922- ), the first Aboriginal senator. In 1976 Pastor Sir Douglas Nicholls (1906-88) was made governor of South Australia, the first Aborigine to hold a vice-regal position; and Patricia O’Shane became the first barrister. In 1985 Canon Arthur Malcolm became the first bishop, in 1986 Ernie Badge the first cabinet minister, and in 1996 Gloria Shipp the first female Anglican priest. In 1965, following American precedent, Charles Perkins (1936- ), one of the first Aboriginal university graduates organized a ‘freedom ride’ through New South Wales country towns to protest against treatment of Aborigines. Increasingly, black political activism in the USA has provided a model for the more militant urban Aborigines.

“From the late 1960s, as Aborigines have become more vociferous and whites more socially conscious, in various ways the errors of the past have been redressed. A wide range of special government services, payments and privileges for Aborigines have since been introduced, at the same time as Aborigines have been encouraged to keep and recover their culture.

“Following intense scrutiny by parliamentary committees, in 1989, a powerful Aboriginal body, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), was established. ATSIC administers a government funded billion dollar budget, and coordinates sixty regional councils. Leading members of the Commission, such as the already well-known Charles Perkins, Lois O’Donoghue, Noel Person and others, became figures of national importance. Some leading Aborigines have lost no opportunity to deride the early settlers and past and present Australian governments for sins of omission and commission.

“Accompanying the increasing public face of Aborigines there erupted the issue of Aboriginal land rights. An early activist chairman of the Aboriginal Northern Land Council was Galarrwuy Yunupingu (1948- ). Yunupingu negotiated the first agreement between Aborigines and a mining company, the Ranger Uranium Mine in the Northern Territory, and stressed the significant link between Aborigines and the

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land. In 1982, based upon the federal signing of an international covenant on civil rights, the High Court found in favor of the federal government against Queensland government in the case of Cape York Aborigines, the Koowarta. The federal government then allowed the Koowarta to buy land previously held in a pastoral lease.

“During the 1980s in much of northern Australia, the federal government purchased former government Aboriginal reserves, religious missions, and pastoral properties, and allowed them to be administered by land councils controlled by local Aborigines. In the first large transfer, in 1984, 28,000 square miles of land (larger than Tasmania) at Maralinga in South Australia were returned to Aboriginal ownership. In 1985 Uluru (Ayers Rock) was handed back to the Aboriginal people who have lived for eons in its shadow. (At the same time, increasing thousands of tourists were arriving. Typical were whole jet-loads of Japanese who came directly from Tokyo to Brisbane and Sydney, before flying to Uluru to view the Rock’s majestic changes of color.) This trend accelerated. By the early 1990s, through legislation unprecedented in the history of the world, some 450,000 square miles (the equivalent of France, Spain, and Portugal together) stretching from the Southern Ocean to the Northern Territory coast, had been returned by the governments of the descendants of the settlers to descendants of the indigenous peoples – to Aboriginal trusts and groups. This 15% of the whole country was now controlled and owned by about 2% of its people. Though much of this was semi-desert, its actual and potential mineral and tourist wealth was enormous.

“The most controversial and revolutionary change, one which will reverberate for decades, was introduced by the High Court, in a finding now known to Australian history as ‘Mabo’.

“In 1992, after some years of deliberation, a majority of the High Court found that Eddie Mabo (1937-92) and other residents of an island in Torres Strait had demonstrated that they and their ancestors had worked the land continuously and so possessed ‘native title’, a concept not previously recognized in Australian law. In fact, native title entailed rights explicitly rejected in earlier court cases. If this ruling had been confined to the crop-growing people of Torres Strait, little comment would have resulted. But, controversially, the High Court also found that native title could be applied to the nomadic, hunting-and-gathering Aborigines of the Australian continent as well. In effect the Court argued that all earlier judges had misunderstood the common law.

“It will be recalled that something similar to ‘native title’ had been acknowledged by the British government in the nineteenth century as shown, for instance, in the documents establishing South Australia, and in the 1848 instructions by Grey, the Secretary of State for the Colonies. In fact, Aboriginal rights to access were usually included in pastoral leases in the second half of the nineteenth century. But in practice such enlightened conceptions were mostly ignored by the colonists and their governments. In 1992 it seemed Australian history had come full circle. Some Aboriginal groups stoked the fires of controversy by making legal claim to the central business districts of Brisbane and Sydney (including the Opera House), the Kosciusko National Park, the whole of Canberra, and so on.

“Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating gave the Mabo decision legislative teeth. His Native Title Act, which operated from the beginning of 1994, established tribunals to decide which lands should be returned to

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Aboriginal claimants. This legislation, though headline-catching, was in essential features ambiguous, badly drafted, and, as has been shown since, difficult to implement, with potential to cause unending conflict. For instance, in respect to Aboriginal lands it remained unclear whether governments or Aboriginal groups had the right to control essential services such as water pipelines, telecommunications, roads, sewerage, and the airspace above. Foreign and Australian investment in mining plummeted.

“In principle, the Keating legislation established that about 79% of all the land in Australia might be claimable as Aboriginal land. By early 1998, more than 700 new claims to Native Title had in fact been lodged. This meant that more than half of the total area of Australia was now either already owned by or claimed by Aborigines. But, because of problems in the legislation, few claims were being settled. Present-day Aborigines, the descendants of the original Aboriginal occupiers, are through miscegenation, in many cases only half, a quarter, or an eighth black. This situation is, however, consistent with the logically circular notion of ‘Aborigine’. For entitlement to rights and benefits, official government policy says that any person who is of Aboriginal descent, who is recognized as such by other Aboriginal people, and who recognizes himself or herself as Aboriginal is Aboriginal. On this definition, projections from the 1991 census estimate the 1999 Aboriginal population at about 350,000.

“The most extreme Aborigines now advocate separate legal and political institutions. Today there exist many formidable articulate, university-educated, well-read, talented Aborigines, fiercely proud of their heritage. Far from all Aborigines agree with confrontation, however. Many believe that there has been too much polarization. They want to see less Aboriginal aggression, and more concessions and conciliation.

“Keating’s successors, the Liberal-National government of John Howard elected in 1996, had the unenviable task of trying to work out how the demands of Aborigines and existing, and potential future, land users such as pastoral and mining companies, could be equitably reconciled following Mabo and the Keating legislation. To make the job more complicated, a second High Court ruling, that concerning the Wik people in a remote part of north Queensland, found in a 4-3 judgment that the existence of a pastoral lease did not extinguish any Aboriginal right to the same land – such title could co-exist. This ruling increased the scope for Aboriginal claims, and created economic uncertainly for sheep- and cattle-rearing pastoralists.

“In 1997, the Howard government introduced a ten point bill to clarify the ambiguities in the earlier legislation and in the Mabo and Wik judgments, and to produce a more workable system for claims. The Senate, in which the government did not command a majority, twice rejected the bill by a single vote. Opinion in Australia polarized. In July 1998, following the longest debate in the Senate’s history, the legislation, with amendments meeting Aboriginal concerns, was passed. To process land claims, the Act provided for tribunals within each state, to be established by the respective governments. Though some Aboriginal groups remained critical, it was generally agreed that the legislation would provide reasonable security for pastoralists and miners while at the same time respecting native title. Significantly, the Labor opposition in parliament was prepared to accept the Act, promising, when next in government, to amend it only on the basis of case law.

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“As in the way of such things, by the early 1990s, from the education system to the attitudes of the churches, all things Aboriginal had become the new fashion. Taking advantages of this mind-set, many white Australians, especially in the arts, discovered they could be more successful by pretending to be black. In 1996, for instance, a supposed autobiography by an Aboriginal woman won a national prize for a first book by a female, and became stipulated reading in the English syllabus of New South Wales secondary schools. It was later discovered that the author was a white male Sydney taxi-driver.

“Meanwhile, there have been significant areas of racial cooperation, initiated by private organizations and by government. White pastoralist groups and Aboriginal representatives have begun to work out compromises on land use acceptable to both sides. In many parts of the continent, archeologists and local Aborigines have discovered that cooperation brings important advantages for both parties. Another important but little-known example of cooperation is the three army reserve commando units of Norforce, a continuation of those of World War II, based in the Kimberleys, the Top End (Northern Territory) and far north Queensland, which guard and patrol Australia’s far northern coastal frontier. These units consist of white troops and volunteer Aborigines from local tribes, or men sent by the tribal elders. They practice the latest military techniques but they also live off the land, eating berries, kangaroo, and snake. In some communities Norforce is well into its second generation, with fathers and sons sometimes serving in the same unit. The paradoxes of cultural fusion are shown, however, in the recent comment of an Aboriginal private in Norforce who, while stressing that all his people recognize the power of sorcery, said that Norforce is very important and no amount of sorcery can stop an enemy bullet: ‘That’s reality.’

“In recent decades in relation to its Aborigines, Australia has been experiencing immense problems of readjustment. These involve all the excesses, pro and con, that occur when a nation reorients its fundamental values.”3

**ABORIGINAL STRUGGLE**

Kenneth Morgan shows: “Relations between white Australians and Aborigines were fraught with tension as two antithetical cultures clashed over land resources, social organization, and racial norms. Settlers considered they had the right to acquire land resources from the Indigenous owners of the soil – a practice that occurred in many other settler societies in the 19th century such as the United States, South Africa, and New Zealand. This land grabbing inevitably led to frontier violence. Punitive expeditions and violent clashes between Aborigines and settlers occurred in South Australia at Coorong lagoon in 1840, at Rufus River in 1841, and elsewhere. Other confrontations between Aborigines and settlers have already been noted. Native police forces were formed to protect frontier areas, and these sometimes resulted in Indigenous people recruited by the police force using physical force against fellow Aboriginal protesters. This was a frequent occurrence on the Queensland frontier in the 1870s. Aborigines offered stiff resistance, but settlers always held the whip hand in terms of enforcing law and order. In 1859, some Aboriginal groups in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley petitioned for the return of their land and the Victorian government reserved some land for them. Similar attempts to reclaim land by Indigenous people occurred elsewhere in Australia, but rarely with positive results.

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“The social organization and behavior of Aboriginal groups cut little ice with many colonial and state administrators. Officials assumed that Aborigines had little part to play in Australia’s expansive development, and that they should either be cordoned off into reservations or assimilated into the white population. This reflected notions about the superiority of the white race over Indigenous people, and of the higher place accorded to grafting European civilization in the Antipodes over the customs of a backward, static race. ‘The barbarous races will melt from the path of the Caucasian,’ the Deniliquin Chronicle noted on 17 February 1866, ‘not by a bloody or brutal series of massacres and poisonings but by a gradual and beneficial mingling and absorption.’ Separation, however, was more common than racial mixture. One notorious feature of separating the races was to take away Aboriginal children from their families. From 1883 to 1969, the New South Wales government had the right to seize such children under child welfare legislation. In the Northern Territory in the 1920s, police separated people of mixed Aboriginal and European descent from their parents. In various states, reserves were set up for darker-skinned Indigenous people, on the basis that their skin color destined them to live apart from the rest of the Australian population. Thus, during the first half of the 20th century, Queensland Aborigines were rounded up and herded into large-scale, state-controlled reserves. The view was frequently held that the Aboriginal ‘problem’ would eventually disappear as Indigenous people died rapidly from illnesses introduced by Europeans to Australia, such as gastric complaints and influenza.

“Aborigines generally resisted assimilation into white Australian ways of life. Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s attempts to train them as yeoman farmers in the 1810s failed because of the indifferent attitudes of Indigenous people to agricultural cultivation. Christian missionaries’ attempts to civilize Aborigines and to acquaint them with white standards of dress, deportment, religion, and imperial loyalty were similarly unsuccessful. Greater success with intermingling Indigenous and white people was achieved in the Northern Territory and Queensland’s cattle country in the early 20th century where Aborigines adjusted to settler ways of herding cattle and learned stock-work skills, which they could than adapt to their own needs. But adaptation was less frequent than either complete separation on reserves or attempts at assimilation. In the 1950s, the Commonwealth government embarked on a more thorough going assimilation policy to incorporate Aborigines into Western-style education, training, and health, but this continued the separation of families. Of course, personal liaisons between white men and Aboriginal women – more common than connections between Indigenous men and white women – could be found throughout Australia by the mid-20th century, but such households often carried a social stigma.”4

**‘BLACK LINE’**

Kenneth Morgan talks about: “The character and policies of different governors dominated the early politics of the Australian colonies because of the lack of elected assemblies and the fact that councils, where they existed, were largely nominated by governors. Governors differed considerably in their policies. Ralph Darling, for example, was notable in the 1820s for his strict oversight of felons in New South Wales, including the use of convicts in chain gangs to carry out government works. At the same time, Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur set about making Van Dieman’s Land an efficient jail for convicts, establishing the notorious Port Arthur penal settlement in 1830. He also pursued a policy of

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martial law against Aborigines, but his ‘Black Line’ – a military attempt to remove Indigenous people to peninsulas – was unsuccessful.”5

**‘BUSH LEGEND’**

Kenneth Morgan catalogs: “Urban and rural Australia both flourished in the 19th century, though in the popular imagination Australia was associated more with the ‘bush’ than with cities. Life in the bush was associated particularly with the itinerant workers who toiled in lonely locations, moving from place to place in search of work. They were predominantly male, and mainly comprised employees in the pastoral industry: semi-nomadic drovers, shepherds, shearers, bullock-drivers, stockmen, and over landers. GC Mundy succinctly characterized the typical bushman as ‘tall and spare, wiry and active, with face, hands, and throat burnt to a ruddy bronze, his saddle seemed his natural home.’ Helping one another to endure tough lives, such men contributed to the ‘bush legend’ as an integral part of Australia’s identity. They became renowned for their independence, resourcefulness, hardy natures, and stoicism, cultivating ‘mate ship’ among their co-workers. Russel Ward’s The Australian Legend (1958) claimed a central place for this rural proletariat in the making of modern Australia, arguing that their toughness, egalitarianism, endurance, and masculine conviviality stemmed from the convict era. These same qualities informed the ‘diggers’ in the two World Wars. Ballads and popular songs by Henry Lawson and AB ‘Banjo’ Paterson depicted the lives of the Bushmen. Australian painters celebrated bush life with pictures of shearers at work in golden light. These writers and painters, however, were usually based in the large Australian cities. Their creative work is as much a case of urban nostalgia for an imagined existence in the bush as an accurate portrayal of rural life in Australia.

“There was an underside to life in the Australian bush. Rural areas were frequently the site of conflict between several groups: squatters and small-scale agriculturalists, Crown land agents and people eking out a living on small homesteads, a downtrodden rural proletariat and the police. Squatters had occupied undeveloped land since the 1820s, mainly living on the profits of tending sheep and cattle. Their access to land was challenged in the 1860s when the colonial governments introduced legislation that allowed ‘selectors’ to acquire land at a minimal price. The intention of these Land Acts was to promote homesteads based on intensive agriculture, but that was rarely achieved. Those who forged an anti-establishment role in such an environment where bushrangers, found mainly in New South Wales, Victoria, and Van Dieman’s Land/Tasmania between 1815 and 1880. Armed and often operating in gangs, bushrangers, also known as bolters, engaged in cattle and horse stealing; they attacked the property of harsh taskmasters; and they never wittingly preyed upon the rural poor. They created an image of lawlessness in outback Australia, behaving as self-appointed righters of wrongs to some but as threats to private property by others. Ward argued that bushrangers had considerable appeal to Australians because of their bravery and independence.

“The most famous bushranger was Ned Kelly, the son of a former convict from Irish stock. Kelly grew up on an impoverished farm in northeast Victoria, and had an engrained hatred for the big squatters, supported by the law, the courts, and the police, in curtailing the land rights of small farmers. Kelly became a bushranger in the 1870s after serving several prison sentences for assault and robbery. He and his gang stole horses, robbed banks, shot policemen, and spent two years on the run. They were

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cornered at Glenrowan, Victoria, in 1880. Three of the gang was killed. Ned Kelly was captured, wearing bullet-proof armor he had made from the mullboards of farmers’ ploughs. He was tried, sentenced to death, and hanged in Melbourne on 11 November 1880. After having robbed a bank in the southern New South Wales town of Jerilderie, Kelly produced an 8,300 word testament called the ‘Jerilderie letter’, stating his grievances and political views. This rambling document shows Kelly’s sympathy for the downtrodden rural poor and his accusations of bad practice by the police: he hoped money could be given ‘to the widows and orphans and poor of Greta district where I spent and will again spend many a happy day, fearless, free, and bold, as it only aids the police to procure false witnesses and go whacks with men to steal horses and lag innocent men, it would suit them far better to subscribe a sum and give it to the poor of their district.’”6

**CITIES OF SILVER AND GOLD**

JH Chambers chronicles: “In far-western New South Wales, near the South Australian border, the Barrier Range rises ragged from the monotonous semi-desert salt-bush plains. The explorer Charles Sturt passed this way in his 1844 expedition and named an especially craggy eminence ‘Broken Hill’.

“In 1883, Charles Rasp, a boundary rider for a nearby sheep station, found silver on Broken Hill. Rasp and six others from the station formed a syndicate and pegged out some 300 acres. Five years later their 490 pound investment was valued at 6,500,000 pounds, for Broken Hill proved to be the world’s largest silver-lead-zinc lode, though projections see it terminating around the year 2020.

“The Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) was formed in 1885 and, within a few years, bringing water from the Darling River, a town of 20,000 people blossomed in the wilderness. Soon a railway connected ‘The Hill’ to Adelaide, for the South Australian capital and the colony’s ports were much closer than their New South Wales equivalents.

“BHP continued to expand. It first invested capital from the sale of ore in a smelting works at Port Pirie in South Australia. In 1900 it opened iron mines in South Australia and began to build a new port town at Whyalla on Spencer’s Gulf. By the time of World War I, it had laid the foundation of an Australian iron and steel industry. It became Australia’s largest commercial enterprise, and it still is, although it withdrew its stake in Broken Hill in 1939. Within ten years of the Broken Hill discovery, prospectors in Western Australia, in particular ‘Paddy’ Hannan, found vast quantities of gold in the desert more than 300 miles east of Perth. This time most of the diggers arrived from the eastern Australian colonies. One of the few overseas’ personnel was the young and ambitious mining engineer, Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), later to become present of the United States (1929-33).

“The rush begins first at Coolgardie, and then even larger reefs of gold were discovered at Kalgoorlie. The city of Kalgoorlie rose from the sands of the desert. Its main mining area was soon known to all Australia as ‘the Golden Mile’ and, within a few years, the population of Western Australia had trebled. A great feat of engineering by CY O’Connor (1843-1902), the man who had constructed Fremantle Harbor and most of Western Australia’s railways, helped make Kalgoorlie possible. For years, water on the goldfields had been almost as precious as champagne. O’Connor solved the shortage with one of

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the wonders of the age, a 340-mile pipeline, with steam pumping houses at intervals, bringing life across the desert from Mundaring Weir near Perth.

“A year before Broken Hill, another great mountain of gold and copper was discovered at Mount Morgan, 800 miles to the northeast, and inland from the central Queensland port of Rockhampton. The man who put Mount Morgan on the map was not an initial discoverer, but William Knox D’Arcy (1860-1917) an Englishman who had migrated to Rockhampton as a sixteen-year-old. He became the major shareholder in Mount Morgan Mines, and a multimillionaire. Mount Morgan was the earliest Australian company to pay 1,000,000 pounds in a year’s dividends. In 1908, D’Arcy became, as one historian has it, the most influential man in Middle Eastern history since Muhammad. For, from 1901, D’Arcy had been using a hunch and his fortune to search for oil in Iran, and, after seven years, his money almost gone became the first man to find it.

“As had happened on the Victorian goldfields, the rugged outback activity of droving was again crucial in the establishment of Broken Hill and of Kalgoorlie. The legendary figure of Sidney Kidman (1857-1935) began his rise by droving cattle and sheep to the hungry miners of Broken Hill. By the first part of the twentieth century, Kidman was the largest land controller in Australia, his vast string of adjoining cattle stations stretching more than 2,500 miles across the continent. In a similar manner, ‘Charlie’ Smith brought cattle to feed the Kalgoorlike miners, and made his fortune.

“On their stations such men risked their money in sinking bores to tap the deep, underground waters of what came to be known as the Great Artesian Basin. If water was found the whole district benefited. Outback districts might have had to wait twenty years before a reluctant colonial government did the same job.

“Kalgoorlie was the greatest of these later finds, but gold was found all across eastern Australia during the 40 years between the end of the Victorian rushes and the end of the century. This was particularly so in Queensland, first at Gympie in 1867, which rescued the near-bankrupt Queensland treasury, then in an anticlockwise direction, at famous Charters Towers inland from Townsville (for decades Charters Towers was the second largest city in the colony), at Cooktown and the Palmer River in the Cape York Peninsula, at Croydon in the Gulf Country, and at numerous other places.

“Lodes of silver and lead almost as extensive as at Broken Hill were discovered at Mount Lyell in Tasmania. There were many other great finds. These mineral discoveries in Australia have been termed ‘the rush that never ended’, and rich discoveries have continued throughout the twentieth century.”7

**CLASH OF CULTURES**

Kenneth Morgan conveys: “Australia’s population and economy reflects these geographical and climatic facts as well as the process of Aboriginal and settler use of the land. Archaeological evidence indicates that Aborigines have lived in Australia for at least 60,000-70,000 years and possibly for over 100,000 years. Only China, Java, East Africa, and parts of the Middle East have revealed traces of human life before that time. Aborigines were once plentiful in Australia: in 1788, it is claimed; their numbers were between 600,000 and 1 million. This ancient group of people lived semi-nomadically, moving from one

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fertile area to another along river valleys and near coastal plains throughout Australia. Aborigines had no sense of individual ownership of land. They believed the land was sacred and that the rocks, gullies, trees, and scrubs contained ancestral spirits. One such site is Uluru (formerly Ayer’s Rock) in the Northern Territory – the most familiar Aboriginal landscape symbol throughout the world.

“Aborigines survived by gathering food on a daily basis. Men generally hunted for real, while women combined their roles as mothers with gathering insects, fruits, seeds, nuts, berries, and small game. Collective practices, such as sharing food resources, were common. Aborigines controlled their population in relation to sustainable resources by infanticide when mothers already had one suckling baby. They eschewed settled agriculture partly because of the uncertainly of rainfall in Australia. Though connections existed between different groups, there was no Aboriginal nation. Indigenous people spoke a variety of languages, with different dialects, but neighboring language users could communicate with each other. In the late 18th century, there were at least 350 distinct Aboriginal languages. Aborigines had an oral culture. They also had a sign language counterpart of their spoken language. This was used particularly at times when speech taboos were observed between kin or during mourning rites and male initiation ceremonies. Aborigines have left paintings and have passed down memories from generation to generation, but they had no written culture.

“The contrast with Australia’s white settlers could hardly be greater. Europeans first came to Australia many centuries after Aborigines had already lived there. Transplanted Europeans had deeply held notions of private property, of settled agriculture, of domination of the land, of expansion into new territory, of possessing land as part of an empire, and of national rivalry. Settlers had an extensive print culture to write down laws, orders, and treaties. They had a strong strain of individual acquisitiveness and, unlike the Aborigines, no spiritual connections with the land. Most settlers clustered near the coastline, especially in the southeastern part of the continent. Nearly half of Australia’s modern population (9 million out of 22 million) lives in Sydney and Melbourne, which are the focal points of the most populous states – New South Wales and Victoria. In Western Australia, South Australia, and Queensland, urban centers are more scattered from one another and quite isolated. Perth, for example, is 1,672 miles by road from the nearest large city, Adelaide, making the Western Australian capital one of the world’s most isolated cities. Australia, then, is a land of varied geography and climate; but its natural barriers to human habitation caution against any simplistic notion that it could support a much larger population.”8

**THE DREAM**

Flavia Hodges discusses: “The Dream is the essential mythology of Aboriginal culture, which underpins the whole of traditional relations between the land and all (not merely humans) who inhabit it. Central to the Dreaming are stories describing the activities of spirit figures that are both ancestral to present species and living presences in the landscape. To those who believe in it, the Dreaming is not shadowy or vague, but more real than the phenomenal world that is sustains. The concept is also known in English as the Dreamtime (now deprecated since its stories are imminent in the eternal present rather than being creation myths) and by words taken from specific Aboriginal languages such as Alcerhinga

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(from Arrernte altyerre) and Tjukurrpa (from the Western Desert language). The English word Dreaming can also be used to refer to a particular story or to one of the central figures within it.”9

**GREAT DIVIDING RANGE**

JH Chambers displays: “Runs the entire east coast of the continent, so called because it divides the rivers of the coastal plain from those that flow inland – systems such as the Darling and Murray, and the rivers of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The section known as the Blue Mountains, to the west of Sydney, prevented movement to the inland for the first twenty-five years of the Sydney settlement. The highest and most extensively snow-covered section, on the Victorian-New South Wales border, is called the Australian Alps.”10

**GOLD RUSH**

Kenneth Morgan expounds: “Tensions arose, however, on the gold fields in Victoria and New South Wales. Licenses were required to dig for gold. On Crown land, they were initially 30 shillings per month, which lay beyond the means of most miners. Laborers could claim a mining plot of 12 feet square in Victoria. Disputes arose over access to land, the payment for licenses, and the heavy-handed police (often ex-convicts) who patrolled the gold fields. The barricading of diggers at the Eureka stockade, outside Ballarat, in December 1854, was a symbolic stand of miners against the forces of authority. It led to a 20 minute skirmish between miners and the police, resulting in the deaths of over 30 diggers and 4 soldiers; 130 protesters were taken prisoner. Though exaggerated as a landmark in Australia’s developing political consciousness, the incident led to a miner’s right of 1 pound per year replacing the detested licenses.

“The other main tensions present on the gold fields involved racial hostility between miners and the Chinese – the chief overseas group of non-Anglo-Celtic stock who panned for gold. The Chinese were regarded as heathen, dirty, non-Christian, opium-smokers, and stigmatized as the ‘yellow peril’. A colonist claimed the Chinese were ‘constantly exposed to insult and annoyance’ and ‘ruthlessly driven from their claims as soon as their wash-dirt showed any symptoms of richness.’ Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia all passed discriminatory laws against the entry of Chinese migrants, but these were repealed after the gold fever died down. An anti-Chinese riot occurred at Lambing Flat, New South Wales, in July 1861, in which 6,000 diggers turned on the Chinese. Police, soldiers, and sailors were drafted to quell the disturbance. Graves of Chinese miners in cemeteries in Victoria are a reminder of the Chinese influx at the gold rush of the 1850s.”11

**INDIAN-PACIFIC AND NULLARBOR PLAIN**

JH Chambers expresses: “Australia’s most famous train journey, the Indian-Pacific, traverses the continent and the 2,460 rail miles from Sydney to Perth in sixty-five hours. It crosses the dry New South Wales plains to Broken Hill, on to Adelaide in South Australia, and then to Port Augusta. The most famous and seemingly-endless section from Port Augusta to the gold mining town of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia takes about twenty-four hours to cross, and was built to fulfill a promise made to Western Australia at the time of federation to link the eastern states with Western Australia across

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1,100 miles of desert. The work on this section, begun in 1912, from the two existing railheads was completed in 1917, passing through the parched outback north of the Great Australian Bight, including the Nullarbor Plain. This plain straddles the Western Australia-South Australia border, and its first recorded crossing, at great peril, was by explorer EJ Eyre in 1840. It’s nearly 100,000 square miles of desolation from the world’s largest flat surface. Hence the Indian-Pacific runs on the world’s longest straight stretch of railway line – 300 miles. Latinate Nullarbor means ‘no tree’.

“Kalgoorlie-Boulder: these classic gold-rush towns about 370 miles east of Perth on the western fringe of the Nullarbor Plain were amalgamated in 1989. Gold was first found at nearby Coolgardie in 1892, but Patrick Hannan discovered the much larger Kalgoorlie deposits a year later, and these economically transformed the colony of Western Australia. The main area of deep rich ores became known as the ‘Golden Mile’. Hannan’s statue sit in front of the great 1908 town hall. On either side of the main Hannan Street, wide enough to turn a camel-train, stand solid public buildings and self-important old hotels. Site of the Western Australian School of Mines (1903) the town’s fortunes fluctuate according to world gold prices, though nickel is now the chief product of the region. Water is brought by a 340-mile-long pipeline (completed in 1903), from the Mundaring Weir near Perth, build across the desert.”12

**MASSACRES OF AND BY ABORIGINES**

JH Chambers tells: “The cycle of killing and revenge became endemic in almost every area of outback Australia, as the white pastoral frontier was continually pushed west and north during the nineteenth century. The following four examples are representative of dozens, and show just what a complex recipe for tragedy the encounters of the two cultures continually provided.

“In 1840, while sailing from Hobart to Adelaide, the ship Maria was wrecked off the Coorong. Twelve passengers survived to struggle ashore. At first, the local Aborigines helped the whites by carrying their children in the direction of Adelaide and giving those fish and water. When the boundary of their tribal territory was reached, in accordance with the strict Aboriginal rule of reciprocity, the blacks asked for clothes and blankets in recognition of their help. The Europeans, unaware of the rule, and perhaps unsure of their future needs refused but promised that, when they reached Adelaide, they would send such items back. The blacks began to help themselves. The whites resisted. Only the Aborigines had weapons, and all the whites were killed. In judicial retaliation, two Aboriginal men were hanged.

“The enlightened squatter, Daniel Cameron, had pioneered the Dawson River district of Central Queensland and established harmonious relations with the Aborigines who hunted on the lands where he had made his station. The state of affairs failed to survive the arrival of other squatters and the Native Police – by now notorious for the enthusiasm with which they massacred people of their own race. Spearing of sheep and shepherds and killing of Aborigines in retaliation brought about a massacre of eleven whites on a moonlit night in 1857 at Hornet Bank Station: the owner, Mrs Fraser, seven of her children, the tutor, hut-keeper, and shepherd. The tutor was castrated, the females all raped – this latter probably to repay earlier rapes of Aboriginal women. Posses of settlers and Native Police retaliated and, it is believed, massacred at least 150 Aborigines. Clearly, what little law existed on the

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frontier was being entirely ignored. For some years afterwards, William Fraser, the eldest son, who at the time of the massacre had been away bullock driving, took indiscriminate revenge on individuals.

“The story of the largest massacre of whites in Australian history is equally poignant. The genial Horatio Spencer Wells, son of an English convict, had been a successful editor and publisher in Sydney and a successful squatter in Victoria. Wills had been elected to the newly established Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1856 but wanted to set up an even larger station in the north. In January 1861 he sailed to Brisbane and, with his eldest son, Thomas, and his party of men, bullock dray, and sheep, set out on the long, tiring, 500 mile journey to his great adventure, a new station he called Cullin-la-Ringo, some 250 miles west of the young port of Rockhampton, and about 150 miles northwest of Hornet Bank. Since the Hornet Bank attack, Native Police in central Queensland had been acting without regard for the law, perpetuating a string of massacres. Wills seems to have been unaware that the Aborigines were planning revenge.

“One hot afternoon at the just-completed homestead, Wills and his people were taking their midday siesta when the Aborigines suddenly attacked. Wills was bludgeoned to death and eighteen of his white employees killed. Thomas Wills survived, being absent on an errand. He bore no grudge towards the Aboriginal people, but several groups of Native Police and a number of posses of settlers took fierce revenge. In a report to the Colonial Office, the Queensland governor claimed that seventy Aborigines had been killed by the Native Police. How many were killed by the settlers is unknown, but it may be guessed at least as many.

“Matters were often problematic in the more closely settled areas as well. For instance, in 1846, Brisbane’s Moreton Bay Courier reported that no person ‘ventures to trust himself unarmed beyond the precincts of the town.’ For a decade in mid-century, the white inhabitants of isolated towns, such as Maryborough in Queensland and Port Lincoln in South Australia, went in fear of their lives, and these towns came close to being abandoned.”13

**‘PIONEER LEGEND’**

Kenneth Morgan impresses: “The effects of settlers on the land have contributed to the Pioneer Legend as a potent symbol of Australian development. Pioneers included stockmen, itinerant workers, squatters, and small farmers. They often lived with their families in challenging rural conditions. They battled to carve out a living from the land, hoping to hand on the fruits of their property and capital from one generation to the next. They displayed hard work, enterprise, courage, and toughness. This view of Australia’s settlement places less emphasis on class division than the Bush Legend, and points to an enduring Anglo-Celtic culture in rural settlements. It is profoundly of people today in Australia’s state capital cities. But the Pioneer Legend created an Australian identity to the settlers and immigrants who had overcome the hardships of settlement on the sheep-runs, cattle stations, and outback farms. Sometimes staving off Aboriginal attacks was part of taming the land.”14

**‘WHITE AUSTRALIA POLICY’**

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Kenneth Morgan notates: “White Australians had already discriminated against Aborigines on racial grounds since the beginning of European settlement in New South Wales. Asian immigrants posed another type of racial and cultural threat. The presence of Oriental diggers at the gold rushes had induced colonies worried by the spread of alien habits and work competition (‘the yellow peril’) to enact laws against the Chinese – seen as the major Asian threat to Australia – in the 1850s and early 1860s. After the gold rush era, the legislation was repealed. Friction with Chinese immigrants revived in the 1880s when they again began to arrive. By that time, cheap labor supplied by ‘Kanaka’ Pacific islanders in the Queensland sugar industry also stirred up racial feeling. Dissemination of Social Darwinist ideas, discriminating against Asians on racial grounds, added to the dislike of non-white settlers in Australia. Racism lay at the heart of the ‘White Australia Policy’ as it did in a number of other countries – South Africa and the United States among them – which aimed to restrict immigrants according to a ‘global color line’ in the early 20th century.”15

**CHRISTMAS ISLAND**

PD Meek puts pen to paper: “On Christmas Day in 1643 Captain William Mynors named Christmas Island while sailing past the Island on board the Royal Mary. However, the first detailed shore exploration was in 1887 by the crew of the HMS Egeria. … As there were no indigenous people on the Island, these pioneers shipped Malay workers to the Island from nearby Cocos Island. In the late 1890’s mining leases were granted to the Christmas Island Phosphate Company and more Cocos Malays and Chinese workers were brought to the island to help establish the mining industry. Descendants of these early workers are still resident and have a long history of association with Christmas Island.”16

Alternatively, Stephen Trussel represents: “The name seems out of place on a map of the tropics, sounding so unlike the ‘nearby’ islands of Hawaii, 1300 miles to the north, or Tahiti, about as far to the south. In stark contrast to those mountainous Edens, this low-lying atoll was uninhabited at the time of Cook's Christmas Eve landing in 1777. It was dry and barren, apparently a period of drought; he found no evidence of earlier settlement, was pessimistic about its potential for commercial development.”17

Joseph Huddart specifies: “Christmas Island, called also Money Island; its latitude is in 10 degrees 30’, and the longitude generally assigned to it, near the meridian of Java Head. This island is high, and of a beautiful appearance, abounding with trees of different sorts, particularly coco-nuts and limes, and may be seen 10 leagues off, in clear weather. An anchorage in 14 or 15 fathoms was supposed to be on the north side of it, but Captain George Richardson, of the Pigot, has proved the falsity of that report. ‘In this course,’ says the Captain, ‘I made Christmas Island, at which I was very desirous of anchoring; I had both my boats in shore sounding for two days round the island, but without being able to find anchoring ground, having 95 fathoms, hard rocks, within a cable’s length of the shore. The island all around is steep to, nor is there any landing place for a boat, except one in the northwest part of the island, which is a small white beach, resembling sand, though it is nothing but white stones and coral. The boats landed there, and brought off a number of land-crabs and boobies, and saw several wild hogs, but did not discover any runs of water. After being fully convinced there was no anchorage, I stood to the northward.’”18

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***FLYING FISH COVE, CHRISTMAS ISLAND***

“Flying Fish Cove is the main settlement of Australia’s Christmas Island. Many maps simply label it ‘The Settlement’. It was the first British settlement on the island, established in 1888. The cove is named after the survey vessel HMS Flying Fish. About a third of the territory's total population of 1,600 lives in Flying Fish Cove. It is located in the northeast of the island; there is a small harbor which serves tourists with yachts, and an airfield some kilometers southeast from Flying Fish Cove. It is possible to dive at the settlement's beach.”19

***POON SAAN, CHRISTMAS ISLAND***

“Poon Saan is a small settlement on Christmas Island, an external territory of Australia. Ethnic Chinese make up the majority of inhabitants. In Chinese, Poon Saan means ‘halfway up the hill’.”20

***SILVER CITY, CHRISTMAS ISLAND***

“Silver City is a settlement on Christmas Island. In terms of ethnicity its inhabitants are Chinese and European with some Malay. The settlement was built in the 1970s, with aluminum/metal houses that were supposed to be cyclone proof.”21

**COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS**

Joseph Huddart tells: “The Cocos or Coco Islands lie 46 miles south, 17 degree west, from Preparia; there are two of them, the Great and the Little, which, in clear weather, may be described 20 leagues off.

“Great, or East Coco, the northernmost, is 4 or 5 miles long, 2 in breadth; and situated between 14 degrees 2’ and 14 degrees 8’ latitude north: its land is pretty high and hillocky, and entirely covered with wood. At its north end there are two small islands, one called the Table, and the other to the westward of this, named the Slipper, on account of its appearance when it is viewed from the northward. There is likewise another small island at the south end, joined to it by a rocky reef, which the sea just covers at high water. You anchor at the east side of Great Coco in 18 fathoms water, and opposite to a small island, called the Rat, or rather between it and a shoulder upon the large island, which forms a little deep bight: a considerable number of cocoa-trees grow along the beach, but nowhere else; nor is there any appearance of fresh water in that place; perhaps it might be had by digging pits, as some have done, upon these islands.

“The Little, or West Coco, or southernmost island, bears south 48 degrees west from the Great Coco, distance 8 miles, and is about 2.5 miles in length, and scarce half a mile broad; the land is moderately high, and covered with trees; there are here too some cocoa-nut trees, growing near the sea, but nowhere else; and monkeys and squirrels are numerous. Captain Morris, of the Boscawen, anchored in January 1763, about 3 miles off the northwest point of Little Coco. From the ship to the shore he found regular soundings decreasing to 10 fathoms, within a mile of the shore. They landed on the west side of the island, in a fine sandy bay, but found the rest all rocky; they could find no fresh water. Here are regular tides flowing north-northeast and south-southwest.”22

Joseph Huddart continues his chronicles: “The Keeling, or Coco Islands, are four small islands, surrounded by many islets and breakers, and extending above 16 leagues from north to south. They are

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very low, not to be seen above 5 leagues off in clear water, from an Indiaman’s deck, and covered all over with trees. The ingenious Mr George Robertson has determined their situation by an Arnold’s box chronometer in a short run from Java Head, and corroborated by three sets of lunar observations, objects east and west.

“The northernmost is a single low island in latitude 11 degrees 50 ’south and longitude 8 degrees 1’ west of Java Head, or 97 degrees 13’ east from London. It lies due north from the westernmost of the cluster of islands, distant 14 miles; ‘a fair passage lies between them, through which,’ continues the same gentlemen, ‘we passed in the General Coote, Captain Baldwin. The southernmost are a circular cluster of low islands, whose latitude is from 12 degrees 4’ to 12 degrees 23’ south. Their eastern extremity 7 degrees 50’ west of Java Head, or 97 degrees 24’ from London, and their western extreme in the meridian of the northernmost island. In ranging along the north part of the cluster of islands, we saw no danger detached from them, they being steep to, close into the shore, which is a beautiful white beach, appearing like sand, but which I believe is white coral, a reef runs out from the northwest corner of these islands, a shore quarter of a mile.’”23

***BANTAM, COCOS ISLANDS***

Joseph Huddart declares: “St Nicholas Point, called also Bantam Point, bears east 0.5 north 3 leagues from the Button. It seems unnecessary to come to this point, unless upon the appearance of an approaching calm, to secure convenient anchorage.”24

**NEW SOUTH WALES**

“In 1770 Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook, in command of the HMS Endeavour, sailed along the east coast of Australia, becoming the first known Europeans to do so. On 19 April 1770, the crew of the Endeavour sighted the east coast of Australia and ten days later landed at a bay in what is now southern Sydney. The ship's naturalist, Sir Joseph Banks, was so impressed by the volume of flora and fauna hitherto unknown to European science, that Cook named the inlet Botany Bay. Cook charted the East coast to its northern extent and, on 22 August, at Possession Island in the Torres Strait, Cook wrote in his journal: ‘I now once more hoisted English Coulers and in the Name of His Majesty King George the Third, took possession of the whole Eastern Coast from the above Latitude 38 degrees South down to this place by the name of New South Wales.’ This name was already applied to the southwest coast of Hudson Bay [Canada], which had been called New South Wales after his native land, by the Welshman Thomas James on 20 August 1631, during a voyage of discovery in search of a Northwest Passage into the South Sea. It was 139 years later that James Cook gave the same name, without explanation, to the east coast of New Holland.

“Cook and Banks then reported favorably to London on the possibilities of establishing a British colony at Botany Bay.

“Britain thereby became the first European power to officially claim any area on the Australian mainland. New South Wales, as defined by Cook's proclamation, covered most of eastern Australia, from 38 degrees South 145 degrees East (near the later site of Mordialloc, Victoria), to the tip of Cape York, with an unspecified western boundary. By implication, the proclamation excluded: Van Diemen’s Land (later Tasmania), which had been claimed for the Netherlands by Abel Tasman in 1642; a small part

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of the mainland south of 38 degrees (later southern Victoria) and; the west coast of the continent (later Western Australia), which Louis de Saint Alouarn officially claimed for France in 1772 — even though it had been mapped previously by Dutch mariners.”25

PM Cunningham displays: “On approaching the coast of New Holland, vessels always proceed direct through Bass Straits to Sydney, if the wind permits; but should it remain steadily contrary, they run round Van Diemen’s Land, which is two days’ sail about. Cape Otway, on the Australian continent, to the left of the Straits, and King’s Island, towards Van Diemen’s Land, to the right, are the points usually first attempted to be made. Upon the southern coast of Australia, to the west of Cape Otway, likes Kangaroo Island, (so named by Captain Flinden, on account of the number of those animals seen there,) where vessels from Sydney occasionally load with salt, which is formed naturally by the evaporation of the sea-water upon its sandy shores.

“Here a small colony of runaway convicts, some years ago, took up their residence, and still obtain a precarious livelihood from the kangaroos, seals, and shell-fish, wherewith the island abounds; deriving occasionally a few European necessaries by bartering the skins they procure with the vessels that call, and by assisting their cargoes.

“A few years back the charterers of a small vessel bound thither from Sydney decoyed two young women of that town on board, in the view of exchanging them with these Robinson Crusoes for the commodities they had to dispose of; but the wreck of the vessel in Bass Straits frustrated all the prospects of founding an independent white colony in that quarter – a least for some years to come. Many of the islands in Bass Straits also serve for an asylum to the convict runaways from Van Diemen’s Land, who collect seal-skins and seal-oil, which they sell to the small vessels that traffic with them, and the crews whereof generally entice these wretched creatures on board, and keep them in a state of intoxication until all the fruits of their labors are extracted at any price their detainers choose to fix. Many belonging to this class of beings will submit to live in a state of most abject wretchedness in the enjoyment of liberty, rather than feast upon sumptuous fare to which the bare name of work or control is attached. Accustomed to a life of wild irregularity, their minds can never be entirely subdued into contentment with a state wherein their bodily capabilities are urged into action, or their wills constrained.”26

***ARAKOON, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales expresses: “According to McCarthy (1963) Arakoon is an Aboriginal word for a hardwood parrying spear. However Endacott (1924) lists Arakoon as meaning ‘an echo’ and Aragoon as meaning ‘shield’.”27

Clement Hodgkinson notes: “The MacLeay River disembogues in Trial bay, latitude 30 degrees 40’ south. The entrance is obstructed by a bar of sand, the position of which is not infrequently altered by floods and other causes; it has, however, generally sufficient water on it for vessels drawing eleven feet. Trial bay is a good roadstead, being completely protected from all winds but those between north and east, from which quarters the winds are seldom strong. The basis of the country in the immediate vicinity of the mouth of the MacLeay river, is a pink granite, overlaid occasionally by dark-colored rock of trap

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formation; a few miles west of the bar, this granite rises abruptly to an altitude of nearly two thousand feet in the Yarra-Hapinni range; which is the termination of the range dividing the basin of the MacLeay river from that of the Nambucca river to the north of it. Mount Yarra-Hapinni is densely wooded to the summit, with an almost impenetrable forest of gigantic trees, but its spurs towards the sea descend in beautiful verdant park-like declivities to the beach, the grass growing luxuriantly, even within reach of the salt spray of the ocean. At the south extremity of Trial bay, the granite again rises in a lofty conical grassy forest hill, to which I gave the native name Arakoon; its gullies are enveloped in brushes of bangalo palms, cabbage palms, and gigantic ferns.”28

***BAAN BAA, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Narrabri Shire Tourism records: “Kamilaroi meaning: ‘Swim away’; pronunciation: Barn Bar. Located approximately 30km North West of Boggabri on the Kamilaroi Highway, Baan Baa had early beginnings as a squatting run. Little remains of this previously bustling railway village which once boasted its own bakery, two general stores, a stock and station agent, butchery, ice cream shop, hotel, two churches and a service station. Only the pub remains in what is now primarily a grain terminal, feeding in from the rich grain country surrounds. Consequently the sleepy town of Baan Baa starts to buzz during grain harvest. Recently opened coal mines in the vicinity may foster growth in the village, with brand new tennis courts perhaps serving the advantage back to Baan Baa’s court.”29

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales reveals: “As was invariably the experience after each expedition of discovery the country traversed was soon occupied by squatters; and, as usual, members of the exclusive party were quick to occupy good land.”30

Penny Jobling spells out: “Not much remains of this once bustling railway village which once boasted its own bakery, butchery and service station. You’re sure to strike up a yarn when you call into the ‘local’ for refreshments before continuing your tour.”31

***BARYULGIL, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales touches on: “A locality on Josephs Creek about 32 km south by east of Tabulam and 62 km northwest of Grafton. Aboriginal for: species of large lizard.”32

The Sydney Morning Herald clarifies: “The first property in the vicinity was the enormous Yulgilbar run, established as Swanlea at the end of the 1830s by Edward and Frederick Ogilvie, the sons of William Ogilvie. It covered 58,000 acres by 1848.

“Edward returned from a trip to England in 1859 with German craftsmen and a vision of a major homestead. Yulgilbar Castle was built between 1860 and 1866 and incorporated chandeliers, an Italian fountain and stone lions. The Governor, Earl Belmore, stayed there in 1869. Edward died in 1896 and the Castle began to decay. The furniture and effects were auctioned off in 1932. It has since been renovated and is a private home, not open to the public.

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“Goldrushes to Lionsville and Solferino, west of Baryulgil, took place in 1872-3 and mining continued until the early 1890s when prospectors were drawn to new finds in Western Australia. Coaldale was proclaimed as a village in 1885.

“Asbestos mines operated at Baryulgil from the early 1940s until closing in 1979; a legacy which has left the small town and its inhabitants and water supply polluted with asbestos. The mines were worked mostly by the Bunjalung people, the original inhabitants of the area. They began legal action against the mine owners in the 1980s.

“Baryulgil is essentially an Aboriginal community of some 200 people with a further 250 at the nearby Malabugilmah, a settlement set up to relocate some of the old workforce away from the asbestos pollution.

“Coaldale, 34 km south-east, is situated in an attractive valley, surrounded by beef cattle country. There are picnic tables and toilets near the old school building and the memorial hall.”33

Australian Asbestos Network Website Project documents: “Baryulgil was small chrysotile asbestos mine in northeast New South Wales (near Grafton) which was worked by the Bundjalung/Banjalang people who are the indigenous people of the area.

“The Wunderlich Company began mining and milling there in the early 1940s and in joint venture with James Hardie from 1944. James Hardie, through a subsidiary company, took full control in 1953, ending its involvement only in 1976. The works closed in 1979. Baryulgil’s fiber was railed to Sydney but never contributed significantly to James Hardie’s chrysotile requirements, the great bulk of which was imported from Canada. With a workforce of 30-40, the ore was mined and milled in very dusty and dangerous conditions.

“Dust permeated workers’ houses, and women and children were fully exposed. As at Wittenoom, tailings (mill residue) were spread around the community to settle the dust and provide material for road works. Children played in the tailings and on the mine site itself.

“‘We didn’t know it was poison,’ explained one wife.

“Many members of the community, especially men, have died prematurely but it has been difficult for people to win workers’ compensation or compensation from James Hardie because of the generally poor health status of the community and the prevalence of chronic bronchitis, pleurisy and pneumonia. Cases of asbestosis and asbestos-related lung cancer have been identified.”34

***BEN BULLEN, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales observes: “A village about 21 km north by west of Wallerawang. Aboriginal: two meanings have been given: ‘high, quiet place’ and ‘lyre bird’. On the other hand, Henry Lawson stated that Ben Bullen was a bullock driver who prospered by selling potatoes at the time of the gold rush at Mudgee.”35

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JL Dunmore recounts: “The road to Bathurst from Bowenfels runs due west, the road to Mudgee running northwest, immediately behind the Great Dividing Range that separates the eastern from the western waters. The country along the Mudgee road is an open pastoral country, apparently well watered, and presenting ever and anon flats of moderate extent, naturally clear of timber, and adapted for cultivation. There is evidently a much greater extent of land of this kind among these mountains than has generally been supposed, all of which in due time be occupied and cultivated by an industrious population. My third day’s journey, which did not exceed thirty-two miles, terminated at Ben Bullen, the estate of Thomas Cadell, Jr, Esq, a nephew of the late publisher of Sir Walter Scott’s works; who, with his father’s large family, had belonged to my congregation while they resided in Sydney.

“From the ascertained elevation of the surrounding country, Ben Bullen must be about 2,500 feet above the level of the sea. It forms one of the finest of the series of flats on the Mudgee road, the subsoil being stiff clay, and well adapted for the growth of all European produce. The climate is of course remarkably different from that of the low country on the coast; the difference is equal to ten degrees of latitude, and the harvest being two months later. The morning air is peculiarly agreeable and bracing; and, although there are keen frosts in winter, with occasional showers of snow, the climate on the whole must be delightful. I gladly accepted of the kind invitation of Mr Cadell, to rest for a day at Ben Bullen; especially as he volunteered to ride out with me to visit some of the natural curiosities of the vicinity, and in particular to accompany me to the heads of the Turon River, about four miles distant.

“Ben Bullen is a remarkable locality. Its distinguishing feature is continuous lines of perpendicular cliffs, separating the higher level or pastoral country from the lower or agricultural. The uppermost stratum in these cliffs consists of pudding-stone, varying in thickness from eight to sixteen feet. The next inferior stratum is sandstone of four feet in thickness. Then there is a stratum of what I supposed, from the metallic sound it emitted when struck, to be clink-stone, about an inch in thickness, filling up all the minor crevices of the next inferior stratum, as if it had been poured out over the underlying rock when in a state of fusion. There is then a stratum of conglomerate of three feet in thickness; under which there is a stratum of gypsum, or a substance of similar character, containing numerous crystals of a salt, of which, unfortunately, I did not ascertain the chemical nature, but which is used as a cathartic by the shepherds in the vicinity. In certain places the face of these cliffs is hollowed out into extensive semicircular caves of over-hanging rocks, in some of which the smooth face of the rock has been ornamented by the aborigines with numerous impressions of the forearm, with the fingers extended. I have never been able to ascertain the nature or object of this practice, which is common to the aborigines over a great extent of country; for I have observed similar impressions on the smooth face of the sandstone rock, in similar caves on the banks of the Hawkesbury, on the opposite side of the Blue Mountains; although on the Hawkesbury, the impressions were quite black, as if they had been made with a black paint, which had penetrated into the substance of the rock, while at Ben Bullen, they seem to have been formed with some unctuous but colorless substance (probably kidney fat), which has also penetrated into the rock. I believe the practice has its origin in some superstition into which the aborigines are not disposed to initiate white men; for the natives of the coast have an idea that a malicious spirit, called Koppa, frequents such caves, and they consequently never make use of them as places of shelter. This idea would doubtless be confirmed by an event, in which indeed it may have

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originated, and of which a traditionary account has been preserved by the natives on the coast, viz that a number of natives had on some occasion been killed by the fall of the overhanging rock, which formed the roof of a cave in which they had taken up their temporary abode.”36

Samuel Mossman and Thomas Banister say: “Passing through Mr Cadell’s property in the vicinity of Keening’s inn, we availed ourselves of his hospitable invitation on our way up to call upon him at Ben Bullen on our return, where we were most politely received by him and his lady. Ben Bullen is a pretty spot, and there is every probability of its becoming a valuable property. There is a good deal of land about it under cultivation; and as the hungry diggers accumulate at the neighboring goldfields, there will be great inducement to break up more. We accompanied Mr Cadell on a tour of inspection to that part of his sheep-run on the banks of the Turon where there were a number of diggers at work, and found about a hundred men busily employed, who were all more or less successful in finding gold; but a great many had left in consequence of the flood in the river. Mr Cadell found that one party had coolly taken possession of a shepherd’s hut, from which he was obliged to eject them; at the same time the men were civil enough, and hoped that no mischief had been done; however, it proved the necessity of proprietors of stations in the vicinity of the goldfields looking sharp after their property. On our way to this part of the run we rode through a rough country, where a tributary creek of the Turon passes between high and precipitous banks; but on our return by a different route, we saw some exceedingly good open forestland covered with abundance of grass, and fit either for sheep or cattle; this grass however, like most of the upland grasses, does not possess those fattening properties so valuable to the grazier on the lowlands. On this land excellent limestone has been found, and some of it which we saw was beautifully grained, like dark marble, suitable for chimney-pieces and ornamental slabs. Not far from the house also are several limestone caves, which, in the bush-ranging days of the colony, were the hiding places of a band of daring villains, known by the name of ‘Jewboy’s Gang’. The rocks of which those caves are formed shew remarkable imprints on them, as if they were impression of human arms and hands, which no doubt the geologist could trace to those extinct races of animals whose organic remains have lately been discovered. Epsom-salts have been found here also in a natural state; in fact, every day brings to light the hidden mineral resources of this most interesting country.”37

***BIBBENLUKE, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales spotlights: “A locality on Bombala River about 4 km north-northeast of Lighthouse Hill. Aboriginal: ‘place of birds’, ‘big lookout’.”38

***BILLINUDGEL, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales underscores: “A village about 6 km north-northeast of Mullumbimby. Meaning: ‘middle ground’ (between land and sea) from description of area of open forest hill slopes in which King Parrots may be found, but this is not the literal meaning of name. Another meaning: ‘meeting of the waters’, another descriptive meaning. Origin: Aboriginal. Name refers to the King Parrot and relates to either the home of the King Parrot, to an area the bird owned or to a place where the bird was found in great numbers. Also from Gidhabal bilin for ‘parrot’.”39

***BOTANY BAY, NEW SOUTH WALES***

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JH Chambers impresses: “On an exciting day, 20 April 1770, the first Australian land was sighted. Cook continued up the coast looking for an anchorage, and on 29 April he found a ‘… bay, which appeared to be tolerably well sheltered from all winds.’ It would later become famous as Botany Bay.

“The Endeavour anchored in the bay about 2 pm and the Englishmen showed deep interest in the activities of a party of Aborigines who were cooking fish in hot ashes on the shore. Cook ordered a boat to take a landing party of himself, Banks, the Swedish botanist Dr Daniel Solander, a pupil of Linnaeus, and Tupia (a native interpreter who had accompanied them from Tahiti) ‘in hopes of speaking with them.’ As the boat was slowly rowed towards the beach, the Aborigines ‘all made off except two Men who seem resolved to oppose our landing. As soon as I saw this I ordered the boats to lie upon their oars.’ The Englishmen, wanting friendly relations parleyed for about a quarter of an hour without any effect; Cook then fired a musket between the two Aborigines; Cook’s party landed; the Aborigines hurled their spears; the Englishmen fired a round of small-shot; the two Aborigines ran away.

“The Endeavour remained in Botany Bay for eight days. The array of scientifically unknown plants, animals, and birds, collected in such a short time has never been equaled. Realizing that this wealth of plants would revolutionize botany, Cook called the place Botany Bay. A stream was discovered and assumed to be strong enough to power a watermill; and, despite the generally sandy nature of the area, some patches of ‘deep black soil’. During a reconnoiter inland, the size of the grasslands stretching to the west amazed Cook.

“A few hours after leaving Botany Bay, Cook sailed past two tall headlands, noted the inlet between them which he called Port Jackson, but did not enter. Years later this magnificent natural harbor would became the site chosen for the settlement of Sydney.”40

***BREEZA, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales comments: “A town on the Mooki River 40 km southeast (by road) of Gunnedah. An Aboriginal word meaning ‘one hill’ in this locality; or Aboriginal for ‘a place of fleas’. The Breeza run and later all other uses of this name come from the Aboriginal descriptive name for Breeza Mountain. No official record of naming parish or town found; names of forest and railway station follow from parish and town names. Breeza run (sometimes spelt Breezer) is at the foot of Breeza Mountain that is the station headquarters.”41

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales adds: “It is not known if this Aboriginal word was obtained from the local tribe as a name of the Mountain or was first applied to the squattage Breeza and then by the settlers to the Mountain. The name was in use in the 1830s. Andrew Lang squatted on Breeza run before 1840. He claimed lease for the run in 1848. Samuel Clift acquired the run in 1849.”42

John Henderson emphasizes: “By midnight, the barking of many dogs gave evidence that we approached a station, and soon after crossing the bed of the Mooki, which is only a few feet below the level of the plain, we reached, a hundred yards further on, the bark hut called Breeza Station, and occupied by a low man of no very enviable character. My friend, however, had been there before, and had, on a former occasion, been of service to this individual. Moreover, this was not time to be particular, and our

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position, the jaded state of our horses, the lateness of the hour, and the want of all Inns formed excuses more strong and numerous than were necessary. We therefore knocked the sleepers up, and got admittance.”

He continues: “In Liverpool Plains great quantities of a small low tree called myall are found. It is generally about the thickness of the wrist, or arm, and its wood, which has a peculiar smell, and is partly black and partly yellow, is much prized for making the handles of stock-whips. Of the leaves and young branches of this tree the sheep are very fond, and in this season it was customary, and indeed necessary, for the shepherds to cut them down for their flocks; while the apple-tree was felled for the working bullocks and other cattle which lingered near the stations. At Breeza, I found a black girl (one of the aborigines) tending a flock of sheep, and I was informed that she did her work very well. Proceeding along the Mooki, we arrived, after two miles ride, at a bark hut, dignified by the name of store; and here, having previously learned that there were bushrangers out in the neighborhood, my companion bought a gun and some ammunition, for neither of us had brought any arms. This purchase was made more with a view to increase the stock of fire-arms at the station than to be of use to us on the road, and we were lucky in being able to procure this, as there was little else in the (so-called) store. The fact is, it was chiefly an establishment for ‘sly grog-selling’, sheltered under the garb of a bush shop, or store, but at this time they were out of everything, even rum.”43

***BROKEN HILL, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Breeanna Pitt gives: “In 1844, a boundary rider Charles Sturt saw and named the Barrier Range, and at the time referred to a Broken Hill in his diary. The broken hill that gives its name to Broken Hill actually comprised a number of hills that appeared to have a break in them. The broken hill no longer exists, having been mined away.”44

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales pens: “Originally Wilyagili Aboriginal land and their name for it was willy-ama said to also mean ‘broken hill’.”45

***BROOKLYN, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales scribes: “A town about 2 km south-southeast of Spectacle Island and about 2 km west by north of Croppy Point. Said to have been named after the Brooklyn Bridge Company who built the first railway bridge here. Peats Ferry post office changed its name to Brooklyn in 1888.”46

JP Powell states: “The original name for the area Brooklyn was Flat Rock, but changed to Brooklyn because that suburb of New York was the home of the Hawkesbury River Bridge builders, who also built the famous Brooklyn Bridge across the East River to Manhattan Island. The name Brooklyn was given to the station in 1888, and although it was subsequently changed to Hawkesbury River Station, Brooklyn has remained to distinguish the area. The foregoing explanation is the usual one for Brooklyn. However, other information shows Peter and William Fagan bought 100 acres at the site in 1881 and a plan of 29 January 1884 was for ‘a town of Brooklyn’. Subdivisions of some of the Fagan property were advertised as early as 19 September 1883 in the Sydney Morning Herald. As tenders for the bridge building were

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not called till 18 September 1884, it seems certain the name predates any association with the Union Bridge Company.”47

***CAPTAINS FLAT, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Debby Ferguson alludes: “People passed through the area as early as the 1830s, but it was not until the late 1870s when gold was discovered, that the town developed.

“Local folklore has it that the town was named after a white bullock, called Captain, which used to regularly slip away from a bullock team to grassy flatlands near the Molonglo River. The area subsequently became known as Captains Flat.

“The Reverend WB Clarke, an enthusiastic geologist, discovered gold in the area as early as 1852. He reported his discovery to the local landholders who, not wanting thousands of prospectors all over their land, managed to keep the news quiet until 1874. By 1881, fossickers had found substantial deposits of reef gold and major mining operations opened up the area. The following year, copper was found (which accounts for the denudation of the hills around the town) and by the late 1890s, the town was booming. It was around this time that the town's population reached 3,000 and it boasted five hotels, an oyster bar and a jeweler.

“By 1899, the mines were closing down and the town, like so many mining settlements, started to disappear. By the 1930s, there were only about 150 people living in the town and most of the equipment which had been used in the 1890s had been removed.

“In 1937, Lake George Mines built a 39-kilometer railway to Bungendore and, with new drilling techniques and flotation plants, reopened the whole area. Once again, Captains Flat was successful. By the end of the 1930s, it was second only to Broken Hill as its mines produced vast quantities of gold, silver, lead, zinc (the most important of all the minerals being mined), copper and iron pyrites. By 1962, this flurry of mining was over. The railway line closed down and the town's population declined.”48

***COONABARABRAN, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales communicates: “A town on the Castlereagh River and in the Warrumbungle Mountains. It is 465 km from Sydney having good road, rail and air facilities. It is near the Warrumbungle National Park. It is probably derived from Kamilaroi gunbaraaybaa, meaning ‘shit’. A meaning recorded earlier was ‘peculiar odor’, which was presumably a bowdlerization. Another possible Aboriginal meaning is ‘inquisitive person’. The Coolabarabran station was owned by James Weston in 1848. The local contraction is the Bran.”49

***COUTTS CROSSING, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Flavia Hodges depicts: “Commemorates Thomas Coutts, who caused some 20 deaths by adding arsenic to flour that he left to be stolen after taking up a holding in 1840.”50

***FREEMANS WATERHOLE, NEW SOUTH WALES***

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Ann Crump enumerates: “Both James and Mary Freeman were convicts. James was sent to Newcastle for secondary punishment in the time of Major Morisset and is listed as having received 50 lashes when at the lime burners camp - which means he suffered some of the harshest punishment possible in convict days.

“Both James and Mary were assigned to Robert Henderson - a large property owner on the central coast and the son of a second fleet convict - he was chief constable of Brisbane water at one stage - but was sometimes known as ‘Bob the smuggler’.

“When they had gained their freedom the Freemans managed a property called 'Cabbage Tree' for Henderson. This was where they encountered the 'Jewboy' gang who stayed at the property overnight in December 1840.

“Cabbage Tree was sold in the 1850s to Edward Hargraves of gold discovery fame and the Freemans were kicked off the property and 'squatted' at Wyee in around 1860. Cabbage Tree was renamed Noraville and the house Hargraves built from local cedar is still there (Norah Head near the lighthouse).

“Bad blood between Hargraves and the Freemans led to James Freeman, Jr, (their only son) fleeing to the New Zealand goldfields for a number of years to avoid arrest - but all the daughters married local families and half the bottom end of Lake Macquarie is descended from the Freeman girls.

“The family got very heavily into bullock driving and had a transport business moving goods from the coast to the lower hunter till well into the 1900s, and Freeman's Drive (the road from around Morisset to the gap into the Hunter Valley) is where they drove their bullocks - and Freeman's Waterhole at the base of the gap is where they changed teams to get over the mountains.”51

***GIN GIN, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Norma Meadley gives an account: “There are four villages named Gin Gin in Australia, one in Queensland, one in Western Australia, one in Victoria and one in New South Wales. In the book Australian Aboriginal place names compiled by James Tyrrell there is no mention of Gin Gin. This doesn't necessarily mean it is not an Aboriginal word; just that it is not listed as such. A local history book on Trangie says our Gin Gin was named by Granny Gibb who came from Victoria in 1866 and named it after the area she had come from down south in Victoria. These villages are pronounced differently in their states: ours is Gin Gin, but others are pronounced Jin Jin.

“In Volume 1 - the papers of JCS Handt, 1830-1842 - Wellington Valley (New South Wales) - the following was written – ‘26th December, 1834; Friday 26th. A large party of Blacks came today from Cobolyen (Wellington). Some of them were Ging Ging Blacks, so called from a place of that name far down the Macquarie River. They had never been here before. Conversed with them on the all-important subject of religion. I enquired after their names also, but they were unwilling to tell them, and merely answered that they were black fellows. Towards evening they went over the Bell River

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(Wellington). I went in search of them afterwards, but could not find them; however, I supposed them to be farther away than they really were.’

“1834 was many years before our area was fully developed, so I believe our Gin Gin comes from these early times. There was an early hotel in Gin Gin and it was called the Ging Ging Hotel. So to be honest with you I cannot say what the meaning of the name is or why the area was shortened to Gin Gin from Ging Ging. You may or may not know that Aboriginal women were called ‘gins’, a not very polite name, but one wonders if there is any connection.”52

***HANGING ROCK, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Charlie Adams points out: “The name of Hanging Rock came about as many years ago the remaining rock face that juts out of the face of a steep hill/mountain used to protrude out of the face of the hill fairly substantially to the extent that as early gold miners, settlers and before that explorers approaching the area from the plains and valleys around Nundle, it looked a bit like the rock was just hanging there. Over the years the overhanging rock has broken off bit by bit and fallen down into the valley below till now it is just a large vertical rock face on the side of the hill/mountain.”53

JD Lang relates: “The Hanging Rock Diggings are situated in the northwestern interior, about 240 miles from Sydney, near the rising town of Tamworth, on the Peel River, which has a population of 254. The goldfield in this part of the territory is supposed to be very extensive, covering an area of about a thousand square miles; and it has recently been yielding largely to the small number of diggers who had pitched their tents and fixed their cradles in this remote locality.”54

JD Lang continues: “Sydney, June 22, 1852. I think we shall have some great diggings here soon. You will see that we shall have our Mount Alexander yet, as well as the Victorians. There are deposits to the northward, on the Peel River, called the Hanging Rock Diggings, which are being developed very quietly. The parties there are doing wonderfully well. We hear of, and see weekly, large nuggets of 10 oz to 20 oz and upwards from that quarter. They are doing well – the few that are there – as those at Victoria.”55

***JEMBAICUMBENE, NEW SOUTH WALES***

WB Clarke stipulates: “Having visited various creeks and ranges between Braidwood and Budawang, I proceeded to Araluen, and on Sunday last assembled a congregation of about 40 persons under an Acacia tree. In consequence of the rain of the following day I could do nothing, but as soon as it was fine, I commenced my exploration. Araluen is a valley lying between ranges of Hornblendic granite, passing into syenite and porphyry, in which the proportion of quartz is very remarkable. Spurs run down at a very steep angle of inclination into the valley, and these are composed of hardened hands of quartzose or porphyritic rock with veins of trap; occasionally highly micaceous sandstone lays next the granite from which it has been derived. The descent to the valley is abrupt, and by the pass at its head, the slope is in places at an angle of 28 degrees and 30 degrees. The whole height from the summit of the mountain near Jembaicumbene Swamp to the bottom of the creek opposite the cattle station, I made 2,007 feet descending, and 2,005 feet ascending. The creeks being rapid and barred by bands of intrusive and hardened rocks, have occasional waterfalls; and it is in one of these creeks, at a depth of

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about 827 feet below the top of the mountain where the water falls over ledges of hardened granite, in which a dyke of very siliceous trap runs along the bed of the creek, that a considerable number of persons are employed. Most of these appear to be earning something more than ordinary wages, and a few are making considerable gains. One cradle belonging to a party of three was washed out in my presence, and about 3.5 ounces of very good gold were taken out, the produce of the day’s labor. The persons engaged in work in those ‘Upper Diggings’, appeared to me to be too closely assembled, and in a short time from the perpetual influx of strangers will become, I think, too numerous to find room to work to any advantage.”56

***JERRABOMBERRA, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Jerrabomberra Residents' Association writes: “The name Jerrabomberra is derived from the local Aboriginal place name meaning ‘boy frightened by storm’.

“In 1987, Jerrabomberra Estate Limited, with Alex Brinkmeyer, Col Alexander and Perth Millionaire Kerry Stokes as major shareholders, began developing John Palmer’s original (circa 1820s) farm land for housing. White Brinkmeyer’s relationship with the Queanbeyan City Council started badly, Queanbeyan Council later viewed Brinkmeyer as promoting and improving Queanbeyan.

“The first serviced blocks in stage one of the residential releases at Jerrabomberra Park was released in February 1988, ranging in price from $28,000 to $39,000. Jerrabomberra was established with the construction of the first homes in 1988 to 8,747 (2006 Census). Jerrabomberra has a main shopping center which contains a supermarket (Woolworths), medical center, bakery, butchery, hairdresser, chemist, green grocer, newsagent, real estate agency, video outlet, a restaurant and take-away and an established gym. On the same block of land as this shopping center are the Jerrabomberra Tavern, a Woolworths Service Station, a car wash and a drive-through take-away food outlet. Located within ‘The Park’ is a smaller set of shops, which contains a general store, take-away and bottle shop, hairdresser, the post office, medical center, and other small businesses. Jerrabomberra has a privately operated child care facility as well as a primary school.

“The Heights is mainly situated on the base of Mount Jerrabomberra. This mountain divides most of Jerrabomberra from Queanbeyan on the northeast and North Terrace on the northwest. The Park is situated on the plain to the south. This urban area runs down to Jerrabomberra Lake, an artificial lake that drains into Jerrabomberra Creek and is dominated by Cove Island, established 1992, (an artificial island which consists of eight homes and a central common facility entailing a tennis court, swimming pool and sauna).”57

***KENTUCKY, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Tom O'Connor articulates: “There is no empirical evidence as to why Kentucky is named as such. The village took its name from Kentucky Station (a station is a large sheep or cattle property - you would call them a ranch).

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“The current owners of Ohio Station have researched the names of Ohio and Kentucky Stations and believe that they believe they were named by Henry Dumaresq.

“There are many American state names in this region; Kentucky, Ohio, Wyoming and further afield Texas and Virginia in Queensland.

“Colonel Henry Dumaresq (pronounced Due mare ick) fought against the Americans in 1814 (during the 1812-1815 war) and was the person who named Ohio Station (probably in reference to the Ohio Valley in the US).

“You may not realize that Australia was settled by the British in 1788 as a direct result of the American War of Independence. One of the first actions that the American colonists took was to ban the transportation of convicts by the British Government to Virginia. The last shipload of convicts arrived at the James River in 1776. Between 1776 and 1787 many convicts were held in old hulks on the Thames. Sir Joseph Banks (who had travelled with Captain Cook on the Endeavour which mapped most of the Australian East Coast during Cook's first Pacific journey 1768-1771) persuaded the English government that Botany Bay in New South Wales was a suitable for a convict settlement. Thus the British Settlement was as a direct consequence of the American Revolution.

“The American influence on Australia was further strengthened following the discovery of gold in Australia. Many miners came from the Californian goldfields to the Australian goldfields and the Australian Constitution, whilst is based on the Westminster System, included ideas from the American Constitution when it was written in the late 1890s.

“The Texas Station, which gave its name to the small town of Texas, was as the result of interaction with miners and stories of the territorial dispute between the United States and Mexico.

“The 31st President of the United States, Herbert (Hail Columbia) Hoover, was a mining engineer who worked and developed many mines in Western Australia. As I Western Australian, born and bred in Kalgoorlie, I was aware of his work on the Sons of Gwalia, Leonora; Big Bell, Day Dawn near Cue; and other mines in Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. He was an extravert who rode the footplate of the first train into Cue in 1898. There is a photograph of the Main Street of Cue decked out in celebration of the arrival of the first train, in which the decorations on the main arbor, besides the bunting, are two flags the Union Jack and the United States Flag.

“I am sure that as you research interesting place names that you will find many more connections between the United States and Australia. Even in the United States you will find interesting names such as Wooster, Massachusetts, which is named after Worcester, which the English and Australians pronounce as Wooster (or WUUS-tar).”58

***LIGHTNING RIDGE, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales describes: “A town about 10 km east of Coocoran Lake and about 24 km south-southeast of Angledool Lake. It is about 74 km north of Walgett. Origin: ‘A flock

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of sheep in the vicinity was struck by lightning.’ So named because a mob of sheep were struck by lightning at that place. Name changed from Wallangulla to Lightning Ridge.”59

***MICHELAGO, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Elaine Schofield establishes: “Michelago started as a supply center for local grazing properties (1832). A petition was sent to the Postmaster General asking that a post office be opened at Michelago as their nearest post office was 30 miles away (October 1859). A post office was opened at Michelago. Robert Cameron was in charge (February 1860). A police station was opened during this time as bush ranging, horse and cattle thieving were rife. The Cooma Mail was held up on several occasions (1859-1862). The post office was moved closer to the police station (1871). A telegraph station was opened. The station consisted of two rooms adjoining the post office (February 20, 1878). Early spellings of the name Michelago varied so on 8 December 1887 the spelling as we now know it was declared the correct one. The railway reached Michelago (1887). The name Michelago may have come from the aboriginal word Michi meaning ‘lightning’.”60

Elaine Schofield adds: “’Micky let my leg go’ was another funny meaning I learnt years ago.”

***MOLLYMOOK, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Ulladulla.info highlights: “Mollymook began as farming area back in 1860 as part of Ulladulla. The Mitchell family owned a farm called Molly Moke, named possible after the Mollymoke Albatross. Today, Mollymook is a major holiday location and residential area on the South Coast NSW Australia. Sandridge General Cemetery overlooking at Mollymook Beach was established in 1893 and is still in use today.”61

***MOTH-HUNTERS, NEW SOUTH WALES***

JH Chambers expounds: “The most fascinating example of seasonal movement was that of the Ngayawun tribe of the southeast, who lived not far from the present site of Australia’s federal capital city of Canberra.

“Each spring the Ngayawun traveled into the brisk heights of the Snowy Mountains, when the Snow Daisies were in bloom. They were on the trail of the Bogong Moth, the nutty sweetness of which they considered a special delicacy. This moth migrates hundreds of miles each year from its breeding grounds in the plains of western New South Wales and southern Queensland to spend the summer aestivating (in torpor) in cool, dry, dark crevices on the mountain tops: as many as 13,000 have been counted on a square yard of rock. (In some years they are blown off course and fail to reach the mountains – huge numbers are then washed up on the beaches of Sydney.) With bell-shaped kangaroo skins and nets of bark fiber, the Aborigines would catch the moths in their thousands by scraping them from the crevice walls with sticks. Then they would roast the bodies in hot ashes and feast on them for weeks, growing fat. Sometimes the moths were ground to make flour for ‘moth cakes’ to take with them. Initiation ceremonies would also occur (often the women were forbidden to eat the moths) after which the Ngayawum would return to the plains to resume their normal hunting and gathering.”62

***MULLUMBIMBY, NEW SOUTH WALES***

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Geographical Names Board of New South Wales portrays: “A town on the Brunswick River about 17 km northwest of Cape Byron and 6 km west of Brunswick Heads. Meaning: ‘small round hill’, not referring to Chincogan, the local landmark, but to the hill on Goonengerry Road. Also, possibly derived from mulubinba, a native fern. It is possible that the name of the fern became used for the small round hill. Aboriginal origin.”63

***MYALL CREEK MASSACRE 64 , NEW SOUTH WALES***

JH Chambers puts pen to paper: “The further the squatters roamed from Sydney, the less was the law able to control them. Though spears were no match for muskets and rifles, the Aborigines fought back. Because squatters were so far from the reach of the law, callousness and murder became all too common. In 1838 the Faithfull brothers, of ironic name, while droving their cattle in central Victoria fought a pitched battled with the local Aborigines, killing perhaps fifty. Vicious deeds escaped undetected but, after the Myall Creek massacre in 1838 in which twenty-eight Aborigines were murdered, Governor Gipps determined to set an example: eleven white men were brought to trial and seven hanged. This judicial interference was much resented by the outback white community, and, within a few years, such settlers closed ranks and the earlier confrontations and murders resumed largely unabated.

“Robinson complained to Earl Grey, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in London. Grey’s reply, sent in an 1848 dispatch to the governor of New South Wales, pointed out that the granting of pastoral leases was never intended to deprive the Aborigines of their former right to hunt in such districts, or to wander across them searching for sustenance from foods spontaneously produced by the soil. They could be excluded only from land actually cultivated or fenced for that purpose. Earl Grey implied that all future settlement in Australia was to be governed by these principles, and they were, in fact, embodied in all leases for pasture acquired in Queensland, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory in the second half of the nineteenth century. What this meant essentially was that Aborigines had the right to come and go as they might desire and to follow their traditional way of life. Grey’s principles should have achieved an equitable and mutually tolerant period in race relations. In practice, in the dry outback or far north, 500 or 1,000 miles from the capital city of the colony, his ruling was honored by the settlers mostly in the breach, and dispossession and bloodshed continued. The fact that with the granting of responsible government in the 1850s Crown land came under the jurisdiction of the various colonial governments reinforced this trend. For instance, in Queensland the colonial parliament was largely controlled by pastoral interests.

“Moreover, in many areas, influenza, smallpox, and measles were once again more deadly to the Aborigines than overt fighting. Such diseases penetrated even where Europeans had never reached. And, in places where race relations were amicable, alcohol often took over as a destroyer of the black man and his way of life, for the alcohol of the outback was not beer, but the less-perishable, more addictive spirits and rum.

“Of course, there were always settlers who struggled for the rights of the Aborigines. Besides the Aboriginal Protectors, all across the continent and throughout the century compassionate men and

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women were appalled at the treatment often accorded the native people, and fought to stop it: ex-convicts, humble Bushmen, selectors, miners, journalists, clergymen, missionaries, government residents. But, in fact, only some kind of reservations or protectorates across vast areas of the country could have saved Aboriginal civilization and, under the inexorable momentum of the pastoral industry and the vicious ethics of frontier life, there was no will to do this until late in the century. It was only in the final decades of the nineteenth century that this was achieved in a very inadequate form, when special government reservations and church missions were established to protect Aborigines. For many outback Aborigines this remained official policy until after World War II. In recent years this policy has been harshly criticized by Aboriginal and white commentators for its paternalism and destruction of Aboriginal culture.

“Proper consideration of Aboriginal land rights had to wait upon another age with another attitude. It would be more than 130 years after 1848 before large areas of Australia came under Aboriginal control once again; and Grey’s humane principles have become significant legally in Australia only in recent years as a source for Aboriginal claims.”65

***MYSTERY BAY, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales remarks: “A bay on the south coast, lying on the northwest of Boat Harbor Point and 5.5 km east by north of Central Tilba. Origin: Named after the unexplained disappearance of five men, including the government geologist Lamont Long, on 10 October 1880. Their empty boat was found in mysterious circumstances, abandoned and wrecked, on a reef in the bay.”66

***ONE TREE, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales shares: “A locality about one km north of One Tree Tank and about 9 km south-southwest of Ulonga Tank. So named because of one tree only in the area. A large gum tree.”67

***OOTHA, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales stresses: “An address locality surrounding the village of the same name and located in both the Forbes and Lachlan local government areas. Meaning: ‘ear’. Origin: Aboriginal.”68

***PEMULWUY, NEW SOUTH WALES***

JH Chambers notates: “The Aborigines certainly offered resistance although, fortunately for Phillip, never enough to imperil the settlement. One particular Aborigine led what can be seen in modern terms as a resistance or guerilla band. His name was Pemulwuy. Between 1790 and 1802, when he was shot by two settlers, he and his followers fought a gallant hit-and-run campaign against the whites of the Sydney region. He was wounded, captured, escaped, and wounded, several times over. Indeed, a legend of immortality grew up around his name. At one point the then governor offered a reward for Pemulwuy dead or alive, of 20 gallons of spirit, two suits of clothes, and, if a convict, a free pardon and

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recommendation for a return passage to Britain. In praising this enemy of the settlement, the third governor, Captain Philip Gidley King (1758-1808) wrote about Pemulwuy, ‘Altho’ a terrible pest to the colony, he was a brave and independent character.’ Such racial strife would continue for the rest of the century as the settlers expanded inland.

“But something more deadly than white men’s muskets had soon begun destroying the Aboriginal population. As early as the end of 1788, convicts and marines going about their chores around the harbor began to see Aboriginal corpses lying in increasing numbers on the beaches and in the coves. This situation was the result of the spread of fatal disease, probably smallpox, inadvertently brought by the newcomers, and especially potent to these Aboriginal people who had developed no immunity. Within a few years, mortality was so high that social life for the tribes around Sydney had completely broken down. Later, similar disasters would be repeated throughout the continent.”69

***TAYLORS ARM, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Joy Lane composes: “The origin of the name is a little clouded - the Arm no doubt comes from the branch or arm of the river - Nambucca River has two arms branching at Macksville, North Arm and Taylors Arm. Taylor probably comes from a man of that name having a ‘run’ or property taking in land in the Nambucca and Macleay shires in about the early to mid-1800s. This was called Try Station. This wasn't owned but rather a type of lease. At this time there was very little development on the north coast of New South Wales. The first Europeans came in search of red cedar timber in the 1830s and the first land taken up on the Nambucca River was not until the 1860s. No doubt the early Europeans ran some cattle on their runs but the main reason was to have access to the timber. Another source suggests that the area was named for an Englishman, Taylor, who lived in a shack in the bush and brewed sly (Bootleg) grog. As this happened in the late 1800s after the name had been in use for some time, this does not bear out. You might be interested in another locality at the end of Taylors Arm River - Thumb Creek. I have been told that this area came to be named because, if you hold out your left hand palm up the thumb sticks out to the left.”70

***TEA GARDENS, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales designates: “A town in the Tea Gardens address locality, near the mouth of the Myall River, about 2 km northwest of Hawks Nest. Origin: name derived from attempt by AA Company to start a tea-growing industry in the Hunter region.”71

***TELEGRAPH POINT, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council expands: “Originally known as ‘Apple Tree Flat’. Named after the telegraph line that ran between Port Macquarie and Kempsey crossing the river at that point. The town grew after the railway extended north between 1915 and 1916.”72

***THE ROCK, NEW SOUTH WALES***

National Parks and Wildlife Service illustrates: “Aboriginal people have known this area for over 40,000 years. Understandably, any natural feature, particularly in the flat and open country through which the

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Murrumbidgee River flows, had special significance as a signpost as well as a spiritual focus for the nomadic tribes who came and went. While no evidence of Aboriginal activity has been found on The Rock itself, it is believed to have been used for initiation ceremonies. The land and waterways, and the plants and animals that live in them, feature in all facets of Aboriginal culture - including recreational, ceremonial, and spiritual and as a main source of food and medicine. They are associated with dreaming stories and cultural learning that is still passed on today. We work with local Aboriginal communities to protect this rich heritage. To find out more about Aboriginal heritage in the park, you can get in touch with the local Aboriginal community. Contact the park office for more details.

“The first European on the scene was Charles Sturt in 1819 and the area was settled by 1847. The property, which included the rocky protrusion, had been named Hanging Rock, after a spectacular overhang dominating the rock's eastern face. The overhang disappeared in early 1874, after a large rock fall. The local township clung to the name until 1918 when the name was officially changed to simply The Rock. Quarrying began on The Rock's lower slopes in 1891 and continued until the 1940s.”73

***TOORAWEENAH, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales maintains: “A village about 40 km southwest by west of Coonabarabran and about 40 km northeast of Gilgandra. Meaning: Tooraweeena, for ‘plenty of brown snakes’. Origin: Aboriginal.”74

***TUMBARUMBA, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales maintains: “A town about 2.5 km west by south of Tumbarumba Station and about 2 km north of Tumbarumba Cemetery. Meaning: reported to mean ‘hollow sounding ground’. Probable a Wiradhuri term for ‘sound’ or ‘thunder’, though other Wiradhuri terms for ‘thunder’ have been recorded. May be ‘sounding ground’ or ‘place of big trees’. Origin: Aboriginal.”75

Sydney Morning Herald renders: “This was part of the Wiradjuri country before European settlement. It is from Wiradjuri language that the word tumbarumba, probably meaning 'sounding ground', is derived. It has been suggested that there are places in the district where if you hit the ground it has a hollow sound.

“The first Europeans into the area were Hume and Hovell who passed through in 1824. They were followed by settlers who moved into the area in the 1830s. The first town settler arrived around the early 1840s. Settlement was sparse until the 1850s when gold was discovered.

“Gold was discovered in the Tumbarumba district in 1855 and the Tumbarumba Gold Field was proclaimed in 1866. The township was surveyed in 1859 and lots were officially sold in 1860.

“The Tumbarumba goldfields were still operating as recently as the 1930s. In the early days they attracted large numbers of Chinese who worked the goldfields and established elaborate sluices and water races to assist their labors.

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“A brief moment of infamy occurred on 24 July 1864 when the bushranger 'Mad Dog' Morgan shot Sergeant David Maginnity near the town. The incident occurred on the road between Tumbarumba and Coppabella. Morgan simply approached two policemen and shot one of them. The other, Trooper Churchley fled and was later dismissed for cowardice although he insisted his horse bolted when the shot rang out. The event was widely reported in Sydney and did much to establish Morgan as Public Enemy No 1. After the killing the government put a reward of 1,000 pounds on Morgan's head.

“The railway didn't arrive until 1919 and it was closed by the 1970s. Consequently it never really made an impact on the town's prosperity.

“Today Tumbarumba is sustained by the agriculture which surrounds it. It is still central to an area where timber, apples, tobacco, sheep and cattle have proved to be profitable.

“Tumbafest is an annual festival featuring country music and local foods and wines. It is held in February.”76

PE de Strzelecki sheds light on: “To follow the course of that river from this gorge into its farther windings is to pass from the sublime to the beautiful. The valley of the Murray, as it extends beneath the traveler’s feet, with the peaks Corunal, Dargal, Mundiar, and Tumbarumba, crowing the spur which separates it from the valley of the Murrumbidgee, displays beauties to be compared only to those seen among the valleys of the Alps.”77

***URANQUINTY, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales suggests: “A town on Sandy Creek about 13 km southwest of Wagga Wagga. Meaning: derived from Wiradhuri yurrung for ‘rain’ and perhaps the suffix –quinty is derived from –dhurray for ‘with’. Origin: Aboriginal.”78

***WALLA WALLA, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales calls attention to: “A town about 12 km northeast of the village of Burrumbuttock. Meaning: is probably Wiradhuri in origin, but no meaning has been verified. May possibly come from Wallawalla for ‘rain’. Origin: Aboriginal. History: In 1868 a group of 56 Lutherans in 14 covered wagons and two spring carts set out from the Barossa Valley in search of suitable land. Two months and 1,000 km later they settled where the village now is.”79

***WANTABADGERY, NEW SOUTH WALES***

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales connotes: “A village about 24 km southeast of Junee. Meaning: ‘fighting’. Origin: Aboriginal.”80

***YOSEMITE, NEW SOUTH WALES***

John Low details: “’Yosemite Park Estate’ was the name given to a new subdivision opened in North Katoomba in 1910. While I have no evidence of any direct connection, it is interesting that six years earlier the man most closely associated with the establishment of the great American national park of

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the same name, pioneer environmentalist John Muir, paid a brief visit to the Blue Mountains during the Australasian leg of his 1903-4 world tour.

“Having spent Christmas 1903 in Melbourne and visiting the Mountain Ash forests around Healesville, Muir sailed up the east coast to Sydney. Then, on New Year’s Day, he caught the train to Mount Victoria where an early mist gave way to sunshine and the ‘promise of a fine day’. While ‘crowds of visitors’ were already in the Mountains for the holiday weekend, the Blue Mountains Gazette reported that ‘every train brought increased numbers.’ Muir went unnoticed among the holiday throng.

“In the Mountains for approximately a week, he was impressed by Jenolan Caves and expressed similar enthusiasm for the ‘gloriously forested’ and ‘very fine’ landscape surrounding Katoomba. Not everything, however, was to his liking for one diary entry on 3rd January records his displeasure at ‘the sad sight’ of blackened trees and stumps, the results of a substantial land clearance. The exact location he is describing is unknown but his distress at what he saw is acute: ‘tens of 1,000s of dead bleached tree ruins prostrate encumbering the ground or erect gaunt bleached stumps with few snubs of main branches stretched to heaven as if for help.’

“It is interesting that, at the time of Muir’s visit, a ‘very noticeable failure to keep the reserves in good order’ appears to have been a subject of public discussion. The day after Muir left the Mountains a letter from ‘A Mountain Visitor’ appeared in the Blue Mountains Gazette (8th January 1904) lamenting the ‘very large number of exceedingly attractive spots sadly neglected. In numerous instances there will be found mountain tracks in lamentable disrepair, while seats and hand railings are in ruins in all directions, finger-posts and direction boards have disappeared, and a general state of decay is painfully noticeable.’ I wonder if any of this neglect was noted by Muir.

“The John Muir Papers are held in the Holt-Atherton Center for Western Studies at the University of the Pacific in California. Little from his journals and correspondence has been published about his Australasian visit. Perhaps the most comprehensive account of his travels in Australia and New Zealand is contained in C Michael Hall’s John Muir’s Travels in Australasia, 1903-4: Their Significance for Conversation and Environmental Thought, in John Muir: Life and Work, edited by Sally Miller (1993). Hall had access to Muir’s papers but when I contacted him a couple of years ago he was unable to give me any further information about the Blue Mountains excursion.”81

**NORFOLK ISLAND**

“The first European known to have sighted the island was Captain James Cook, in 1774, on his second voyage to the South Pacific on HMS Resolution. He named it after Mary Howard, Duchess of Norfolk.”82

TravelOnline explains: “The day after the First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay, Lieutenant Philip Gidley King began selecting the handful of men and women whose fate it would be to be colonists on Norfolk Island. Britain was then engaged in the American War of Independence and her supplies of timber for ship-building and flax for sails was almost exhausted.

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“When Captain Cook discovered Norfolk Island, he enthusiastically reported that flax and giant pines grew abundantly there. His Majesty's Government had a further reason for colonizing Norfolk - if the British didn't, the French would. Lord Sydney's instructions to King were ‘to send a small establishment thither to secure the same to us and prevent it being occupied by subjects of any other European Power.’ Six women convicts were chosen as those 'whose characters stood fairest' and they were joined by nine male convicts and eight free men, their ages ranging from 16 to 72.

“The oldest, Richard Widdicombe, had been a farmer. He was convicted for ‘stealing one wooden winch and other goods, value four guineas', and was sentenced to seven years transportation. The youngest, Charles McLennan, was convicted when he was only 14 years of age and given seven years for ‘stealing a bladder purse, value one penny, one gold half-guinea, one half-crown, and six pennies'. Of the motley 759 persons who arrived with the First Fleet, these 23 were selected as ‘the best of a bad lot'.”83

TravelOnline continues: “In a remarkably short eight days, King had completed all arrangements and HMS Supply sailed out into the vast South Pacific Ocean on a thousand mile journey to an island measuring five miles by three.

“Norfolk Island was sighted at 11 am on the 29th of February and for five days the vessel sailed to different points around the coast, endeavoring to find a place to land. Just six weeks earlier, the great French explorer, La Perouse, had found landing behind him. He described it as a place fit only for 'angels and eagles.' Lieutenant King began to share this view.

“Faced everywhere with surf-lashed cliffs up to 300 feet high, he managed to secure a toe-hold at a couple of spots but found nowhere suitable for the landing of a large party. Eventually, at a spot King named Sydney Bay, his Ship's Master discovered a channel through the reef sufficiently wide to allow the passage of the larger launches, the longboat and the pinnace.

“The First Settlement was not designed as a mere dumping ground for convicts. These were the forerunners of a community which, it was fondly hoped, would fashion masts of pine and sails of flax. They were also to turn Norfolk into a garden which would feed the struggling, barren settlement back in Australia. Nevertheless, an extreme measure was enforced to ensure there would be no escape: the Governor of New South Wales forbade the building on Norfolk of any vessel longer than twenty feet. It was probably a baroque worry. To reach New Caledonia in the north, the escapees would have needed to navigate over about 400 miles. South-east, to New Zealand, was over 500 miles. And due West, to the spot where Byron Bay stands today, stretched 900 miles of trackless ocean.”84

JH Chambers represents: “In late February 1788 twenty-three convicts and marines were dispatched to Norfolk Island 900 miles to the northeast to establish a second colony. Norfolk Island was the earliest example of the casual attitude to daunting distances that would become a commonplace of the Australian psyche as the white settlers spread across the continent in later decades.

“Within a year, on the island’s fertile soil, this little outpost became self-supporting, and so another 200 convicts were sent. Unfortunately, the native flax and the tall pine trees of the island proved to be unsuitable for sails and masts.”85

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***BURNT PINE, NORFOLK ISLAND***

“A map of 1844 labels the area 'Sheep Station', and a 1904 map shows the area as large rural holdings. The impetus for founding the town came in 1942 during the Pacific War when construction of a military aerodrome began (now the Norfolk Island Airport). This involved the destruction of the convict-planted Pine Avenue for the east-west runway. Between 1943 and 1944 the Army produced the Burnt Pine News, the first eponymous use of the place name. By the end of the war, a number of shops and a new hospital had been built around the intersection of Taylors Road and Grassy Road (the original location of the name Burnt Pine), and in 1946 Rawson Hall was built in Taylors Road. Regular commercial air services from 1946 onwards brought a gradual increase in tourism, and Burnt Pine was well placed on the airport edge for siting new guest houses and shops, such as Holloway's 'Sample Rooms' and a tea shop operated on a rise in Taylors Road known as Holloways Hill. A new hospital was built in 1952 on the Grassy Road corner. The expansion of the town matched the growth of the tourism industry. Development spread eastwards along Taylors Road: Prentice's duty free shop opened on Taylors Road in 1953, as did the 'Leeside' store near the New Cascade Road corner. The tourist boom started in the mid-1960s and as the town spread the name Burnt Pine followed and now refers to whole urbanized area.”86

***FATA FATA, NORFOLK ISLAND***

Joshua Nash imparts: “The [Norfolk] noun fata fata describes ‘an islet in a natural running stream or water course, whatever the size.’ It is also the common term used to refer to an area of swampland on Norfolk. Buffett claims it has its origins in the Tahitian ‘open, not filled up or closed’. I have also heard the meaning ‘to flatten out’. The proper noun Fata Fata refers to a specific area, a creek located on pleasantly undulating land near the Steels Point and Cascade area in the eastern part of Norfolk, just near the end of Cutters Corn. There is a large fata fata in Fata Fata.”87

***GODS COUNTRY, NORFOLK ISLAND***

“Rachel Borg notes that, ‘Gods Country is a general term often used in good-natured ribbing. If one Norfolk Islander talks to another about which part of the island they live in, you will often hear them talk about Gods Country. It’s a long-running joke, a subtle jibe and an allusion to the fact that they live in the best part of the island. But here is the Irony: Gods Country is no particular place at all. If you grew up at Steels Point, then that’s Gods Country. If you then moved to Shortridge, then funnily enough, that’s Gods Country too. At the end of the day, all islanders agree that Norfolk is Gods Country.’”88

***STEELS POINT, NORFOLK ISLAND***

“Steels Point – Easternmost point of Norfolk Island.”89

**NORTHERN TERRITORY (NT) **

Self-explanatory

***ALICE SPRINGS, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

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NT Place Names Register mentions: “Alice Springs City as a suburb is so named because it is the central business district of the Town which in turn derives its name from the waterhole of the same name.”

“The Alice Springs waterhole was discovered and named by Government Surveyor WW Mills in March 1871, whilst exploring the MacDonnell Ranges during the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line, after Alice Todd, wife of the Superintendent of Telegraphs, Sir Charles Todd.

“The Alice Springs Telegraph Station was built adjacent to the waterhole. Government Surveyor David Lindsay surveyed the township in 1888 and named it Stuart after John McDouall Stuart the first European to blaze the trail from South Australia across the center of Australia to the north coast.

“After the railway arrived in Stuart in 1929, the town grew and in 1932 the Alice Springs post office was moved into the town of Stuart. This duplicate naming caused confusion and the following year (1933), the town was renamed Alice Springs.”90

***DARWIN, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

Place Names Committee puts into words: “This suburb based on the Central Business District of Darwin derives its name from the harbor which was named by Captain Stokes and Wickham in 1839 after their former shipmate Charles Darwin who had travelled on the HMS Beagle on a previous voyage.

“The settlement was named Palmerston by Goyder in 1869 and reverted to Port Darwin by the turn of the century and in 1911 was officially renamed Darwin.

“Streets within the Darwin Central Business District were mostly named by Goyder after leading members of his Survey Expedition.”91

***FANNY CREEK, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

Place Names Committee reports: “Fannie Bay is believed to have been named by the surveyors of Goyder's expedition to found the present day Darwin in 1868, after Fanny Carandini, a popular opera singer of the time.

“Fanny Carandini was the daughter of an exiled Italian Count, Count Gerome Carandini, and tenth Marquise of Saranzo, who came to Hobart, Tasmania, in the 1840s and married Mary Burgess who became a noted opera singer. Madame Carandini and her daughters Fanny, Rosina and Lizzie formed a famed singing group, travelling widely in Australia and overseas.

“In 1868 the Carandinis held concerts in Adelaide a month before the South Australian Surveyor-General, George Goyder, and his party set out in the 'Moonta' to found Palmerston (the present day Darwin). One of the concerts was a benefit night for 'Fannie' Carandini and some of Goyder's surveyors would almost certainly have been there.

“The reason for the difference in the name 'Fannie' or Fanny' is unclear. In his book Australasia and the Oceanic Region published in 1876, William Brackley Wildey wrote of the Palmerston of 1874 –

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‘PALMERSTON is laid out in 1,019 half-acre allotments, and extends nearly three miles across to Fanny Bay, so named by the surveyors after Miss Fanny Carandini - this is prettily and healthily situated, facing the ocean, about four miles from town, a little beyond the town boundary.....’

“However, Hoare, one of Goyder's party on the expedition to Palmerston, wrote in his diary ‘March 1 (1869): Public Holiday. I went with Capt Barneson & Dr Peel to Talc Point. Got some specimens of shells, talc and coral. I made a sketch of Fannie Bay, Point Emery.....’ Also, in the early maps of Darwin the spelling 'Fannie' was used.

“One explanation for the confusion could be that the Carandinis changed the spelling of their names for promotional purposes. Although Fanny Carandini's death certificate reads 'Fanny', in newspaper reports and advertisements in her singing days the spelling 'Fannie' is used. Her mother appears to have done the same, changing her name from 'Mary' to 'Marie'. Goyder's surveyors would possibly have taken the version 'Fannie' name from a program or a poster advertising the Carandinis' concerts in Adelaide.”92

***KATHERINE, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

Mike at www.uluru-to-kakadu.com shows: “The Katherine River was named by John McDouall Stuart when he passed through the area in 1862 on his sixth and successful journey across the continent. The town of Katherine and the nearby Katherine Gorge subsequently took their names from the Katherine River.

“Stuart crossed the Katherine River on 4 July 1862 and recorded in his diary: 'Came upon another large creek, having a running stream to the south of west and coming from the north of east. This I have named 'Katherine', in honor of the second daughter of James Chambers Esq.' As was the case with many other the settlements in the Northern Territory, the next stage in the development of Katherine was the arrival of the Overland Telegraph Line and the establishment of the Katherine Telegraph Station on 22 August 1872.”93

***KUNBARLLANJNJA (GUNBALANYA), NORTHERN TERRITORY***

Joy Cardona shares: “Gunbalanya also known as Oenpelli. Pronunciation:  Gun-bal-unya.

“The majority of Aboriginal residents of Gunbalanya are Kunwinjku, ‘freshwater’ people whose traditional land extends from the community to the Mann and Liverpool Rivers in the east, and just short of the coastline to the north.

“Gunbalanya is surrounded by coastal black soil plains, swamps and escarpment country. Three tall rocky hills: Arrguluk, Injalak and Banyan overlook the community which lies adjacent to a large billabong. The turn-off to Gunbalanya from the sealed Arnhem Highway is 4 km before Jabiru. The road passes through by Ubirr and the Border Store to Cahill’s Crossing on the East Alligator River and on to Gunbalanya. It is 16 km of dirt road from the crossing to the community and in the dry season travelers can drive from Darwin in about three hours or from Jabiru in less than an hour. Northern Land Council permits are required to cross the East Alligator River, the western boundary of Arnhem Land.

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“Gunbalanya’s location at the edge of Kakadu means that the area is popular with tourists visiting the Park or taking part in tours.

“Before 1900 the main Aboriginal people living around Gunbalanya escarpment were the Mengerr, Erre, Wuningak, Gagudju and the Amurdak.

“The traditional territory of the Kunwinjku people stretches from the upper reaches of Cooper Creek, north of Narbalek towards the Liverpool River and southwest to the area of Maningrida. The original Gunbalanya group, the Mengerr, lived in the Injalak area. These groups spoke their own language within their tribal lands and related to one another through the common Kunwinjku language.

“About 1900, European buffalo shooters arrived in the area, bringing with them western goods such as tobacco, sugar and alcohol to trade for access and buffalo hides. Other major tribes of Western Arnhem Land, the Gunbalang, Maung, Ngumbur, Dangbon, Gundjehmi and Karik peoples, made their way westwards towards the buffalo camps and new mining settlements attracted by the supply of western goods and education for their children. Some chose to live in the camps or on newly established cattle stations.

“While Kunwinjku is the name of the language, the people refer to themselves as Birriwinjku which means ‘freshwater people’. Unbalange was a name given to the original inhabitants but the buffalo shooters and other English speakers mispronounced the word, giving rise to the place name, Oenpelli. Gunbalanya is the Kunwinjku name for the area although the more traditional spelling of Kunbarllanjnja is the legal trading name for the community council. Gunbalanya is not a community of one clan, but is made up of a number of clans.

“One of the early buffalo shooters was the legendary Paddy Cahill who settled in the area and in 1906 took out a dairy lease on the present site of Gunbalanya. In 1916 the Northern Territory Government took over Cahill’s property and established an experimental dairy farm with Cahill as manager.

“After World War I, industrial disputes in Darwin ended the dairy experiment and the Federal Government invited the Church Missionary Society to take over. The Mission established gardening, livestock management, a community center shop, health and education. After the introduction of self-determination policies in the 1970s and the subsequent withdrawal of the missionaries, the Gunbalanya Council Incorporated was registered in 1976 and the Kunbarllanjnja Community Government Council established in 1995.”94

***MARY RIVER, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

NT Place Names Register talks about: “Named by John McDouall Stuart on 11 July 1862. Stuart in his journal wrote ‘Country burning all round. Lat 13°38'24". This branch I have named the Mary, in honor of Miss Mary Chambers.’

“Stuart believed the Mary was a branch of the Adelaide River which had been discovered and named by

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Stokes’ HMS Beagle in 1839. Stuart in his journal always refers to the river as ‘The Mary, Adelaide River’.”95

***NGANMARRIYANGA, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

John Richards catalogs: “Name change from Palumpa at the request of the Community Council. Palumpa is the adjoining cattle station. Nganmarriyanga is pronounced ‘Nan-marri-yanga’ or ‘None-murray-yunga’.

“Nganmarriyanga community was founded by the Wodidj family. In the period of initial contact with non-Aboriginal people before World War 2, this family group left the area as the men sought employment on cattle stations in northern Western Australia. They returned to nearby Port Keats Mission (now Wadeye) sometime after the war with the knowledge that their father’s country was some distance away. They moved back to that area and began to build a community known as Palumpa. They cut local timber for houses and yards, built fences, hand dug trenches to pipe water from nearby creeks and ran cattle. These were sold to Port Keats and other nearby communities.

“For a long time Palumpa Station was the only provider of services to the developing community of people. During the 1980s, as more people came to live at Palumpa, it was decided that the Station alone could not support the population. In 1985 Palumpa (later Nganmarriyanga) Community Inc was formed as a local governing body for the community and funds were attracted for the purpose of building community infrastructure.

“Palumpa Station has continued as a Proprietary Limited company, whose Directors largely represent the traditional owners of the area. The Station has grown as a viable industry and has recently completed construction of a state of the art Abattoir. Palumpa Station remains a major employer of local Aboriginal men in the area. The Station also operates the Workshop for mechanical repairs to vehicles and equipment and fuel distribution to the community.

“The Council is an incorporated association responsible for the delivery of local government services to almost 500 indigenous residents.

“In 2006, the Nganmarriyanga Community Inc owns and manages 43 community houses, 4 Staff houses, Contractor's Quarters, Community Centre and Store. There are also administration buildings including a Council Office, Parks and Gardens shed and a Housing Maintenance workshop. All properties within the community are serviced by power, water and sewer. The majority of the internal road network is sealed and there are well established parks and gardens.

“The community is serviced by a Primary School operated by the NT Department of Education. The School is a modern well-equipped complex located in the center of the community.

“The community Health Clinic is operated by Territory Health Services.

“The Health Centre is a modern facility that was constructed in 1998.”96

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***NYIRRANGGULUNG MARDRULK NGADBERRE, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

Joy Cardona shares: “Nyirranggulung Mardrulk Ngadberre is a Regional Council established by the Jawoyn Association. The Communities this Council governs are: The majority of Jawoyn Lands are held under the Aboriginal Land Trust (ALT), obtained through the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (Northern Territory) 1976. Jawoyn land ownership is comprised of a combination of land trust areas, freehold and national parks, including: Jawoyn Aboriginal Land Trust, Beswick Aboriginal Land, Eva Valley (Manyallaluk), Aboriginal Land Trust, a portion of the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Land Trust, Banatjarl freehold, Barnjarn (Northern Territory enhanced freehold), Jawoyn Lands (include two national park areas – Nitmiluk National Park and Kakadu National Park. Nitmiluk National Park is wholly within Jawoyn country. Jawoyn Lands also include the Gunjom area in southern Kakadu National Park.), the town of Katherine (Crown and freehold land), Indigenous communities.

“The Jawoyn Association Aboriginal Corporation was established in 1985 as the representative body for the Jawoyn Aboriginal traditional owners.

“The Jawoyn Association's comprehensive human services, cultural and land management programs, business enterprises and forward planning with a vision for economic independence provide support, employment and training for Jawoyn people.

“Prior to contact with European settlers there were 43 clans making up the Jawoyn tribe, however many of these clans are now extinct or subsumed into other clan groups.

“Today, three are 17 distinct clans making up the Jawoyn Nation and each of these clans lay claim to specific territory on Jawoyn country.

“Jawoyn Traditional Land stretches across 50,000 kilometers, Nyirranggulung Mardrulk Ngadberre is a Regional Council which extends from the regional town of Katherine, southeast to the township of Mataranka, eastwards past Barunga and Beswick, then northeast in an arc crossing from Bulman in Arnhem land across to the southern part of Kakadu national Park and the south-west Arnhem.

“There are about 600 adult Jawoyn people living today. The majority of Jawoyn live on or close to Jawoyn traditional lands, with the majority living close to Katherine in Aboriginal communities.

“Jawoyn is the language of the Katherine area and of country north and east of Katherine.

“The languages most similar to Jawoyn, and to which it's related are those further north and east into Arnhem Land.

“Jawoyn belongs to a family that has been called Gunwinyguan, after one of the most widely spoken dialect clusters. It was not spoken in isolation from its sister languages, multilingualism was usual among speakers of the Arnhem Land languages.

“Most people learned and used several languages throughout their lifetimes, and came to have something like equal fluency in most of them.

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“It has been characteristic of older Jawoyn speakers up to the present that they spoke at least two Arnhem Land languages with equal or near fluency, and many spoke three or more. They understood a number of languages, at least partially, beyond those they spoke.

“Most common in the repertoires of people of Katherine, Barunga and Beswick (Wugularr) area who spoke Jawoyn natively were Mayali and/or Ngalkbon, and in some instances Rembarrnga. Today, however, multilingualism is not the norm.

“The most vital language of the Katherine and Barunga area is now Mayali, which is not indigenous to this area, but has a large reserve of active speakers extending into Arnhem Land.

“There are social and historical reasons for this decline. One is the long-term historical disruption of Aboriginal people in the Katherine region. There were early reductions of Aboriginal populations.

“Aboriginal people were pulled towards mining camps and other places of outsider settlement, where their routines came to revolve around working for outsiders and their patterns of living and movement were accommodated to settler regimes, with all the dislocations this entailed.

“Jawoyn remains, however, the identity of a large number of people of the Katherine and Barunga area who see them affiliated to Jawoyn country. For these people, Jawoyn remains the language they consider theirs, to whatever degree of proficiency.

“A Jawoyn dictionary and thesaurus was produced by linguists Francesca Merlan and Pascale Jacq in 2005.

“Significant Jawoyn names and words: Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge – ‘cicada place’; Leliyn (Edith Falls) – ‘frill neck lizard’; Jodetluk – ‘left hand rock wallaby’; Luk – ‘place’; Yowoyn – ‘yes, alright’; Bobo –‘goodbye’.

“Jawoyn heritage and traditional ownership of country is passed down from a Jawoyn father and in some cases, through a Jawoyn mother.

“It is the affiliation of one or both parents to Jawoyn Country, and their connectedness to the knowledge of their lands, makes them Jawoyn.

“The history of our country began during the period we call Buwurr, sometimes written as Burr, often called the Dreaming or Dreamtime.

“Bula - The Creator: Our land was first created by Bula, who came from the salt water country in the north. With his two wives, he hunted across the land and in doing so transformed the landscape through his actions. In a number of places Bula finally went underground in an area north of Katherine known to us as the ‘sickness country’. In a number of places, Bula left his image as paintings in rock shelters. It is called this because the area is very dangerous and should not be disturbed for fear that earthquakes and fire will destroy the world. We regard Bula as the most important figure in our dreaming.

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“Nagorrko – Spiritual Being from the North: Another important dreaming figure was Nakorrkko, a tall spiritual being from the salt water country in the north. Nagorrko divided our people into two main groups or moities – Yirritja and Dhuwa. Through this social grouping, he taught us much about proper behavior and correct marriage relationships. Nagorrko also gave us the law about mowurrwurr, or clan groups, and showed us what foods different mowurrwurr could or could not eat.

“Bolung – The Rainbow Serpent: Bolung, who is believed to inhabit the deep green pools on our land, is an important life giving figure but may also act as a destroyer. This can take the form of lightning and may bring monsoonal floods. Our people do not fish in the pools where Bolung sits. When fishing close to these pools, we can take only a small portion of the fish caught. We throw back the rest in order to appease Bolung. Drinking water must not be taken from these deep pools but rather from the shallow, associated waters. Pregnant women and new initiates may not swim in the Katherine River for fear of disturbing Bolung. Unlike other Jawoyn Dreaming figures, which may be called upon for assistance in hunting and foraging, Bolung must not be spoken to and must be left undisturbed.”97

***TAPATJATJAKA, NORTHERN TERRITORY***

Joy Cardona shares: “Titjikala (also known as Tapatjatjaka and formerly known as ‘Maryvale’, after the cattle station at the community of the same name). Titjikala is a small community located about 110 km south of Alice Springs, and has a population of approximately 300 people, whose primary languages are Luritja, Arrernte or Pitjantjatjara. The community is also known as Tapatjatjaka or Maryvale and the community art center is called Tapatjatjaka Art and Craft Centre.

“From the 1940s onwards families came to the Maryvale Station to work as stockmen and as domestic helpers. The station owners provided rations to the people who resided and worked on their stations.

“Aboriginal people started settling in the area in the 1950s, when a mission truck visited every six weeks. Families would work at the surrounding stations as stockman, cameleers and domestic staff.

“At this time the people still lived in traditional humpies. Water was fetched from a well mainly by donkey wagons, but also by foot or by camel. Children and women would travel back and forwards most of the day collecting water from the well and carrying it to the humpy area. The community obtained its food from rations from the station (flour, salt and meat). People also collected bush tucker including goannas, kangaroos, witchetty grubs, bush tomatoes and bush bananas.

“Then in the early 1960s the community built their own sheds, much like garages, with concrete slabs for flooring. At this time the station laid piping from a good bore with the help of the Aboriginal people to provide a tap near the new buildings. As part of the village a church was built in the same garage style.

“In the 1970s the first school was provided to the Titjikala people.

“The community was originally a 200-hectare excision from the Francis Well water reserve and the stock route. It is within the Maryvale station pastoral lease, which was registered in 1978.

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“Titjikala community obtained freehold title to the excision in 1987 and in 1988 the Northern Territory Government gazetted the Titjikala Control Plan, which places certain restrictions on land usage and development in the community.

“Titjikala is situated in the Simpson Desert that occupies much of the southern portion of the Northern Territory.

“Chambers Pillar is a spectacular landmark, a multi-colored rock column some 40 kilometers away from Titjikala.

“Nowadays, Titjikala is situated within the boundaries of Maryvale Station, a cattle station.

“Titjakala is about 100 km by mainly unsealed road southeast from Alice Springs, which is the main access road to the community.

“Access to Titjikala is by road or air. The roads (even from the airstrip) can be washed out during heavy rains.

“In Aboriginal tradition, the traditional owners of the Titjikala area owned an area extending from Horseshoe Bend through to Chambers Pillar, the Titjikala community area, and then across to Mt Burrell, Mt Peachy and to Mt Frank.”98

**QUEENSLAND**

Queensland Government conveys: “Queensland was first seen by Europeans in the 1600s. Dutch explorer Willem Jansz landed on the Cape York Peninsula in 1606, and in 1623 Jan Carstens explored the Gulf of Carpentaria. An Englishman, Lieutenant James Cook, is acknowledged as the first European to encounter Queensland's east coast in 1770 in HMS Endeavour.

“Europeans settled in Queensland in 1825 when Brisbane was selected as a penal settlement for the more difficult convicts. The penal settlement was officially closed in 1839 and the land was prepared for sale for permanent settlement.

“Queensland was originally part of the British-administered colony of New South Wales. This occupied a large part of the Australian continent.

“A desire to separate from New South Wales began to emerge as Queensland's economic significance increased and its productivity and population expanded. The people of Queensland began to realize the importance of Brisbane as a port and urban center.

“The physical remoteness of Queensland from the center of government in New South Wales and concern about the maintenance of public infrastructure, contributed to a desire for independence.

“In 1851, a public meeting was held to consider Queensland's separation from New South Wales.

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“Queen Victoria granted approval and signed Letters Patent on 6 June 1859 to establish the new colony of Queensland. On the same day, an Order-in-Council gave Queensland its own constitution.

“Queensland became a self-governing colony with its own Governor, a nominated Legislative Council and an elected Legislative Assembly.

“Queensland Day is celebrated on 6 June, recognizing the birth of the state.”99

***BANANA, QUEENSLAND***

Nathan Brotherton discusses: “A point of mild historical controversy is the origin of the name Banana. The general belief is that the town was named after a bullock. Opinions vary as to the role played by the bullock. There is also a minority group which denies the bullock theory altogether. The best known theories are given below.

“Number one: A bullock called Banana was said to be part of a bullock team in this area. He was so called because of the light color of his hide, or, some say, because he was ‘soft’ and when he was pulling hard his tongue hung out like a ripe banana. One version states that he was owned by a Chinese carrier who may have been the first settler at Banana, but the consensus of opinion is that he was owned by a teamster. The teamster could very well have been Mr Moses Wafer, who came originally from Liverpool, and traveled extensively in the Central Queensland area with bullock teams in the 1850s and 1860s. Mr Wafer’s granddaughter has written to say that ‘it is believed that at one time he had the bullock Banana in his team, but if he actually owned him it has never been recorded. The beast was said to be a wanderer, always getting lost.’ She also recalls her mother quoting Mr Wafer as saying, in answer to a question, ‘The town of Banana was named after a bullock, and a dead one at that.’ She goes on to say, ‘Apparently Banana was found dead in a gully, but whether this was after he’d been retired from team work is not clear.’ Other versions of this story assert that Banana bogged and drowned in the lagoon near Banana town.

“Number two: The Oxley Memorial Library quotes the following: ‘The story of the origin of Banana dates back to the days when all the use that could be made of cattle was the sale of hides and tallow. In this case cattle brought in from large western runs were so wild they were difficult to handle and there were few yards large enough. The yards at Leith Hay’s Rannes Station, southwest of Rockhampton, were used. To assist in getting these wild cattle to enter the crushes a decoy, an old, dun-colored working bullock (Banana) would lead into the crush. In time this old bullock died in a nearby gully which was known to station hands thereafter as Banana’s Gully.’

“Number three: The non-bullock faction points out that in the original documents concerning the Banana run, the name was spelled Bananah and there are several Aboriginal words that sound very like banana, and mean either ‘waterhole’, or ‘meeting-place’, both appropriate to a run that included Banana Lagoon.

“This … does not attempt to decide which the correct story is – perhaps elements of each are true. The name was first used when Banana Station was gazetted in 1855, and the town was given the same name

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in 1861. This was well over a century ago – so it is left to the present day reader to decide for himself the most likely origin of the name.”

Nathan Brotherton continues: “People often ask how the old township of Banana gained a peculiar name. The following verses which state the actual facts will throw light on this subject.

Poor, humble slave, gone these many long years

To your bovine haven of peaceful rest,

Done with all toiling, past the horrid fears,

Of searing whips, or yokes ‘gainst shoulders pressed.

You passed, a victim trapped in clinging clay,

While high above your head the eagles sailed

In skies of azure blue, the long, long day

And through the dark night, while senses failed.

The wild red dogs howled their desire to tear

Your yellow hide, to rend your dark lean meat,

And gorge until your very bones lay bare,

Blood-stained their lean muzzles, crimson their feet.

Nor could you know, as dying there you lay,

Never again to respond to the call

Of ‘hup, Banana’, ‘Gee off’, ‘Come here, whay!’

As neath the cruel yoke you strain and haul.

That someday, by that clean sweet lagoon

Where lay your bleaching, clean-picked bones,

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The haunt of pelican, of swan and loon,

Where oft at night a cold wind softly moans,

There would be a small township, nestling sweet,

Beside it lovely verdant swelling downs,

A quaint, dear place, with one long straggling street,

Where hope and rugged friendship still abounds

Bearing the name you gained because your hide

Was yellow as the fruit that bears your name.

Take them some little pride, O long-dead slave,

Pride, that to this small town your name men gave.”100

***BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND***

JH Chambers specifies: “In 1825 difficulties of soil prompted the site’s rapid abandonment and a move some 20 miles up the Brisbane River [named for the then governor of New South Wales, Sir Thomas Brisbane (1773-1860)] to a new location which was also given the name, Brisbane. So began today’s vibrant subtropical city. For fifteen years the convicts labored and suffered in the loneliness and heat, numbering at their greatest in 1831, some 1,019 men and forty women.

“Captain Patrick Logan (1791-1830) became commandant in 1826. Under his energetic, determined, and callous control, the colony soon became self-sufficient in corn. But a drought destroyed convict agriculture for the time being, the first of many droughts that areas of Queensland would suffer in later decades. Logan had more luck with sheep and cattle, which flourished on several outstations.

“Like Governor Ralph Darling (1772?-1858), his master in Sydney, Logan was a fierce disciplinarian. Floggings were as regular as sunrise. Fifty lashes were supposed to be the maximum but this was often exceeded, to the tune of 200. Most convicts worked in irons, and cells for solitary confinement and a treadmill were created. In one eight-month period, Logan ordered 200 floggings totaling over 11,000 strokes – this in a colony of fewer than 700 prisoners. Unsurprisingly, Logan was fiercely loathed. When he was murdered by local Aborigines in 1830, the convicts ‘manifested insane joy at the news, and sang and hoorayed all night.’”101

***GOLD COAST, QUEENSLAND***

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JH Chambers notes: “Brisbane is within easy reach of the Gold Coast to the south. The white sandy beaches of the less-crowded Sunshine Coast lie to the north, complemented by the green national parks, waterfalls, and hill towns of the hinterland, and the spectacular volcanic tors of the Glasshouse Mountains.”102

Brian and Barbara Kennedy record: “A city that stretches over 40 kilometers along the coast, from Coolangatta on the New South Wales border to Paradise Point in the north. Its best known area is Surfers Paradise. The name, Gold Coast reflects the rapidly rising land values of the area. The town of the Gold Coast was established in 1958 and the city of the Gold Coast in 1959.”103

Cheryl Aubrey reveals: “In the late 1950s the area of the South Coast along the coastal strip in particular was booming with regard to real estate development. In the late 1958 the Canal Act was legislated by the Queensland State Government and both the Gold Coast and also the Albert Shire Councils embarked upon major canal development for residential and flood mitigation purposes and this further lead to a booming real estate economy.

“It was reported over the radio in Melbourne, Australia, in about 1957 that the boom was literally like making gold on the coast… a reporter who has not been identified coined a simple phrase saying that it's a gold coast. However it is also reported that a Brisbane journalist used the phrase in the 1940s. It has become lost in time as to who actually said it first.

“An Alderman with the South Coast Council, Alderman Vern Thurecht had heard the mention of gold coast on a visit to Melbourne and on returning to the coast recommended a motion be put to Council to capitalize on this idea and change the name officially to the Gold Coast.

“Therefore, on October 23, 1958 the South Coast Town Council adopted the name of the Gold Coast Town Council and then on May 16, 1959 the name was accepted by the State of Queensland as City of Gold Coast.

“However, it was not until 1980 that the name was officially gazetted by the Queensland Place Names Board. Therefore it was not recognized by the Queensland Mapping and Survey Department until 1980 and only then appeared on official maps as City of Gold Coast, some 20 years later!”104

***GREAT BARRIER REEF, QUEENSLAND***

JH Chambers spells out: “With an area of about 80,000 square miles, and extending for over 1,250 miles along the Queensland coast, as far as we know this is the largest structure ever built by living organisms. It includes more than 350 species of coral and endless varieties of sea life. Mapping of the reef began in 1770 with James Cook, whose ship Endeavour temporally ran aground on it. The British Admiralty continued this survey work during the nineteenth century: Owen Stanley’s ship, which took Kennedy’s ill-fated expedition to Cape York Peninsula in 1848, was charting a route for the new steamships. The 1928-9 Great Barrier Reef Expedition contributed the first large scale systematic knowledge of the reef’s coral physiology and ecology, and a modern laboratory on Heron Island continues such investigation. Borings have shown coral growth as early as the Miocene Epoch (25-5 million years ago). The

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multitudinous islands and white sand beaches within the reef form ideal vacation centers and, since World War II, hundreds of resorts, many of international standard, have been constructed on the Whitsundays, Heron, Great Keppel, and many other islands. Water is crystal clear with good visibility up to 100 feet.”105

***GYMPIE, QUEENSLAND***

“Gympie's name derives from the Kabi (the language of a tribe of Indigenous Australians that historically lived in the region) word gimpi-gimpi (which means ‘stinging tree’), which referred to Dendrocnide moroides. The tree has large, round leaves that have similar properties to stinging nettles. The town was previously named Nashville, after James Nash, who discovered gold in the area in 1867. The name was later changed to Gympie in 1868.”106

***PORMPURAAW, QUEENSLAND***

The Department of Natural Resources and Mines touches on: “Formerly Edward River Community, Pormpuraaw was approved by Governor in Council 17 September 1988. Pronounced Porm-pure-ow, the name is associated with the erection of a large bark house at Edward River, signifying a welcome to a traditional home.”107

Jeremy Hodes clarifies: “Western Cape York Peninsula. Aboriginal community. Originally known as Edward River Mission after its location on the Edward River which was named in 1884 by John T Embley after his brother Dr Edward Embley of Melbourne. In 1987 the name was changed to Pormpuraaw, meaning ‘welcome to a traditional home’.”108

***TOOWOOMBA, QUEENSLAND***

JH Chambers clarifies: “The most spectacularly sited of all Australian inland cities, Toowoomba, 82 miles west of Brisbane, stands on the escarpment of the Great Dividing Range some 2,500 feet above sea level. Founded in 1849 to service the farm needs of the Darling Downs. Before World War I, Toowoomba functioned as a sort of hill station for the elite of Brisbane during the torrid Queensland summer.”109

RA Dansie observes: “The truth about the origin of the name Toowoomba will probably always remain uncertain. There have been a number of explanations, most of them acceptable, some with more evidence to back them than others. What follows is a resume of the version known to me. There may be still others of which I am unaware.

“One popular version, often repeated is that when the site of Toowoomba was first discovered and mapped, it was known as the ‘Drayton Swamp’, or more simply ‘the Swamp’. It is said that the Aborigines, trying to say ‘the Swamp’, could manage only something that sounded like Tchwampa and that this was corrupted to Toowoomba. It is true that the area was called ‘the Swamp’. The map drawn by surveyors who marked out the first allotments in Ruthven Street bears the legend ‘the Swamp, Drayton’, and this was drawn about 1852. Someone subsequently has struck out the words ‘the Swamp’ and written ‘Toowoomba’ above.

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“A second quite plausible and detailed version comes from Archibald Meston, botanist, journalist, and Protector of the Aborigines for some time in Colonial Queensland. In the early 1890s Meston wrote a very interesting little book, called A Geographical History of Queensland, which seems to have been intended as a school textbook. In it he gives the following explanation of the name Toowoomba: ‘This is one of the very few towns retaining the original aboriginal name of the locality. Toowoom or Choowom was the local blacks’ name for a small native melon (Cucumus pubescens) which grew plentifully on the site of the township. The terminal ba is equal to the adverb ‘There’, so the whole word means ‘melons there’, and to an Aboriginal it meant ‘the place where we get toowoom’.’

“It is a fact that this melon exists. It can still be found growing in the Balonne and Warrego areas and maybe in isolated places closer to Toowoomba. It also seems true that this melon was known to the Aborigines by the name given by Meston. No evidence however has ever been forthcoming that the melon grew in or near the Toowoomba swamps.

“Meston repeated the story in one of a series of articles written for the Chronicle in April-May 1920, called the Genesis of Toowoomba, and because the account he gave there has some interesting sidelights, it will be quoted in some detail.

“By way of prefacing remarks, I should point out that Meston claimed that in 1889 he was lent a ‘very remarkable book, bound like a ledger and containing 500 pages of blue-lined foolscap.’ The man who lent it to him was ‘Benjamin Cribb, once Toowoomba’s well-known magistrate,’ who told Meston that ‘it had been found concealed somewhere in the old Drayton Court House.’ Meston further stated that ‘the book had been used officially by Christopher Rolleston all the time he was at Cambooya and most of the time he was at Drayton,’ and that Rolleston had used one side to record matters about the stations, and the other to write accounts of police cases, etc. Meston was able to have the book for one week only which he spent making 45 pages of notes from it.

“He then returned it to Cribb. Unfortunately for the Darling Downs and Queensland, Meston’s honesty in returning the book so promptly ultimately led to its loss, because four years later, it, together with all Benjamin Cribb’s other possessions, was irretrievably lost, swept out to sea in the enormous floods which engulfed Brisbane and Ipswich in 1893. I have given these details to indicate that Meston therefore had a unique opportunity to peruse at first hand early historical records of Drayton and Toowoomba, and that therefore the remarks which are quoted from his article must be given considerable credence. In the fourth of his articles, published April 23, 1920, Meston wrote: ‘In 1854 … Dr Lang visited the Downs, Drayton being still supreme. He [Lang] said: It was the only spot at the time when trading people and mechanics first desired to settle in the district that could be had on any terms from their high mightiness, the squatters. It is a most unsuitable place for a town and so this led to the formation of another and rival town called Toowoomba in the same central part of the country about four miles from Drayton. Toowoomba was therefore named in 1854 and the name was obtained from a local Aboriginal named Piallayan, the ‘messenger’, who had been a trooper with Rolleston for several years. Growing along the borders of the East and West Swamps was a small native melon about the size of a turkey’s egg and coated with a white fluff.’

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“Meston then went on to give the same explanation as I have previously quoted, for the name Toowoomba or Coowoomba, but then made another significant and interesting comment, which much also be given credence because of his access to Rolleston’s journal.

“He said, ‘Twice in his notes does Rolleston refer to the Coowoomba Swamp, so there is no mistake about the name. It is a euphonious and appropriate word.’

“It follows that if Meston is correct, both Dr John Dunmore Land (in whose electorate Drayton and Toowoomba were at that time), and Christopher Rolleston, the Lands Commissioner were using the name Toowoomba very early in the history of that center.

“A third version of the story of the origin of the name is simply that Mrs Alford, wife of James Alford, one of the first businessmen in both Drayton and Toowoomba moved with her husband to a house they had built in Russell Street in the early 1850s. Mrs Alford is said to have asked the Aborigines what their name for ‘the Swamp’ was. (She may conceivably have asked Christopher Rolleston’s trooper Piallayan!) The Aborigines had told her that it was Toowoomba, and she had subsequently used the name as an address of her letters. It was also given as the birth place of the Alfords’ third son Henry King Alford, and appeared as such in the baptismal register of St Matthew’s Church, Drayton. Mr Alford Junior is reported as having said that his mother always understood that the name meant simply a ‘place with reeds’ or ‘a swamp’.

“When in 1934 Sir Littleton Groom’s address stirred memories and further controversy about the name, Steel Rudd, then living in Sydney, wrote to the Chronicle confirming Mr Gall’s remarks. He further stated in his letter, ‘from what I know, I am fairly confident that when a particular field book of Surveyor Burnett’s turns up – his books were passed along from Sydney to Brisbane at the time of separation – the name Toogoom or Toogooma will be found entered there, and it will not require much imagination to conceive the name Toowoomba as a corruption.’ Steele Rudd’s story thus forms a fourth version which to some extent supports and corroborates those of Sir Littleton Groom and Mrs Alford.

“The four versions given about are probably the most likely explanations, but they are not the only ones in existence. In 1875, WH Groom, writing an account of Toowoomba for the first Centennial Exhibition of the United States at Philadelphia stated that the name Toowoomba was derived from an aboriginal word meaning ‘great in the future’, but gave no source for this assertion. In April 1934, a gentleman who called himself ‘Enoggera Charlie’ wrote yet another explanation of the name to Sydney Morning Herald. He said: ‘When I was a youth – looking for a job as a tar boy – we camped one night on the Toowoomba Swamp. Inquiring of an old shepherd sage whose knowledge of the old days aroused my boyish imagination he informed me that once upon a time, near the junction of the East and West Swamp, a sign written on a log indicated to tramps the way to a well-known homestead where there was a certainty of an 8, 10, 2, ¼ ration. The inscription was ‘To Woombrah’. His theory seems to be quite feasible.’

“Feasible it may have been, but unlikely it certainly is. The swamps were impassable in the early days where the East and West Creeks now meet, and it is most unlikely that tramps or anyone else would have placed a sign there. In any case, where was there a place called Woombra near Toowoomba or

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Drayton, in those early days? Enoggera Charlie’s shepherd, I’m afraid, could not resist the temptation to tell a youngster a tall story.

“Yet another possible explanation was suggested by a Mr Ardlaw Lawrence, also in the Sydney Morning Herald at about the same time as Enoggera Charlie wrote. He suggested that Toowoomba might be an Anglicized version of the Boowoomga which meant ‘thunder’ in the dialect of the Upper Burnett and Gayndah tribes. He could however give no reason for the name being transferred to the Darling Downs, and in any case as a Mr Slater pointed out the word for thunder on the Downs was more likely to be Mumba.

“Yet one other slightly different version should be noted – that given by George Essex Evans, again without explanation or authentication. Writing in a pamphlet which was published in 1899, called A Guide to Toowoomba and Suburbs for Immigrants, he stated that the name meant ‘meeting of the waters’.

“Whatever the origin or meaning of the name, the pioneer citizens of Toowoomba remained remarkably loyal to their choice. No one was able to make them change; not even that most important and august person, Sir George Ferguson Bowen first Governor of the Colony of Queensland could shake their resolution. In March 1860, Sir George visited the Darling Downs, and while in Toowoomba, he made valiant attempts to get the rival communities of Toowoomba and Drayton to unite to form a single municipality. The citizens of Toowoomba would have none of it, through Drayton seems to have been a little more receptive. To avoid the use of either of the existing names, the Governor and others suggested various names – Queensborough, Queenstown, Victoria and Bowensvale. The ‘Toowoombians’, as WH Groom called them, would have none of them, and stuck loyally and resolutely to the name which had appeared three years ago in white letters on a strip of red calico – Toowoomba.

“This is all the more remarkable when on realizes that it happened in an age of almost sycophantic indulgence of Royal or Vice Regal whims or requests. Not only in fact did those Toowoombians reject all the overtures to rename their town, but they also rejected amalgamation with Drayton, and even had the audacity to suggest that their infant village scarce eight years old, might be Queensland’s capital in preference to the rundown penal settlement on the banks of the Brisbane River.

“So Toowoomba remained Toowoomba and in doing so it predestined itself to become in the 20th century one of the few large cities in Australia with an aboriginal name, a fact of which we should be proud. When just on 120 years ago, in December 1860, the municipality was proclaimed it was as the municipality of Toowoomba, not Victoria, or Queensborough, or Drayton. Truly as Meston remarked, a mellifluous euphonious and appropriate name!”110

***WUJAL WUJAL, QUEENSLAND***

Libby Fielding recounts: “In 1957 the Hope Valley mission board was granted 2,500 pounds to reestablish a reserve at the Bloomfield River, and 260 acres, including part of the old reserve, were gazetted in May 1958. It became a government settlement known as Wujal-Wujal, which is sometimes translated as ‘Many Falls’, and there certainly are some beautiful falls in the area, such as Roaring Meg.

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But it is an unlikely translation. Horlein referred to the local language as Wodjall. According to John Haviland, wujilwujil means ‘hairy’ in the Kuku Yalanji language, and was used as a personal name.”111

**SOUTH AUSTRALIA**

Self-explanatory

***BAROSSA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

Jo Zander says: “In answer to your question, the Barossa area was named by Colonel William Light who was appointed the Surveyor General of South Australia in 1836. He was born on 27 April 1786 at Kuala Kedah on the Malay Peninsula. His parents were Captain Francis Light, an English merchant, and Marthina Rozells, a Portuguese-Siamese Eurasian. It is believed he named the Barossa in December 1837 whilst leading an expedition from Adelaide to find a route to the River Murray bypassing the steep Mount Lofty Ranges. It was originally spelled as Barrosa, after a place of that name in the Andalusia region of Spain, which it apparently resembled. The name supposedly means ‘hill of roses’. This information is provided from the book, The Barossa – a vision realized by Reginald Munchenberg, et al.”112

JF Bennett spotlights: “It has been already stated, that the plain in which Adelaide is situated stretches to the north of the Town for many miles. The country then begins again to assume the character of hill and vale, which is retained through the greatest part of the northern portion of the Colony. In this quarter are found many of its most fertile districts. These stretch along from the Mount Barker districts, and include the sources of the Rivers Onkaparinga and of the Torrens – the beautiful plain named Lyndoch Valley – the very extensive and well watered lands in the neighborhood of the heights of Barossa – the sources of the River Gawler, and the rich vallies on the banks, and in the neighborhood of the Hutt, Light, and Wakefield rivers. The country around Lyndoch Valley and the Barossa Ranges, about 60 miles northeast from the Capital, is of a very superior description; consisting of fine alluvial vallies and flats, covered with a rich coating of grass, and surrounded by picturesque hills, which likewise yield good grazing for stock. Some of the vales, or meadows, are really beautiful, and the scenery in this quarter is more diversified than in most other places – the surrounding hills assuming many shapes and attitudes which strike the eye, while the rich verdure and evergreen trees with which the slopes are covered, give a pleasant and cheering aspect to the scene. To the west and the northwest, the country consists of open grassy tableland; to the east it falls into plains towards the Murray.”113

***COPPER COAST, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

State Library of South Australia underscores: “The place name Copper Coast is a recent development from Copper Triangle: since May 1997 the District Council of the Copper Coast has existed, covering such towns as Kadina and Moonta. Originally Copper Triangle described the two above towns and Wallaroo, which formed a triangle on the map, of copper mines occupied mainly by Cornish settlers. Today, Copper Coast describes an area popular with tourists.”114

***FLINDERS RANGES, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

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JH Chambers comments: “For thousands of years the Flinders Ranges were inhabited by the Adnyamathanha, or ‘hill people’, as they are now called. The last full-blooded Adnyamathanha died in 1973 but ‘mixed-blood’ descendants still live there. The first European to observe the ranges was Matthew Flinders from the deck of his Investigator in 1802. The English explorer, EJ Eyre (1815-1901) was the next European to visit, in 1839, and, during the following two years when exploring along the western side of the ranges, he encountered the series of vast salt lakes to the north, including Lake Eyre, Australia’s largest lake (4,000 square miles) which fills with water only once or twice in a quarter century.”115

***MARALINGA TJARUTJA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

State Library of South Australia emphasizes: “Maralinga Tjarutja as a name stems from the tribal lands of the Tjarutja, indigenous southern people of the Pitjantjatjara tribe. Occupying land in the remote west of South Australia, after World War 2 they were displaced by a nuclear test site there, named Maralinga which was their term for ‘thunder place’. In 1984 the Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act acknowledged the rights of the traditional owners. They were resettled there in 1995. The local government council known as Maralinga Tjarutja Community Inc administers over 10,286 square kilometers of land with a population of just over one hundred. They are all based at Oak Valley.”116

Emma Pedler gives: “The Maralinga Tjarutja Lands in the Far West of South Australia were contaminated with radioactive waste following atomic weapons testing back in the 1950s.

“The Federal Government has spent a lot of money cleaning the area up, although there is concern that it is still nowhere near ready.

“Last week Fiona [Sewell] spoke to Federal Science Minister Peter McGauran about a possible hand-back of the lands to its traditional owners. So how do the traditional owners of the Lands feel about that? Doctor Archie Barton is the administrator and one of the Indigenous Elders in the area. Doctor Barton joined Fiona Sewell on Statewide Afternoons to discuss his thoughts on the issue on Wednesday the 21st of August [2002].

“Fiona asked Doctor Barton, what was the general feeling amongst the indigenous people on the lands, about the lands being handed back, to which Dr Barton replied, ‘I think I’ll be right in saying, that as far as the community goes, it’s been a long hard road. We’ve been part of a consultative group with the Federal Government. We’ve always been in the position to ask questions, and question scientists. So we haven’t been left out of it, we’ve been part of the whole saga right from the beginning.’

“When Fiona asked Dr Barton’s thoughts on the thoroughness of the ‘cleaning’ of the Maralinga Tjarutja Aboriginal Lands, Dr Barton answered, ‘I think we live in a dangerous world all around…. As far as the community goes, it is something that will stay with them for the rest of their lives, and they’ll pass it onto their kids, and not even go near the place. But getting the Lands back is very important to them.’

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“Fiona wanted to know why people wouldn’t go back to Maralinga. Doctor Barton answered, ‘Once they’ve been frightened once, it stays with them. They’d be very cautious to go near the place.’”117

***MOUNT REMARKABLE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

State Library of South Australia pens: “Mount Remarkable shows above the surrounding hills in such a remarkable way that the mountain was given this name when it was seen by explorer Edward John Eyre in 1839.”118

Anthony Forster scribes: “The colony, as might be supposed, from its immense extent, contains a great variety of soil and scenery. Extensive plains, comprising many millions of acres of arable land, and chiefly free from timber, extend from Aldinga in the south, to Mount Remarkable in the north. These plains are flanked on the eastern side by a mountain chain, of moderate elevation, running from north to south, with occasional breaks, for three hundred miles, and termination at Cape Jervis, the southernmost point of St Vincent’s Gulf. Beyond this range to the eastward and northeast, and before reaching the Murray scrub, the country is broken and hilly, with a good deal of timber, and a large extent of the finest agricultural land. The River Murray, which has a navigable course of nearly 2,000 miles, enters the South Australian territory about 300 miles, in a direct line, to the northeast of its sea mouth at Encounter Bay, before reaching which it expands into a large lake, and a smaller one, named respectively Lake Alexandrina, and Lake Albert. The river between these lakes and the sea is called the Lower Murray. The valley of the Murray varies in width from half a mile to a mile, and consists of a rich alluvial deposit, covered in many places with large gum trees. Cliffs of shell limestone, from 100 to 300 feet high and alternating from one side of the valley to the other, run through nearly its whole extent. On each side of the river, throughout a large portion of its course, the country is a vast waterless scrub, with occasional open grassy plains. For nearly 300 miles from the sea-mouth the line of the river is northerly; it then takes a singularly abrupt turn to the eastward and southeast, until it reaches its sources in Victoria and New South Wales. A little beyond the South Australian boundary, the Murray is joined by the Darling. The line of this river from its junction with the Murray, is also in a northerly direction for some distance, and then in a general direction of northeast. The Darling is navigable for 1,000 miles from its junction, in favorable seasons, but in dry seasons the navigation is impeded. It traverses an extensive pastoral country, the produce of which finds its outlet in South Australia. Between the Murray and the eastern boundary of the colony, after the scrub is passed, is the rich agricultural and pastoral district of Mount Gambier, with its harbors of Guichen and MacDonnell Bays. The mountain from which the district takes its name is an extinct volcano, as is also another mountain in the same neighborhood – Mount Schank. The whole district exhibits traces of extensive volcanic action, and contains a large number of lakes of various sizes. To the westward of Spencer’s Gulf, along the coast, are the large pastoral districts of Port Lincoln, Streaky Bay, and Fowler’s Bay, well grassed but generally deficient of water. Each of these districts has a good harbor, Boston Bay, the harbor of Port Lincoln being one of the finest in the world. Gulf St Vincent runs up into the interior, in a northerly direction, for 140 miles from its entrance, and Spencer’s Gulf, in the same direction, for 250 miles. The first terminates at Port Wakefield, and the next at Port Augusta. From Port Wakefield northward is a chain of salt lakes for some distance, which seem to indicate that the gulf extended much farther into the interior at no very remote period; and from Port Augusta northward, the lakes are more numerous

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and more extensive still. But these latter, as far as can be judged at present, appear to be rather the receptacles of interior drainage than the disjointed portions of a former estuary.”

Anthony Forster continues: “Several exploratory expeditions were undertaken by the South Australian Government during the years 1857 to 1859, but they all converged upon the same region that had been previously visited by Eyre and Sturt, Lake Torrens. Beyond this it seemed to be impossible to penetrate. The limits of discovery were slightly extended to the westward, and what was supposed to be Lake Torrens was found to be a number of distinct and independent lakes; but the mysterious northern interior was apparently doomed to remain a terra incognita for an indefinite period of time. On February 17th, 1857, Mr BH Babbage started from Adelaide, to explore the country about the head of Spencer’s Gulf, and to push if possible to the northwards. But getting amongst an extraordinary assemblage of salt lakes, to the west and northwest of Port Augusta, his progress was so much retarded that the Commissioner of Crown Lands was urged to send Mr Charles Gregory after him. Mr Gregory had just arrived in Adelaide with the expedition commanded by his brother, Mr Augustus Gregory, in search of Leichhardt. Not finding Mr Babbage at his camp when he arrived there, Mr Gregory, acting on his instructions, sent back to Adelaide some of Mr Babbage’s men and surplus horses, and set out in search of the missing explorer. But Mr Babbage was safe enough, and quite prepared to resent this interference with his authority and movements. Meeting at Port Augusta the men sent away by Mr Gregory, he ordered them back to the camp, and on their refusing to go had them taken to Mount Remarkable and locked up in the jail there. This led to his recall by the Government, and Major Warburton, the Commissioner of Police, was sent out to supersede him. Hearing of this, he at once provisioned himself for three months, and with four men and eleven horses started off to the north, and had been eight days gone when the Major arrived at the camp on the Elizabeth, on the 3rd of October. Nor had he been uselessly employed. He had got to the western shore of Lake Gairdner, and had discovered a number of fresh water springs, one of which yielded 175,000 gallons per diem, the water being warm. Major Warburton reached him here on the 5th of November, and officially notified to him his recall. In the following year he obtained a select committee of the Legislature to inquire into the circumstances connected with his expedition, and the treatment he had received, when he succeeded in showing that he was acting in conformity with his instructions when the Major was sent to supersede him. The result was that the Commissioner of Crown Lands who had the responsible management of the whole affair was obliged to resign his office. He was probably worried into the course he took with reference to Mr Babbage by party clamor, and his resignation was the success of the political stratagem by which an opponent climbed into power.”119

JB Austin states: “The next morning we rode to Patawarta, formerly called Mount Rugged, to see a mineral claim. The country we rode over was the most beautiful I had seen since leaving Mount Remarkable, indeed I think it surpassed anything I saw in that neighborhood. The land was at that time well grassed, and our road lay sometimes over undulating ground and sometimes through wild and rocky gorges, the hills rising like high walls on either side. At last, passing through a fence in a narrow gap between two such hills, we entered a kind of ‘pound’ – that is a tract of land so surrounded by high and rugged or precipitous hills that a few yards of fencing across the gap sufficed to confine the cattle in

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an area of several square miles. There are many such ‘pounds’ in the North, but the grandest of all is the Wilpena Pound, and this will be described in its proper place.”120

JET Woods alludes to: “The first part of his plan was most feasible, and had he lived to carry it out, no doubt a great deal of the explorations of Warburton and Stuart would have been anticipated. He started on the 27th July, 1846, and traveled at first over the country into which so many of his former explorations had left him. On the 7th August, he reached Wild Dog Creek, a stream which runs down from the slopes of Mount Remarkable. It need hardly be said that it runs but seldom, though on its course there are valuable waterholes, which supply the wants of the settlers near. This creek Horrocks followed down to Mount Remarkable, from whence it was his intention to cross the ranges of Spencer’s Gulf. The mount is worth describing. In traveling north it is first seen from Gulnare Plains, where a red soil and low stony undulations of sterile aspect fade off in the distance to gloomy, rounded hills. Among them, in the north, is suddenly seen the faint outline of a high, sharp-peaked hill. It is so much higher than the rest, and has such a steep appearance, and is apparently so isolated from the others that at first one is apt to conclude its origin to have been volcanic. But the isolation is only apparent. From its northwestern side, the continuation of the Flinders range proceeds, and though its steepness justifies the view from a distance, a closer inspection gives it a much more pleasing aspect. The country around it is most fertile. This throws a charm of contrast over the scenery one has to pass before reaching the mount. Its flowery dales and grassy slopes are nearly always verdant, even in seasons when the barren red plains further away boast of no other sign of vegetation than a scanty crop of parched and whitened grass, as wintry-looking as anything could be in such a temperature.

“It should have been mentioned that in two respects Horrocks was rather better equipped than any which had preceded him. He had a camel, and went determined to rely for fresh provisions principally on a flock of goats. The camel was the only one then in the colony, perhaps also in Australia. The experiment of exploring with such an animal was watched with interest by all those who knew that the interior of the country was so similar to the native haunts of the animal. It reflected great credit on Horrocks, that he was the first to put the interesting question to the proof, and makes one regret all the more the disaster which terminated the expedition. The goats, too, were a decided improvement, and it is a great pity that no other explorer has since tried them. It has already been related in Gray’s expedition, that the goats were the only animals which did not seem to suffer much in that disastrous journey. Not only do they travel well, but they can subsist in the most barren soil, and yield abundance of nourishing milk in the most arid region. A Mr Whitehorn made explorations at Cape Colony, in regions as inhospitable as the central desert, and relied principally on goats – not only as food, but as his beasts of burden. One cannot help feeling, therefore, that equipped as Horrocks was, and his success would have been very great had his life been spared.

“At Mount Remarkable, Horrocks heard from the natives that a very practicable pass across the range to Spencer’s Gulf could be found. This was the direction in which he intended to proceed. On the 17th August, he started very early with one dray and four horses, and reached the top of the range in safety. While the other dray was being brought up, Horrocks put a load of provisions on the camel, and took him down a narrow valley. This was the first time he had ever carried a load, and he did not cause any sanguine expectations as to his future performance. He got enraged at one time, and bit large holes in

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two bags of flour; and at another, he playfully scattered his load all down the pass. The whole journey was, however, accomplished much better than could be expected down such very steep hills. Certainly, the drays were upset, but only once; and the main damage done was the destruction of the artificial horizon.”121

***ONKAPARINGA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

Kelly Dyer communicates: “The City of Onkaparinga council takes its name from the river which meets the sea in our district. This river also winds through the Adelaide Hills where traditionally the name Onkaparinga was used for that district. The word Onkaparinga derives from the ancient Aboriginal language of a tribe named Kaurna and means ‘women’s camp by the river’. Another source offers the original spelling as Ngangki-parri-unga and gives the meaning as ‘the place of the woman’s river’. Many of the traditional Kaurna names were retained by the white settlers, although to some degree Anglicized, such as local names Noarlunga, Willunga, and Aldinga.”122

JF Bennett depicts: “It has been already stated, that the plain in which Adelaide is situated stretches to the south of the Town for many miles. The country then begins to assume the character of hill and vale, which is retained through the greatest part of the northern portion of the Colony. In this quarter are found many of its most fertile districts, and include the sources of the Rivers Onkaparinga and of the Torrens – the beautiful plain named Lyndoch Valley – the very extensive and well watered lands in the neighborhood of the heights of Barossa – the sources of the River Gawler, and the rich vallies on the banks, in the neighborhood of the Hutt, Light, and Wakefield rivers. The country around Lyndoch Valley and the Barossa Ranges, about 60 miles northeast from the Capital, is of a very superior description; consisting of fine alluvial vallies and flats, covered with a rich coating of grass, and surrounded by picturesque hills, which likewise yield good grazing for stock. Some of the vales, or meadows, are really beautiful, and the scenery in this quarter is more diversified than in most other places – the surrounding hills assuming many shapes and attitudes which strike the eye, while the rich verdure and evergreen trees with which the slopes are covered, give a pleasant and cheering aspect to the scene. To the west and the northwest, the country consists of open grassy tableland; to the east it falls into plains towards the Murray.”

JF Bennett continues: “A road has been surveyed and made practicable from Adelaide through the whole of the southern districts as far as Encounter Bay. For the first twenty miles this road has required little labor. At the Sturt River, six miles south from Adelaide, a bridge has been erected, and the road cut and macadamized for some distance on either side. At Onkaparinga, fifteen miles farther south, a substantial wooden bridge, 100 feet in span, is erected across the river, and a good road formed up the hill for some distance. At Willunga, seven miles farther to the south, the mountain ranges have to be surmounted, and several cuts have been made to relieve the steepness of the ascent. A branch leaves the main road two miles south of Willunga, and leads along the sea coast through the valleys of Miponga, Curraculinga, and Karrapootungah, until it reaches Yankalilla. This branch opens the whole of the country to the south as far as Cape Jervis. In laying it out, a considerable amount of clearing was necessary, and twenty-five creeks and water-courses had bridges thrown over them.”123

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***PORT ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

JH Chambers enumerates: “Established in 1836 as the capital of the new free settler province of South Australia, Adelaide was named after the consort of King William IV, was incorporated as Australia’s first municipal government in 1840. The original town plan of the Colonel Surveyor, Colonel Light, with a central city square mile surrounded by vast parklands, is little altered. It has a Mediterranean climate with hot summers.”

JH Chambers continues: “The first governor, Captain John Hindmarsh, landed at what is now the Adelaide seaside suburb on Glenelg on 28 December 1836, and officially proclaimed the Province of South Australia.

“Adelaide (named after William IV’s queen) was laid out on the splendid plan drawn up by Colonel William Light (1786-1839), the son of the English founder of Penang in Malaysia, and today the city benefits from his foresight: its central business district is still surrounded by his wide parklands. Light was expected to survey not merely Adelaide but considerable inland areas as well.

“At first, settlers lived in tents on the beach at Glenelg. For a time, Adelaide was a tent town, too. Colonel Light was literally working himself to death for he had insufficient help and was subjected to petty annoyances by governor and officials, a number of who were more interested in their own investments than the good of the province. The settlers had to wait until their land was surveyed, and most settlers wished to stay in or near the capital anyway.

“Lured by an enticing ideal, those who had planned the colony had once again underestimated the difficulty of the means. Little food was produced. Many of the laborers were unemployed and many who wanted to farm had to wait until their land was surveyed. Speculation in land was rife. By 1838, some sixty ships had arrived bringing almost 6,000 people. Although the situation was not as desperate as it had been in Western Australia, there were unfortunate parallels. Shortages meant that kangaroo meat, for instance, was selling at the enormous price of a shilling a pound.”124

Meredith Blundell gives an account: “The inlet which led to the formation of Port Adelaide was first sited and then entered a few days later in 1831, by Captain Collet Barker, from the summit of Mount Lofty. In 1833 John Jones set out from Launceston, Tasmania for Gulf St Vincent and claimed to have re-discovered the inlet and a fine harbor, sheltered by an island on the eastern side of the Barker Inlet. The inlet was entered by Lieutenant WG Field in the vessel Rapid on 25 September, 1836. The road form Port Adelaide to Adelaide was surveyed in 1837 by Colonel William Light who considered cutting a canal to Adelaide to connect with River Torrens. On 14 October 1840 the road and wharf were declared open by the Governor. The Hundred of Port Adelaide was proclaimed on 29 October 1846 with boundary alterations approved in 1855. Port Adelaide was gazetted as a Corporate Town on 27 December 1855 and as a City on 22 May 1901. The suburb of Port Adelaide, with an area of 68 1/2 square miles, was a private subdivision of section 204 in the Hundred of Port Adelaide. It is named because it is the main port of the city of Adelaide. The Aboriginal name for the area is jertabuldingga, 'place of death', jerta, ‘earth’, buildi, ‘dead’, ‘place of dead earth’, or yertabulti, ‘salt swamp that grows nothing’.”125

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John Stephens points out: “Adelaide, the capital of the province, is situated on the eastern coast of Gulf St Vincent, which is extremely well adapted for shipping. Without island, rock, reef, or sandbank, if we except the Trowbridge shoal and others off Port Adelaide (which, however, are timely intimated by the water shoaling), the entire gulf might be navigated with the lead by a perfect stranger in the darkest night. When the entrance shall have been properly buoyed down, there will be no difficulty whatever; and, as to danger, the gulf is more like a river than a sea. Protected by Kangaroo Island (of which we shall soon have to speak more particularly) from the heavy South Sea, and sheltered from every wind except the western, which, however, is fair for running into harbor, the sailor can find no other fault with the Gulf St Vincent than that, as in the Thames itself, he must wait for the tide; and even this objection will partly disappear, when (as we learn can easily be done) the channels in the shallows have been deepened so as to be free at half-flood for the passage of vessels drawing 18 feet of water.”

John Stephens continues: “There is no doubt, however, that a level easy communication can be made between the Murray and Port Adelaide whenever the colonists choose. Dr Imlay (a visitor at Adelaide from Twofold Bay) considers the distance from Adelaide to the Murray about 45 miles. The doctor made an excursion to the river in the month of February last, and reached it within an hour’s ride of the time he expected to do. He describes it as a deep, broad stream (its entrance is said by another to be four fathoms deep, and of great breadth); the water like a canal; beds of reeds, sometimes a quarter of a mile broad, on each side; and behind them a belt of trees, all within a steep bank, which may at times form the winter bank of the river. He returned by a different road, and yet was only twenty-eight hours on the way, and could do it now in six or eight hours. He considers it quite practicable to carry a road for bullock-wagons from Adelaide to the Murray.

“The contiguity of Port Adelaide to the Murray, to which it is nearer than any other safe harbor on the Australian continent, will doubtless ensure to it the import and export trade of all the inland flock-owners, whose increasing stocks will be constantly moving towards South Australia. Indeed, offers have been made to the colonial government by Sydney residents, to send large droves overland; and, as will hereafter appear, this overland traffic has already commenced, and will no doubt rapidly increase, to the mutual profit of the two colonies.

John Stephens further continues: “As Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, are only six weeks’ sail from Port Adelaide, it is conceived that many children of Anglo-Indian parents, instead of being separated from home for years, would be sent to school in the colony, if an establishment sufficiently well-conducted were founded. The practice of the British residents in India, of sending their children to Europe for their education, of voyaging thither themselves to recruit their health with the only alternative of a temporary residence at Cape Town, Hobart Town, or Sydney, in none of which do they meet with congenial society, and in all are deprived of mental resources, has already suggested the idea recommended by the founder of the Swan River settlement, of the establishment of a town combining the inducements of fine climate, pleasant society, and good schools.”126

***PROSPECT, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

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Lianne Gould relates: “The name was bestowed because of the beautiful prospect the locality presented, having been well-timbered with healthy gums and wattle trees (Charles Cane). It was advertised similarly in 1839 by Charles Johnson, a solicitor. Initially, Prospect was an extension of North Adelaide. It is located on the edge of limestone and dolomite plateau overlain by relatively fertile soil. Eventually, wells were sunk to the water table, about 80 feet below the surface. Villages were laid out and named. Farming, timber cutting, lime burning and building became major industries. David Davies, James Harrington, John Bradford, Joseph Lewis, William Milner and John Darling established lime kilns. Lime and wattle bark were necessary ingredients for the tanning industry which developed in neighboring Bowden.”127

***VICTOR HARBOR, SOUTH AUSTRALIA***

Cheryl Toohey stipulates: “It was originally named by Captain Richard Crozier of His Majesty’s sloop Victor in 1837. He also named the anchorage outside the bay Capil Sound, after the then Commander in Chief of India. In his journal, Captain Crozier, described a visit to the southern coast of Australia and his exploration of the region. On arrival he found a whaling establishment and a brig and schooner at anchor. He named the bay Victor Harbor. However, the following year, on June 28, 1837, it was proclaimed the Port of Victor Harbor, and became known as ‘Port Victor’. Several years later the master of a French barque, the Eugene Schneider, confused Port Victor with Port Victoria on Spencer’s Gulf (South Australia). His barque went aground near Port Victoria but without any serious damage. Following this incident Port Victor was proclaimed Victor Harbor.”128

**TASMANIA**

“The first reported sighting of Tasmania by a European was on 24 November 1642 by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who named the island Anthoonij van Diemenslandt, after his sponsor, the Governor of the Dutch East Indies. The name was later shortened to Van Diemen’s Land by the British. In 1772, a French expedition led by Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne landed on the island. Captain James Cook also sighted the island in 1777, and numerous other European seafarers made landfalls, adding a colorful array to the names of topographical features.”129

***BEAUTY POINT, TASMANIA***

Alex Lyall writes: “Beauty Point is named after a cow! Beauty was a favorite cow owned by a local man (Mr Jens Jensen) and she died in thick scrub on the point of land he owned, close to the water. I believe this happened around 1890. (Unfortunately Beauty had been dead some time and the stench led to the discovery of the body).”130

***BREAK O’DAY, TASMANIA***

Kym Matthews articulates: “This municipal area was formerly known as Portland; however, there was a name change in 1991 when local Government areas were amalgamated and the areas of Fingal and Portland were combined to form one local government area. There was a competition in the local area for a new name to properly reflect the new boundary and the name Break O’Day won this competition.

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There is also a river in the Fingal Valley, adjoining the St Helens area, known as the Break O’Day River. As this area is on the extreme eastern part of the island of Tasmania, it gets the first morning light of the day from the East; consequently, it receives ‘Break O’Day’ before anywhere else.”131

PE de Strzelecki describes: “From the southern side is seen the whole eastern labyrinth of ridges and chasms, the fertile valley of the Break o’ Day, together with the beautiful outline of the bays and promontories of the eastern coast.”

PE de Strzelecki continues: “From personal observations, it appears not less evident, that as this wind is felt in one locality, and not in another, within the zone or track of its course, so its movement is not always parallel to the earth’s surface, but at different angles of inclination: thus, in the valley of the Tamar, Van Diemen’s Land, the hot wind was felt on several occasions at Break-o’-day and in Campbeltown, but not in Launceston, though the locality offers no obstruction to the progress of a wind.”132

James Backhouse establishes: “We crossed a series of lofty hills, to Break-o’-day Plains. The first of these are granity, and the succeeding ones, are argillaceous, and red sandstone. On the granite is a species of Eucalyptus, not frequent in Tasmania, called Iron-bark, which name is given to more than one species of this genus in New South Wales, on account of the bark being exceedingly coarse, hard, and iron-like. On the argillaceous hills, the Peppermint-tree attains a considerable size: one on the ground was 147 feet long, another, standing was 26.5 feet round. Daviesia latifolia, a low shrub with bluish leaves, and axillary spikes of small, handsome, pea-like flowers, of yellow, shaded into orange in the middle, abounds on these hills. This kind of coloring is frequent in the numerous little pea-flowered scrubs that decorate the ‘scrubs’ or bushy places of this land.”133

Daniel Bunce highlights: “Some miles from hence we passed through Wanstead Park, the seat of Mr Willis, and were conducted, for ten miles further, into the heavily-timbered tract of level country called Epping Forest. About a mile after leaving Campbell Town there is a track turning off to the right of the main Launceston road, and through the eastern end of Epping Forest, this road leads to St Paul’s and Break o’ Day Plains. Following this road for about ten miles from Campbell Town, it touches the South Esk River, at its most southern bend; and after continues up its southern bank amid a large variety of interesting trees, shrubs, and smaller growing plants. At the distance of five to seven miles there is another stream that joins this river from the north, flowing from Ben Lomond, whose bluff and magnificent proportions would appear to be about twelve miles distant, which waters the fine tract of country called Buffalo Plain. Here were situated the farms of Mr Bonney and Mr John Batman, whose enterprise and intelligence led subsequently to the discovery and development of the unprecedently fine colony of Port Phillip, now known as Victoria, and of which we shall have occasion to say much, on that part of our reminiscences and travels in that colony. Seventeen miles distant from Campbell Town, and about half a mile on the left of the river, is the junction of St Paul’s with the South Esk River. A bridle-road leads from Mr Hepburns station, on the St Paul’s river, to Oyster Bay. After crossing the St Paul’s river, the road still follows the course of the South Esk, on its southern bank, through a fine grazing district. At twenty-seven miles from Campbell Town, we reach Tullochgorum. The marsh all along the course of the river is upwards of two miles in width, and composed of a strong alluvial soil,

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producing fine pasturage for cattle; and, were it protected from the effects of sudden floods, would be evidently well calculated for cultivation. Here the road passed round Vinegar Hill; and three miles further, we came upon Fingal; another mile brought us to the junction of Break o’ Day River with St Paul’s, at the distance of 113 miles from Hobart Town. On each side there is a fine tract of country; that to the south, on the banks of the South Esk, extending for several miles; and that to the east presented a fine tract for grazing purposes, called Break o’ Day Plains, and extending for many miles on either bank of that river, which here formed a fine stream, until it reached within ten miles of the Eastern Sea, from which it is divided by a lofty range of hills near St Patrick’s Head. Continuing along the bank of the stream, we passed the farms of Mr Betts and two others. This terminates the part of the country known as the Break o’ Day Plains. The land in general lies at an elevation of 1,000 feet about sea level. From this to Frankland’s Lagoon and George’s river, the traveler had only marked trees to guide him through a thick, scrubby road, utterly impassable for carriages. There are two paths to proceed by: the one over a hill, on the further side of which there is a fearfully rapid descent from a height of at least 2,000 feet; the other is more gradual and gentle in its descent, but is rough and stony. Then traveling through a dreary country for a few miles, a widespread prospect of the sea bursts upon the view.”134

James Bonwick portrays: “Their numbers were diminished by intestine wars even at the time of the Black War. When Geary took two males and one female near C Grim, they declared that all the rest of their tribe had been destroyed one evening, when camping at their fires, by the celebrated Amazon who had united a strong force out of fragmentary tribes. Mr Robert Clark, in a letter to me, said: ‘I have gleaned from some of the Aborigines, now in their graves, that they were more numerous than the white people are aware of, but their numbers were very much thinned by a sudden attack of disease which was general among the entire population previous to the arrival of the English, entire tribes of the Natives having been swept off in the course of one or two days’ illness.’ The discovery of a large collection of skulls and skeletons at the Break-o’-Day Plains many years ago attests to the fact of their being numerous formerly.”135

***CRADLE MOUNTAIN, TASMANIA***

Steve Johnson remarks: “Named by the Van Diemen’s Land Company. It is believed to have been named for the prominent ‘dip’ between two of its peaks having a resemblance to a baby’s cradle, although local folk lore also suggests it was named after a miner’s cradle. The smaller eastern peak has had the name ‘Little Horn’ since the early 1900s. There are four named summits on the mountain’s western block.”136

***PUNCHBOWL, TASMANIA***

Steve Billingham shares: “Named for the suburb, which followed on from that descriptively applied to the hollow [historic Devil’s Punchbowl].”137

Strathlad stresses: “Another highly interesting Launceston pleasure resort is the spot to which has been applied the above strange appellation. Whence the derivation of this distinctive title I know not. Its origin may possibly be well known to many Launceston people but none with whom I conversed on the subject could give a reason for the place being so called. Leaving our home at half past two we strolled over the hills for about three quarters of an hour over the hills before reaching the Bowl. From the post

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office it is probably three miles distant. After surmounting the main difficulty we came upon more level country, and walked for something like a mile along a well beaten track. Ahead of us the course of the creek was indicated by the growth of bushes on its banks. It was so to speak an ‘everyday’ watercourse, only a few feet deep and possessed of no extraordinary characteristics, but as we approached the Bowl closer, its bed was observed to gradually become more rugged and interesting. On we went a chain or so and then, all of a sudden our plodding ended. We came upon a precipitous decline, the head of which was marked by the famous spot, a look at which had prompted our perambulation, ‘The Devil’s Punchbowl’.

“A few paces south and we had reached the aim of our ambition. From rock to rock we clambered until at last we were compelled to halt on a hollow shaped one overlooking the chasm. Comfortably reclining on the solid resting place we might have been seen with our heads turned earthwards, gazing at the wonders of nature beneath. It was a grand picture to look at. The bowl is an immense cleft in the rocks and on either side the precipice is, as indicated, composed of solid stone. On the town side, about half way down, there is what may be termed a terrace, certainly primitive in character but with a rustic, and evidently of prehistoric origin. To speak of it as a terrace will however be sufficiently descriptive for all present purposes. On the opposite shoulder the greenstone cliff is a solid rock of necessarily abnormal proportions. It is almost perpendicular, and in a few places small trees emerge from the rents in the wall. The whole is a magnificent piece of scenery from above, the gully being thickly covered with trees of various species. Having quenched our thirst for sightseeing from the top, curiosity induced us to battle with the rocks and bramble bushes in order to get a view from the bottom. We succeeded in our fight, tho’ not without receiving sundry alight injuries from the prickles and such like. This was not pleasant, but we were fully compensated for our trouble and pain. From the water channel the bowl looks magnificent. It is an amphitheater constructed by nature with due regard to scenic effort on every hand. It is truly a beautiful sight. The cliffs are about 60 feet in height at the deepest point, and there is a perceptible decrease as the gorge or mouth extends into the hill. Thirty feet in, there is a waterfall of ten or 15 feet, and further back, dark green shrubs growing in the midst of a profuse outcrop of stones round which the water flows, form an exquisite background, such as no human artist could reproduce on canvas. Where we stood, the briar and hawthorn, gorgeous with myriads of brilliant berries, and various other small, pretty trees lit up the scene and made us feel disinclined to say goodbye to such a lovely spot. Obviously the water has washed the earth from between the rocks in days long past, but unfortunately there is not a perpetual flow of it, so that the attractiveness of the Punchbowl varies according to the state of the weather. I cannot give an adequate description of this place. One wants to see it to fully appreciate it, as is the case with everything of the kind we inspected in Tasmania. Visitors to Launceston should not fail to see the place, especially as it is so easily accessible. In nearly all the lions of Launceston scenery rock are the predominating feature. It is so in the Cataract Gorge, in the First Basin, the Second Cataract, and also in the next place I shall endeavor to photograph in language, namely, the romantic, and popular, tho rather secluded.”138

***SCAMANDER, TASMANIA***

Kym Matthews composes: “The Scamander River, namesake of a river near the City of Troy. The river was first called Borthwick Creek, after General Borthwick of the Royal Artillery who served in Flanders

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and the Peninsula Wars. It was then changed to Hanson Creek. The township of Scamander was formerly called Yarmouth. It was renamed by George Franklin who had an interest in Greek culture. It was also renamed by Surveyor Frankland. Scamander is an ancient Greek river that flows across the Trojan Plains into the Dardanelles. First settled by Capt John Henderson and William Steele.”139

***WARATAH-WYNYARD, TASMANIA***

John Stretton designates: “Waratah-Wynyard is the name assigned by the Tasmanian Local Government Act 1993 to the municipal area created by the merging of the former Wynyard and Waratah Municipalities.

“Prior to the 1993 Act there were 47 municipalities in Tasmania but this legislation reduced the number to 29 – through a series of mergers/amalgamations.

“In some cases, new names, descriptive of the enlarged areas, were assigned but in the case of Waratah-Wynyard there were no names identified that satisfactory embraced the larger combined area and the Government decided simply to use both former names – hyphenated and in alphabetic order, notwithstanding that the respective populations of the two towns were: Wynyard approximately 5,000, and Waratah approximately 350.

“The former Wynyard Municipality was so named in 1939, after the principal town, Wynyard, which was it officially, named in 1882, after Edward Buckley Wynyard, a General in the British Army.

“Prior to 1939 the municipality was known as Table Cape Municipality, after a prominent local geographic feature.

“The town of Waratah was named after a Tasmanian botanical species, Telopia truncate, which was prolific in the area.

“The genus Telopea contains five species of Waratah, the relevant one, Truncata, being the only one native to Tasmania and generally only found in higher altitudes – 600 meters or more above sea level.

“Telopea truncate has a flower most commonly red, though a white form is seen occasionally and also a yellow from the Mount Wellington Range south of Hobart exists and has been brought into cultivation in Tasmania.

“As mentioned above, at the time of the merger with Wynyard, Waratah’s population was only around 350 people.

“The town Waratah was founded at the site of a huge tin ore deposit discovered at Mount Bischoff in the 1870s. At the height of its operation, around the turn of the 20th century, the tin mine at Waratah was the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and Waratah itself had a population of over 5,000 people.

“By contrast, Wynyard’s population at the same time was around 300.

“Ninety three years later, their positions had reversed, such being the fragility of mining settlements.”140

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***ZEEHAN, TASMANIA***

Leanne of the State Library of Tasmania and Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office expands: “West Coast Tasmania. Town and Mountain. The mountain was named by Flinders after one of Tasman’s ships. Silver was discovered on the side of the mountain in 1882. By 1888 mines and the town had been established. For a time it was Tasmania’s third largest town. Dutch zee, ‘sea’ and han, ‘cock/rooster’. An aboriginal name was Weiawenena.”141

Daniel Bunce illustrates: “AD 1646, December 1st – Abel Jansen Tasman discovered Van Diemen’s Land, and anchored the ships Hemskirk and Zeehan in a bay to the south of Maria Island, which he named Frederick Hendrick’s Bay, and called this country Van Diemen’s Land, in honor of Athony Van Diemen, at that time Governor-General of the Dutch possessions in the East Indies, residing at Batavia, from which place Tasman sailed. He also named Maria Island in memory of this Governor’s daughter, to whom he was attached. Storm Bay was so named by Tasman from his having been nearly lost in a storm, a few days previous to his anchoring off Maria Island.”142

**VICTORIA**

“The British Act of Parliament separating Victoria from New South Wales, and naming and providing a Constitution for the new Colony, was signed ten years later by Queen Victoria on 5 August 1850. It was followed by enabling legislation passed by the New South Wales Legislative Council on 1 July 1851. This was formally the founding moment of the Colony of Victoria as separation from New South Wales was established by Section 1 of the 1851 Act.”143

***ARARAT, VICTORIA***

Land Victoria maintains: “Took its name from a mountain a few miles distant. The mountain referred to took its name from the scriptural Mount.” 144

Land Victoria continues: “Takes its name from nearby Mt Ararat; named by Horatio Spencer Wills, an early squatter in the district, in 1841: 'we will call it Mount Ararat, for, like the ark, we rested here.’” 145

***AUSTRALIAN ALPS, VICTORIA***

JH Chambers presents: “Australian Alps are the highest section of the Great Dividing Range straddling the Victorian-New South Wales border which divides the Murray River system from short, fast-flowing eastern rivers, ie, Snowy River. Named because of relative height in flat Australia and because of the snow cover of the Snowy Mountains section for five months of the year. Has several peaks above 7,000 feet, including Australia’s highest peak, Kosciusko (7,310 feet) named after the Polish patriot by P Strzelecki who explored the region in 1840. Considerable tourism and winter sports have developed, with good facilities.”146

***BALLARAT, VICTORIA***

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JH Chambers renders: “Some 65 miles northwest of Melbourne, Ballarat was first settled as a sheep-rearing area in 1838. The largest of the cities that grew from the 1850s’ gold rushes, it was the site of Eureka Stockade rebellion of gold miners (1854), now commemorated in a memorial. It has fine private and public buildings, many from the 1850s and 1860s. Mining continued until 1918. Goldfields life is reproduced at ‘Old Ballarat’ and ‘Sovereign Hill’ theme parks. There are Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals, and a university which has absorbed the famous School of Mines. Southwest of Melbourne, and founded in 1837, Geelong was a port for the wool of clipper ships and still markets a significant proportion of the nation’s wool and wheat. The closest port for the Ballarat goldfields in the 1850s, it was depopulated by the rushes, but recovered. Here begins the Great Ocean Road along the southwest coast of Victoria, and its spectacular scenery – such as the Twelve Apostles ocean rock formation. About 40% of the city area is parkland; site of Deakin University (1977) and famous Geelong Grammar School (1854), it has several charming seaside resort towns nearby.”

JH Chambers continues: “In 1851, the Port Phillip District was separated from New South Wales to become the colony of Victoria. In Victoria, just months after Hargraves’ find, even more fabulous [gold] fields were found. The gold was struck at Castlemaine, Bendigo, and, most famous, frenetic, and fantastic of all – at glorious Ballarat, two days’ ride, a week’s walk, and today an unhurried 100 minutes’ car drive from Melbourne. Here were the richest gold fields the world had ever known! No country in the last 500 years has begun a new half-century in such pandemonium.

“In Geelong, the nearest port to the gold fields, the whole town was in ‘hysterics’ said the Melbourne newspaper the Argus. By October 1851, it was reporting: ‘The police are handing in their resignations daily … the custom house hands are off to the diggings; seamen are deserting their vessels. Contractors’ men have bolted and left expensive jobs on their hands unfinished. What are the contractors to do? Why, follow their men; and off they go.’

“Though the drastic regulations of the masters and servants acts forbade such behavior, rules were powerless when even the police were deserting. The women were left behind to carry on the businesses as best they could. Describing Melbourne, Governor CJ La Trobe (1801-75) wrote ‘Cottages are deserted, houses to let, business are at a standstill, and even schools are closed. In some suburbs not a man is left.’ Most diggers walked to the fields.

“When gold-seekers from overseas began arriving in late 1852, they were joined by the crews of the ships that brought them, and all headed for the fields. The ports of Geelong and Melbourne became forests of deserted ships.

“People feared that the lawlessness of the Californian rush would be repeated. The Sydney Morning Herald predicted ‘calamities far more terrible than earthquakes or pestilence.’ It did not happen. Even though there were substantial numbers of Tasmanian ex-convicts on the diggings (called ‘Vandemonians’), the Australian gold fields were mostly law abiding. Unlike in California, the Australian discoveries occurred close to established centers of government authority, and the New South Wales government enforced at the very beginning the rule of law on the fields. Victoria was less well

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established and so less prepared, and was invaded by many more diggers, but managed to maintain law and order with some touch-and-go improvisation.

“Moreover, most diggers belonged to the same racial stock of British and Irish, and were accustomed to the rule of law. Sensible regulations also helped: so that everyone had a chance, the colonial governments allowed diggers to peg out claims only about the size of today’s Australian bedroom. As a result, the gold fell into many hands, and the rushes were essentially democratic.

“Almost every day in 1853, a great sailing ship crammed with fortune-hunters left British ports. Sailing by the fastest (the great circle) route down the middle of the Atlantic and then far south towards the Antarctic continent, the passengers saw no land for the next 13,000 miles. Not all reached Australia. Some sank in storms or were crushed by mighty Antarctic icebergs, golden hopes perishing in the ice-blue waters.

“Gold seekers also came from the United States and, in smaller numbers, from almost every European country. The numbers of free immigrants in the first two years exceeded the total number of convicts to Australia in all eighty years of transportation. By decade’s end, Victoria’s population had increased seven-fold; Australia’s had more than doubled. Prices rose enormously. By 1853, land in downtown Melbourne was bringing 200 pounds a foot: five times that in central London and New York.

“Some 40,000 Chinese also arrived, to become the butt of racial antipathy, and occasional anti-Chinese riots. Finally, all colonies enacted legislation to prohibit further Chinese immigration. This anti-Chinese feeling has often been decried by modern Australians. But it should be remembered that antipathy to foreign cultures was then a worldwide phenomenon. One may speculate on the Chinese government’s reaction had 40,000 white Australians entered China to dig for gold.

“It was as if King Midas had walked in erratic fashion hundreds of miles through the Australian bush touching here, touching there. Men found gold in all sorts of terrain: tracks, farms, forests, river valleys. Gold was a great leveler: servants became masters; men without means were suddenly riding in splendid carriages. Other things being equal, hard work paid. Cornish copper miners sank their shafts several times as fast as city dwellers. For once in history, wealth was more easily accessible to the poor than to the rich.

“Women were arriving: by 1856 there were more females than males in the city of Sydney – the first such imbalance in Australian history.

“Culture in its various forms came, too. Renditions of Shakespeare’s plays by competent British actors were surprisingly popular on the fields. In 1855, there appeared in Ballarat the notorious Lola Montez, mistress of the King of Bavaria, with her famous troop of dancers.

“Within a month, a promising new field might suddenly have 20,000 or 30,000 men living in a tent city, and, if the diggings proved poor a few months later, it might have no-one. The topography of a field looked like some jumbled moonscape of chopped trees and holes in the ground. Of all the inexplicable

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actions performed by white men, it was this destruction of the land that seemed most incomprehensible to the local Aborigines.

“Many diggers did well. A number did astronomically well. Nevertheless, some of the latter spent all they had won in a few months. One might see a poor soul egged on by his fair-weather friends lighting his cigar with a 5 pound note, or playing skittles with bottles of French champagne. But about one in three diggers abandoned their quest empty handed, worse off than on arrival.

“At first the diggers took the easily available gold by panning in creeks and rivers. But, by the end of 1852, Ballarat and Bendigo diggers had to probe more deeply in holes lined with timber in search of the deep gold fields. Work was dangerous, and diggers began to band together in groups of eight to twelve. Ballarat and other important gold towns then took on an appearance of permanence. Within a few years of its founding, Ballarat had banks, churches, libraries, schools, a newspaper, and a population of 50,000 including 15,000 women and children. Many of the elegant Victorian buildings erected in the 1850s and 1860s in these cities remain to this day.

“But all was not well in Ballarat. The average winnings of 390 pound per head in 1852 fell to less than half in 1854. To pay for the administration of the diggings, Victoria and New South Wales had made it law that, to dig for gold, a miner had to buy a license. But, by 1854, all but the most successful miners were finding the outlay of 3 pounds for a two-month license too expensive because the time required for success had lengthened. The Victorian government remained largely unaware of the significance of these difficult new conditions. Discontent was continually fanned, as one observer put it, by the brutal manner, ‘the Russian sort of way’ in which the mounted police, many of them former convicts, rode into the diggings on license hunts. Most miners were vehemently anti-convict. A series of annoyances and frustrations produced a temporary following for the political radicals. Led by an educated middle-class Irishman, Peter Lalor, and with a disproportionate number of Americans and Irish, many miners burned their licenses and began organizing a revolt.

“On a hill-top overlooking the road to Melbourne, perhaps 700 diggers erected their rude wooden ‘Eureka Stockade’, where they raised a handsome homemade blue-and-white Southern Cross flag, and did no less than proclaim the Republic of Victoria! They were determined to resist any further arrests over licenses.

“On the Saturday night of 2 December, three-quarters or more departed, leaving perhaps 130 of their more determined mates behind the barricades. Meanwhile, Sir Charles Hotham, the recently appointed governor of Victoria, and his Executive Council, were well aware of the mounting tension but failed to understand its nature and determined to stamp it out. At 4:30 am on Sunday morning a contingent of soldiers and police stormed the stockade. Within half-an-hour it had fallen, as had 22 diggers and six soldiers. Though the leading surviving rebels were captured, all were later acquitted, for the feeling of the general populace was certainly with them. Lalor lived to become a bastion of state authority in Victoria, as speaker of the lower house of parliament.

“A monument erected in 1923 by the citizens of Ballarat on the place of battle reflects the ambivalent attitude of Australians to the event (and to constituted authority). It reads: ‘To the honored memory of

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the heroic pioneers who fought and fell, on this sacred spot, in the cause of liberty, and the soldiers who fell at Duty’s Call.’

“A commission of enquiry agreed that the rebels had legitimate grievances, and recommended that the hated license be replaced by a duty on gold exports, and a ‘miner’s right’. This cost 1 pound a year and gave the right to vote and to help make mining laws for each district. Eureka had been in part a symptom of the profound economic changes that were occurring, for large amounts of capital were increasingly needed to dig for deep gold. In the Victorian elections of 1856, only about an eighth of the miners bothered to vote. This strongly suggests that their grievances had been mainly personal and economic rather than political, and that, with a little more common sense and compromise on the part of the government, Eureka would never have happened.”147

***BAW BAW, VICTORIA***

Land Victoria sheds light on: “Originally Mount Bow Bow. Named in 1846 by Charles James Tyers, commissioner of Crown lands for Gippsland. Aboriginal: Woiworung bo-ye, ‘ghost’, or bo-bo, ‘bandicoot’; or Bunurong Bore Bore or Kurnai Bo Bo, ‘echo’.” 148

***BOROONDARA, VICTORIA***

Adria Ferluga suggests: “Boroondara was the name given to the Parish on the east of the Yarra river some time in 1837 by surveyor Robert Hoddle, (who also planned the grid system for Melbourne). The word Boroondara is said to have come from an aboriginal word meaning ‘where the ground is thickly shaded’. The Aborigines who inhabited the Boroondara region belonged to the Wurundjeri tribe, one of five main tribal groups who formed the Kulin nation and shared the Woiwurong language.

“Gwen McWilliam, in her book Hawthorn Peppercorns, writes: ‘In his field book of 1837, Hoddle used the word Booroondara, spelt with two double o's, for the Hawthorn side of the river, perhaps for the first time. He had spelt it differently in a short list of native words in another field book that year - Borondarra - which he translated simply ‘Where the ground is thickly shaded’.’

“The first local government body was The Boroondara District Roads Board which was formed in 1854. By 1860 Hawthorn and Kew became separate municipalities and the remaining area became the Sire of Boroondara and late the City of Camberell. In 1994 the cities of Camberwell, Hawthorn and Kew were amalgamated and the City of Boroondara formed using the name originally used in the 1800s.”149

James Bonwick calls attention to: “Melbourne stands on a slate formation, which is often violently and curiously contorted. Auriferous gravel in one part and clays in another form the upper stratum. Gypsum is abundantly found in the adjoining swamp, which is conjectured by Mr Blandowski to have been once the crater of a volcano filled up with recent deposits. On the north, west, and east sides of Melbourne is the dark basaltic rock, or bluestone of colonists. Though this covers Richmond and Collingwood Flats, the slate floor re-appears on Richmond and Collingwood Hills. The same trappean basalt extends south-westward along the Bay shore, across the Saltwater River to Williamstown, and so onward toward Geelong, forming large treeless plains. It is thought there were two irruptions of basalt,

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according to Mr Smyth, between which is a quartz gravel bed, on the road from Melbourne to Flemington. The latter place is on a tertiary ferruginous rock, containing Turretella, Typolites, etc. There is also basalt, soapstone, and valuable hematite of iron. Recent sandstone reposes on old basalt at the Saltwater River, and upon that is another volcanic coating. Crossing the Yarra from Collingwood Flat we leave the basalt, and tread upon the slate of Boroondara. In most parts of that beautiful and hilly district the slate is covered with thick beds of gravel, which is sometimes of rounded masses of quartz, at other times of shot-like particles cemented by pressure into sandstone; but it is in many parts covered with clay and sand. The basalt and slate are in like manner divided by the Darebin Creek. The slate of Boroondara, by the Yarra, has the meridional direction, and is intersected by quartz veins, as well as accompanied by parallel bands of quartz, as on the diggings. Without doubt the gravel is auriferous.”150

***FRENCH ISLAND, VICTORIA***

Ruth Gooch connotes: “Little known, even by those mainlanders who live closest to it, French Island is the largest of the Western Port islands comprising some 16,350 hectares. Surrounded by mud flats to ebb tide, it appears remote, mysterious even; there are vague tales of buried treasure, escaped convicts from Tasmania, and an island ‘spook’ which has been pursued at full gallop on horseback. One old map has the name ‘Bushranger Point’ marked on the south coast, but how the name originated, of course, is not now known.

“The island is still ‘unincorporated territory’ meaning it does not form part of any municipality, its inhabitants do not pay rates, and the island is administered directly by the Victorian Government’s Ministry of Planning in consultation with an island committee. The population has never consisted of more than a few hundred, the comparative isolation and difficult terrain defeating most of those who attempted to settle there. However, a handful of families did succeed and descendants of 1890s settlers are among the current resident population of about 100 people.

“Even the island’s initial discovery proved elusive. Western Port was first charted in part by the explorer George Bass who famously voyaged south from Sydney in 1797 with his crew of six blue jackets in their eight meter whaleboat. Bass’ intention was to see how far he could journey and that proved to be ‘Western Port’, so named by Bass ‘from its relative situation to every other known harbor on the coast.’ But his published Eye-Sketch of the bay indicates he thought the island to be part of the mainland; apparently he did not voyage far enough to realize that the northern mud flats are covered at high tide.

“Two years after the Bass voyage, Governor King in Sydney decided that Lieutenant Grant should take the surveying vessel Lady Nelson south for exploratory work. Grant’s surveyor was Ensign Barrallier, the son of a French naval surveyor, but Barrallier’s chart also depicted the island as part of the mainland. However, the little islands close to French Island were recognized and named: a 25 hectare island off the south coast of French Island was named ‘Margaret Island’ in honor of the wife of Captain (later, Admiral) Schank, while the shape of a headland off the southwest corner of French Island suggested the name ‘Tortoise Head’. It is shown on Barrallier’s chart as a tombolo joined to French Island, presumably by a thick stand of mangroves. The tiny island off the northwest tip of French Island was named ‘Barrallier Island’, apparently a name bestowed by King in honor of the chart maker.”

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Ruth Gooch continues: “The French chart was finally published in 1811 with French Island claimed as a French discovery and called Ile des Francais, the subsequently Anglicized name by which it would become known, but little credence can be given to any claim of French discovery when the French laid claim to having discovered a significant part of the south Australian coastline – their infamous Terre Napoleon – knowing that it had been first discovered by Matthew Flinders. Interestingly, it was the French who named the little stream now known as Bass River, since ‘Riviere rue par M Bass’ appears on their chart, but again, their information is probably based on Campbell’s misleading ‘big river’.

“When Campbell told Governor Macquarie in 1812 that he had ‘discovered King Island’, and that he had ‘made other useful discoveries in those seas [Bass Strait]’ but in regard to King Island, Campbell probably meant that he was the first to land on and explore it. He does not specify the ‘other useful discoveries’, but on the evidence, those discoveries could have include the insularity of French Island.”151

“Western Port is a beautiful harbor, and is formed by Grant and French Islands. It was named Western Port by Mr Bass, from its relative situation with regard to Sydney, it being at the period of the discovery the westernmost extremity of the straits known on the north side. The harbor consists of two bays, which lie one within the other in a remarkable manner, the inner one being nearly filled up by French Island, whilst the outer is sheltered by Grant Island, which stretches across it almost point to point, leaving a wide channel on the west side, but an indifferent one on the east. In consequence of this formation, the harbor on the east side of Grant Island forms a canal half a mile wide, with a depth of from six to seven fathoms. The shores of the harbor are very beautiful; and as this portion of Australia gains in population, the port must become one of considerable commercial importance.”152

***GANNAWARRA, VICTORIA***

Nerida Dye details: “From 1855 Ganawarra and Pine Hills - Loddon stations were run as one entity. The land for the Kerang township was purchased in 1857 from the owners of the station. As noted above Gannawarra was originally spelt with one 'N' ~ Ganawarra, and was an Aboriginal word meaning ‘black swan’. The Post Office was established in 1877 and was spelt Gannawarrah. There is also historical reference that Gannawarra has the meaning ‘running water’. In 1875 the district of Gannawarra was settled under the 1869 Land Act. This consisted of a store, hotel and racecourse midway between Koondrook and Cohuna. The hotel also incorporated a blacksmith's shop, a butcher's shop and from 1878 a post office and 1904 a butter factory. A school building was moved in in 1893 to house Gannawarra State School No 1959. Another school, Gannawarra North State School No 4547 opened in 1938. A hall, still in operation, built from funds rose through hay carting and barbeques opened in 1979. During the Shire Amalgamations of 1995 a new name was required to unite the Shires of Cohuna and Kerang and the Borough of Kerang. It was felt that the name Gannawarra was common to both Koondrook, Cohuna and Kerang with local context and the communities decided that if they had to have a change then it should be to a name that is traditional to the district. With the linkages across the new Shire between the Kerang Lakes and the river systems including the Murray River (which forms the northern border of the Shire), Loddon River, Avoca River and the network of creeks and streams which connects them, there was ample reference to 'running water'. Taking all of this into consideration it was decided to name the Shire Gannawarra.”153

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***MOONEE VALLEY, VICTORIA***

Moonee Valley City Council explains: “There are three theories as to the origin of the word Moonee. On instructions from New South Wales, surveyor Robert Hoddle incorporated local indigenous names when naming land marks in the areas he was surveying and portioning. The name Mone Mone was first used by Hoddle when he instructed HWH Smythe to survey the area in 1837. It was assumed that Mone Mone was an indigenous word due to its grammatical structure, but Hoddle did not record its meaning.

“Secondly, the Agus newspaper in September 1934 claimed that Moonee Moonee Ponds meant 'plenty of small flats'. However, according to the Victorian Aboriginal Languages Monee Monee was the name of a Wurundjeri-willam man who died in service with the Native Corps in 1845.”154

***MOUNT HOPE AND DISAPPOINTMENT, VICTORIA***

George Arden imparts: “Mount Hope is a hill of a singular shape, met with by Major Mitchell when he had advanced about a day’s journey southward from the banks of the Hume and Yarraine, and so named because from its brow he obtained the first glimpses of that beautiful land, which, in his enthusiasm and delight, he named Australia Felix.

“Mount Disappointment is a dark rocky mountain at the heads of the River Plenty, about forty miles distant from Melbourne; it is covered with timber of immense sig, and in parts with a vine scrub of an impenetrable nature. It was this obstruction which caused the travelers, Hovell and Hume, in their overland journey to Port Phillip, to turn back towards the River Goulburn, and leave in the name they attached to the hill a lasting memento of their undeserved and unexpected failure. Many reports are abroad that gold, both in ore and sand, have been discovered on this mountain; to one of which, indeed, the author, from the testimony of a practical mineralogist, is inclined to give some credence. Notwithstanding the repulsive and difficult nature of the attempt, a passage has been made across the mountain at a very late date.”155

***MURRINDINDI, VICTORIA***

“The name comes from the pastoral run begun by squatter Peter Snodgrass in 1837, which was originally (and probably correctly) spelled Murrundindi. In the Woiwurrung language of central Victoria the name means ‘living in the mountains’. However, the inaccurate translation ‘mist of the mountains’ is sometimes given.”156

**WESTERN AUSTRALIA**

Self-explanatory

***JERRAMUNGUP, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

Barbara Bee mentions: “Jeer-a-mung-up is believed to be a corruption of the Aboriginal word Yarramoitch. Moitch meaning ‘tree’ (in this case the flat-topped yate), ‘standing up’ or ‘on high

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ground’. This was important to the local Aborigines as the yate normally grew in depressions or low-lying swamps.”157

***JOONDALUP, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

Barbara Hellriegel puts into words: “The name Joondalup or Doondalup is an Aboriginal word in the language of the local Aboriginal (Nyoongar) people and means ‘The lake that glistens’. The city was planned in the 1970s around the lake that is the main geographical feature of the area. Lake Joondalup is part of the Yellagonga Regional Park which is named after the chief of the local Nyoongar people at the time of European settlement here. Lake Joondalup was a very important source of food for the Aboriginal people who migrated through this area with the seasons. When the city was being planned the developers wanted to create a city that was in harmony with the natural environment so the city was named after the lake. Much of the design of the city, public artwork and street lighting and furniture also reflect the natural environment.”158

***KALAMUNDA, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

Paula Wilkins reports: “The hills of the eastern Darling Range were opened up for timber logging from the early 1860s influencing the later development of the area to be known as Kalamunda. In 1881 Frederick and Elizabeth Stirk cleared the first land for agricultural purposes, in what is now the township of Kalamunda. The name is derived from the Aboriginal words Cala, ‘home/hearth’ and Munnda, ‘forest’ – meaning ‘a home in the forest’. The official town site name was approved in 1901.”159

***MOUNT MAGNET, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

Sydney Morning Herald shows: “Located 570 km north of Perth on the Great Northern Highway, Mount Magnet is a small township which now survives on a combination of gold mining and services for the surrounding pastoral area which boasts some of the largest sheep stations in Western Australia.

“Mount Magnet was named by the Surveyor Robert Austin in 1854. Austin, while passing through the area, noted that a hill near the present town site had magnetic ironstone which played havoc with his compass. His subsequent expedition report came to the conclusions that the Murchison was fertile in spite of a drought which was raging at the time (it is marginal land with an annual rainfall of only 228mm) and that there was almost certainly vast gold deposits in the area.

“Surprisingly this rather glowing report did little to encourage settlement in the area and it wasn't until the Murchison gold rushes of the 1890s that the current township was settled. There is some confusion as to exactly who first found gold at Mount Magnet. Some sources claim it was H Steadman at Poverty Flat in 1892 while other credit George Woodley who certainly can be credited with floating the Mount Magnet Mine. Like most of the Murchison the subsequent development was rapid. The town was proclaimed in 1895 and by 1902 it was booming with some 14 hotels, 2 newspapers and 30 goldmines. At the time the pre–eminent mine was that at Hill 50 which was producing up to 3,000 oz a month and was widely regarded as a mine which would last forever. Interestingly although it fell into decline after

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1915 (when the miners went off to war) today it is central to the town's renewed importance as a gold mining center.

“Today the town is but a glimmer of its former magnificence. It has survived but only as a settlement with a population of about 1,000 people. Perhaps the clearest evidence that it was once an important center is the extraordinary width of the main street. Even the novelist Randolph Stow, in The Merry–go–round in the Sea, comments on the width of the main street when he writes of Mount Magnet: ‘What's at Magnet?' the boy asked. ‘Three gins and a goat,' Alan Lamb said, 'most days. And a street about half a mile wide.' This is, of course, unfair to the town which has survived the decline in gold and recently, with the increased gold prices, has seen a number of huge open cut mines established in the area.”160

***NGAANYATJARRAKU, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

Marlene Anderson talks about: “The Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku is home to ten communities scattered over 159,948 sq km. The district population of predominately Ngaanyatjarra people is concentrated at Warburton on the Great Central Road. The distinctive red sand and blue skies of the area form a spectacular context for a diverse range of desert flora and fauna. Rocky escarpments and other landforms give texture to this beautiful desert country.”161

***PEPPERMINT GROVE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

Peppermint Grove Digital Heritage Trail catalogs: “The groves of Agonis Flexuosa or peppermint trees around the foreshore are native to this area, and gave the suburb of Peppermint Grove its name.

“However in 1898, further back from the river, the Road Board sought to make sugar gums the street tree of choice. The Board ordered trees from the Forests Department and invited applications from residents for trees to plant in front of their homes. Eventually however, the large size and canopy of the sugar gums stunted the growth of peppermint trees - which were seen as more suitable for ornamental street trees – so in 1938 the Road Board decided to remove the sugar gums and replace them with peppermint trees.

“There was considerable anger as a result; with residents arguing that this was not the true reason. A journalist reported one cynical theory ‘that peppermint trees were being planted because of the district being known as Peppermint Grove.’ He scoffed, ‘on this theory, nothing but apple trees should be planted at Applecross!’

“The peppermint trees, though widely planted, were still under threat. In 1953 the Peppermint Grove Road Board discussed the possibility of planting box trees because the cost of pruning the peppermints was considerable and, it was argued, many trees in the district were cumbersome, obscured street lights and obstructed footpaths. This idea was fortunately not implemented and the standard street tree today remains the Peppermint tree, an important natural feature that enhances the beauty of Peppermint Grove.”162

***PLANTAGENET, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

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Rhoda Clover et al conveys: “There is a short description of the ‘tantalizing mystery in the history of the State [Western Australia], because nowhere in the writings of the early explorers, surveyors or officials does it appear to have been explicitly stated why the name [Plantagenet] was given.”163

***SERPENTINE-JARRAHDALE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

Nicholas Reynolds discusses: “The town site of Serpentine is located 55 km south-southeast of Perth and 7 km south of Mundijong. Serpentine is located on the South Western Railway between Perth and Bunbury, and was one of the original stations when the line was opened in 1893. In 1891 the government had opened up land in the area by declaring the Serpentine Agricultural Area, and in 1893 decided there was sufficient demand for town lots by gazetting the Townsite of Serpentine in December 1893. The town site derives its name from the nearby Serpentine River. The name is descriptive, derived from the serpentine nature of the river in its lower reaches where it was discovered and named in the early 1830s. Thomas Peel, the founder of the Peel Region in which Serpentine-Jarrahdale sits, established a farm on the river which he named Serpentine Farm. Now known as Lowlands, many of the buildings originally erected by Peel in the 1830s still remain.

“The town site of Jarrahdale is located in the Darling Range, 50 km south east of Perth. Jarrahdale is a descriptive name, derived from the town's situation in some of Western Australia's best Jarrah forest. The place came about as a result of the granting of timber concessions here in 1872. The Jarrahdale Timber Company constructed a railway for the transport of timber from Jarrahdale through Mundijong to Rockingham. By the turn of the century Jarrahdale was a thriving community, and the government decided to declare a town site. This took some time to declare, due to Jarrahdale being a mainly private town at the time, and the town site was not gazetted until 1913.”164

***SHARK BAY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

JH Chambers expounds: “World Heritage Area lies about 400 miles north of Perth. The Shark Bay region, named by the English buccaneer, William Dampier, in 1699, was originally the home of the Nganda and Malgana Aboriginal peoples, with evidence of occupation from 22,000 years ago. The first European was Dutch navigator, Dirck Hartog, who landed in 1616 on the island that now bears his name. The area is rich in bird-life, amphibians, and reptiles, and renowned for its marine fauna, such as its 10,000 Dugongs (Sea Cows), the largest colony in the world, and the tame Bottle-nosed Dolphins of Monkey Mia, as well as for some of the most variegated and massive clusters of sea grass in the world. In hyper saline Hamelin Pool are the world’s most diverse and abundant examples of the cushion-like stromatolites – formed by the world’s oldest known living species of cyanobacteria, which evolved 3,500 million years ago, and living examples of which may be several thousand years old.”165

***ULURU, WESTERN AUSTRALIA***

JH Chambers impresses: “For thousands of years a sacred site to the Aborigines, this 1,200 foot-high monolith of arkosic sandstone, 230 miles southwest of Alice Springs was placed on the map in 1873 by WC Goss traveling west from the overland telegraph station. Originally named after a premier of South

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Australia, the Aboriginal Uluru is now the site’s more common designation. Indigo blue just before sunrise, deep ochre-red at sunset, and various shades between, the rocks is a key tourist venue.”

JH Chambers continues: “This lonely line and its supply track became a base for further exploration. In 1873 WC Goss (1842-81) with his camels, was going west from the tiny overland telegraph station at Alice Springs.

“Pushing through the harsh, corrosive-green brush of this spinifex country, he saw ahead a low hump which, as he crested the rise slowly grew into ‘one immense rock rising abruptly from the plain.’ This was the 1,200-feet-high, mysterious Ayers Rock (after a South Australian premier) or Uluru (the name used by the local Aborigines for this mighty inselberg). A week later Goss returned to gaze again upon its glory. Seen by few non-Aborigines until the mid-twentieth century, in recent decades millions of visitors have watched its continuum of color changes. Goss was the first to express the common sentiment in English that, in his own words ‘This rock appears more wonderful every time I look upon it.’

“Ernest Giles went into the great unmapped northern half of Western Australia three times between 1872 and 1876. With even less justification, he shared dreams of earlier men, such as Sturt, for in such a vast area he said: ‘There was still room for snowy mountains, an inland sea, ancient river, and palmy plain, for races of new kinds of men inhabiting a new and odoriferous land, for fields of gold and golcondas of gems, for a new flora and a new fauna.’

“Again all he found was desert or semi-desert, not sea but sand. But, in the twentieth century, in this region known now as the Great Sandy Desert, mineral discoveries would be made, and in the adjoining Kimberly District, Giles’ fields of gold and golcondas of gems would become a reality.”166

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Coming soon…

Interesting Place Names and History of Canada

Page 89: Interesting Place Names and History of Australia
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1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymy

2 Kenneth Morgan; Australia: A Very Short Introduction; OUP Oxford; 2012

3 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

4 Kenneth Morgan; Australia: A Very Short Introduction; OUP Oxford; 2012

5 Kenneth Morgan; Australia: A Very Short Introduction; OUP Oxford; 2012

6 Kenneth Morgan; Australia: A Very Short Introduction; OUP Oxford; 2012

7 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

8 Kenneth Morgan; Australia: A Very Short Introduction; OUP Oxford; 2012

9 Flavia Hodges; Language Planning and Placenaming in Australia; Current Issues in Language Planning; 2007

10 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

11 Kenneth Morgan; Australia: A Very Short Introduction; OUP Oxford; 2012

12 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

13 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

14 Kenneth Morgan; Australia: A Very Short Introduction; OUP Oxford; 2012

15 Kenneth Morgan; Australia: A Very Short Introduction; OUP Oxford; 2012

16 Paul D Meek; The History of Christmas Island and the Management of its Karst Features; 2001

17 Stephen Trussel; The History and People of Christmas Island; 1988; http://www.trussel.com/kir/xmasi.htm

18 Joseph Huddart; The Oriental Navigator, or, New Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies: Also for the Use of Ships Trading in the Indian and China Seas to New Holland; James Humphreys; 1801

19 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Fish_Cove

20 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poon_Saan

21 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_City,_Christmas_Island

22 Joseph Huddart; The Oriental Navigator, or, New Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies: Also for the Use of Ships Trading in the Indian and China Seas to New Holland; James Humphreys; 1801

23 Joseph Huddart; The Oriental Navigator, or, New Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies: Also for the Use of Ships Trading in the Indian and China Seas to New Holland; James Humphreys; 1801

24 Joseph Huddart; The Oriental Navigator, or, New Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies: Also for the Use of Ships Trading in the Indian and China Seas to New Holland; James Humphreys; 1801

25 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_New_South_Wales#1770_James_Cook.27s_proclamation

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26 Peter Miller Cunningham; Two Years in New South Wales; Vol 1; H Colburn; 1827

27 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=ItjtWy; The Secretary, Geographical Names BoardLand and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

28 Clement Hodgkinson; Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay; with Descriptions of the Natives, Their Manners and Customs, the Geology, Natural Productions, Fertility, and Resources of that Region; First Explored and Surveyed by Order of the Colonial Government; T and W Boone; 1845

29 http://www.visitnarrabri.com.au/index.cfm?page_id=1007&page_name=Baan%20Baa; Narrabri Shire Tourism, Newell Highway, Narrabri NSW 2390, Australia

30 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=TRQl; The Secretary, Geographical Names BoardLand and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

31 Penny Jobling, Tourism Manager, Narrabri Shire Council, 46-48 Maitland St, PO Box 261, Narrabri NSW 2390, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.narrabri.nsw.gov.au/

32 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=anjLZxZT; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

33 Baryulgil - Culture and History; Tiny settlement created to remove Aborigines from asbestos poisoning; The Sydney Morning Herald; December 2, 2008; http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-factsheet/baryulgil--culture-and-history-20081202-6p5p.html

34 Asbestos at Baryulgil; http://www.australianasbestosnetwork.org.au/Asbestos+History/Asbestos+at+Baryulgil/default.aspx; Australian Asbestos Network Website Project, School of Media Communication and Culture, Murdoch University, 90 South St, Murdoch, Western Australia, 6150, Australia

35 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=ujjLlMtL; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

36 John Lang Dunmore; An Historical and Statistical Account of New South Wales; 1852

37 Samuel Mossman and Thomas Banister; Australia Visited and Revisited: A Narrative of Recent Travels and Old Experiences in Victoria and New South Wales; Addey and Co; 1853

38 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=ujYboesE; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

39 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=TRjLoesE; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

40 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

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41 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=MnwGjzUl; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

42 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=ItjLvqWA ; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

43 John Henderson; Excursions and Adventures in New South Wales: With Pictures of Squatting and of Life in the Bush: An Account of the Climate, Productions, and Natural History of the Colony, and the Manners and Customs of the Natives, with Advice to Immigrants, etc; Vol 1; W Shoberl; 1851

44 Breeanna Pitt, Tourism Assistant, Broken Hill City Council, Administrative Centre, 240 Blende St, Broken Hill NSW 2880, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.brokenhill.nsw.gov.au

45 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=ItckoeWA; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

46 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=ItYbwprX; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

47 John P Powell; Placenames of the Greater Hawkesbury Region; Hawkesbury River Enterprises; 1994; provided by Neil Chippendale, Local Studies Coordinator, Library & Information Services, Hornsby Shire Council, Administration Centre, 296 Pacific Hwy, Hornsby NSW 2077, Australia; [email protected]; hornsby.nsw.gov.au

48 http://www.palerang.nsw.gov.au/index.php?option=com_jentlacontent&view=article&id=495592:more-about-captains-flat&catid=2367:captains-flat-area-palerang&Itemid=2857; provided by Debby Ferguson, Manager Executive Services, Palerang Council, Bungendore Office, 10 Majara St, Bungendore NSW 2621, Australia; [email protected]; www.palerang.nsw.gov.au

49 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=JPckWyKmuj; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

50 Flavia Hodges; Language Planning and Placenaming in Australia; Current Issues in Language Planning; 2007

51 Sourced from http://www.huntervalleygenealogy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=566; provided by Ann Crump, Community History Librarian, Lake Macquarie City Council, Speers Point Library, 139 Main Road, Speers Point 2284 NSW, Australia; acrump @lakemac.nsw.gov.au ; www.lakemac.com.au

52 Norma Meadley, Narromine Local History, 31-33 Dandaloo St, Narromine 2821 NSW, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.narromine.nsw.gov.au/council/departments/corporate-a-community-services/107-local-history-room

53 Charlie Adams, Tamworth Regional Council, Nundle Customer Service Officer, 437 Peel St, Tamworth NSW 2340, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.tamworth.nsw.gov.au/

54 John Dunmore Lang; An Historical and Statistical Account of New South Wales; 1852

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55 John Dunmore Lang; The Australian Emigrant’s Manual: Or, A Guide to the Gold Colonies of New South Wales and Port Phillip; Partridge and Oakey; 1852

56 William Branwhite Clarke; Researches in the Southern Gold Fields of New South Wales; Reading and Wellbank; 1860

57 http://www.jra.asn.au/AboutJerra/aboutjerra.html; Jerrabomberra Residents' Association, PO Box 132, Jerrabomberra NSW 2619, Australia

58 Tom O'Connor, General Manager, Uralla Shire Council, Council Chambers and Administration Centre, 32 Salisbury Street, Uralla NSW 2358, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.uralla.nsw.gov.au/

59 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=anqwZxqbIt; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

60 Sourced from Tile 33 Cooma-Monaro Shire; provided by Elaine Schofield; [email protected]

61 http://www.ulladulla.info/history-of-mollymook-nsw

62 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 199963 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=ujjLwptLMa; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

64 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myall_Creek_massacre

65 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

66 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=ujKqlMKmKW; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

67 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=ujckvqqbSX; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

68 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=ujcklMKmuj ; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

69 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

70 Joy Lane, 2620 Taylors Arm Rd, Macksville NSW 2447, Australia; [email protected]

71 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=TRjtwpqbGH ; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

72 Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, 47-51 Oxley Hwy, Wauchope NSW 2446, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.hastings.nsw.gov.au/www/html/7-home-page.asp

73 http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/NationalParks/parkHeritage.aspx?id=N0483; Head Office, Office of Environment and Heritage, Environment Protection Authority and National Parks and Wildlife Service, PO

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Box A290, Sydney South, NSW 1232, Australia

74 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=TRwGFxUlTR ; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

75 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=SXjLBKsEan; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

76 Tumbarumba - Culture and History; The Sydney Morning Herald; November 25, 2008; http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-factsheet/tumbarumba--culture-and-history-20081125-6gmc.html

77 Paul Edmund de Strzelecki; Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, Accompanied by a Geological Map, Sections and Diagrams, and Figures of the Organic Remains; Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society; 1845

78 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=SXKqBKKmIt; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

79 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=SXqwlMxOSX; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

80 Geographical Names Board of New South Wales; http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=SXqwXtZTJP; The Secretary, Geographical Names Board, Land and Property Information, Panorama Ave, Bathurst NSW 2795, Australia

81 John Low; John Muir Visits the Blue Mountains: Down the Wallaby Track – A Backward Glance, with John Low; Blue Mountains Conservation Society Hut News; August 2009; http://www.bluemountains.org.au/documents/hutnews/archive/0908news.pdf; [email protected]; provided by John Merriman, Local Studies Librarian, Blue Mountains City Library, 104 Macquarie Rd, Springwood NSW 2777, Australia; www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au; [email protected]

82 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_Island

83 Norfolk Island History; http://www.discovernorfolkisland.com/norfolk/history.html; TravelOnline, PO Box 1432, Springwood, Qld, 4127, Australia

84 Colonization; http://www.discovernorfolkisland.com/norfolk/colonisation.html ; TravelOnline, PO Box 1432, Springwood, Qld, 4127, Australia

85 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

86 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnt_Pine

87 Joshua Nash; Insular Toponymies: Pristine Placenaming on Norfolk Island, South Pacific and Dudley Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, South Australia; Dissertation University of Adelaide; 2011

88 Joshua Nash; Insular Toponymies: Pristine Placenaming on Norfolk Island, South Pacific and Dudley Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, South Australia; Dissertation University of Adelaide; 2011

89 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_points_of_Australia#Australia_.28country.2C_including_islands.29

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90 NT Place Names Register, Northern Territory Government; http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=22272

91 http://www.placenames.nt.gov.au/origins/greater-darwin#d; Place Names Committee, 3rd Floor, NAB Building, 71 Smith St, Darwin NT 0800, Australia

92 http://www.placenames.nt.gov.au/origins/greater-darwin#f; Place Names Committee, 3rd Floor, NAB Building, 71 Smith St, Darwin NT 0800, Australia

93 Mike; 1 December 2012; http://www.uluru-to-kakadu.com/2012/11/katherine-history.html

94 Joy Cardona, Aboriginal Heritage Coordinator, Northern Territory Library, Department of Arts and Museums, Northern Territory Government, Corner Albatross & Witte Streets, Winnellie NT 0820, Australia; [email protected]; www.ntl.nt.gov.au

95 NT Place Names Register, Northern Territory Government; http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=14866

96 John Richards, Manager Research and Reference Services, Northern Territory Library, Department of Arts and Museums, Northern Territory Government, State Square Darwin, GPO Box 42, Darwin NT 0801, Australia; [email protected]; www.ntl.nt.gov.au

97 Joy Cardona, Aboriginal Heritage Coordinator, Northern Territory Library, Department of Arts and Museums, Northern Territory Government, Corner Albatross & Witte Streets, Winnellie NT 0820, Australia; [email protected]; www.ntl.nt.gov.au

98 Joy Cardona, Aboriginal Heritage Coordinator, Northern Territory Library, Department of Arts and Museums, Northern Territory Government, Corner Albatross & Witte Streets, Winnellie NT 0820, Australia; [email protected]; www.ntl.nt.gov.au

99 Queensland Government; http://www.qld.gov.au/about/about-queensland/history/creation-of-state/

100 Nathan Brotherton, Library Assistant, Banana Shire Council, PO Box 412, Biloela, QLD 4715, Australia; [email protected]; www.banana.qld.gov.au

101 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

102 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

103 Brian and Barbara Kennedy; Australian Place Names; Hodder and Stoughton; 1989; provided by Libby Fielding, State Library of Queensland, PO Box 3488, South Brisbane QLD 4101, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/about-us/contact-us

104 Cheryl Aubrey, Local Studies Library, Community Services for the Chief Executive Officer, Gold Coast City Council, PO Box 5042, Gold Coast (Mail Centre) Qld 9729, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/library/local-studies-library-10111.html

105 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

106 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gympie

107 State of Queensland’s Department of Natural Resources and Mines; http://www.nrm.qld.gov.au/property/placenames/details.php?id=27335

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108 Jeremy Hodes; Far North Queensland Place and Street Names: Their Origins and Meaning; 1998; provided by Libby Fielding, State Library of Queensland, PO Box 3488, South Brisbane QLD 4101, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/about-us/contact-us

109 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

110 RA Dansie; A Melon, a Swamp, and a Piece of Red Calico: Stories and Theories about the Naming of Toowoomba; provided by Ryan Wilson, Special Collection Library Assistant, Community and Environmental Services, Toowoomba Local History Library, Toowoomba Regional Council, PO Box 3021, Toowoomba Village Fair QLD 4350, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.toowoombaRC.qld.gov.au/

111 Libby Fielding, State Library of Queensland, PO Box 3488, South Brisbane QLD 4101, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/about-us/contact-us

112 Jo Zander, Library & Customer Service Officer, Local History Officer, Barossa Council Public Library, The Barossa Council, 43-51 Tanunda Road, PO Box 867, NURIOOTPA SA 5355, Australia; [email protected]; www.barossa.sa.gov.au

113 James F Bennett; Historical and Descriptive Account of South Australia: Founded on the Experience of a Three Years’ Residence in that Colony; Smith, Elder & Co; 1843

114 State Library of South Australia, Kintore Ave, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm

115 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

116 State Library of South Australia, Kintore Ave, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm

117 Emma Pedler; Returning the Maralinga Tjarutja Lands; 22 August 2002; http://www.abc.net.au/sa/stories/s656146.htm; 891 ABC Adelaide, 85 North East Road, Collinswood, SA, 5081, Australia

118 State Library of South Australia, Kintore Ave, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm

119 Anthony Forster; South Australia: Its Progress and Prosperity; Sampson Low, Son and Marston; 1866

120 John Baptist Austin; The Mines of South Australia: Including also an Account of the Smelting Works of that Colony, Together with a Brief Description of the Country, and Incidents of Travel in the Bush; C Platts; 1863

121 Julian Edmund Tenison Woods; A History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia: Or, an Account of the Progress of Geographical Discovery in that Continent, from the Earliest Period to the Present Day; 1865

122 Kelly Dyer, Library Officer – Local History, City of Onkaparinga Libraries, PO Box 411, Noarlunga Centre SA 5168, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.onkaparingacity.com/libraries/localstudies/contact.shtml

123 James F Bennett; Historical and Descriptive Account of South Australia: Founded on the Experience of a Three Years’ Residence in that Colony; Smith, Elder & Co; 1843

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124 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

125 Meredith Blundell, Library Technician - Local History, City of Port Adelaide Enfield, Australia Port Adelaide Library, 2 Church Street, Port Adelaide SA 5015, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.portenf.sa.gov.au/library

126 John Stephens; The Land of Promise: Being an Authentic and Impartial History of the Rise and Progress of the New British Province of South Australia including Particulars Descriptive of Its Soil, Climate, Natural Productions…; Public Library of South Australia; 1839

127 Origins of Village and Street Names in Prospect; provided by Lianne Gould, Library Officer, Prospect Local History, 128 Prospect Road, PROSPECT SA 5082, Australia; [email protected] ; http://www.prospect.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?u=1310

128 Cheryl Toohey, Local History Officer, City of Victor Harbor, 1 Bay Road, Victor Harbor SA 5211, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.victor.sa.gov.au/page.aspx

129 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Tasmania

130 Alex Lyall; [email protected]

131 Kym Matthews, Curator, St Helens History Room, 61 Cecilia Street, ST HELENS TAS 7216, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.bodc.tas.gov.au/tourism/st-helens-vic-history-room

132 Paul Edmund de Strzelecki; Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, Accompanied by a Geological Map, Sections and Diagrams, and Figures of the Organic Remains; Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society; 1845

133 James Backhouse; A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies; Hamilton, Adams; 1843

134 Daniel Bunce; Australasiatic Reminiscences of Twenty-Three Years’ Wanderings in Tasmania and the Australias; Hendy; 1857

135 James Bonwick; Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians; 1870

136 Steve Johnson, Interpretation and Education Officer, Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, GPO Box 1751, Hobart 7001, Tasmania, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/?base=1

137 Steve Billingham, Office of the Nomenclature Board – Tasmania, GPO Box 44, Hobart 7001, Tasmania, Australia; [email protected]; www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au/nomenclature

138 Strathlad; Clippings from the Diary of a Trip to Tasmania: The Devil’s Punchbowl; Southern Argus; 10 May 1888; http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/96932390; provided by Ross Smith, Research Officer, History Centre, Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery, PO Box 403, Launceston TAS 7250, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/qvmag/

139 Kym Matthews, Curator, St Helens History Room, 61 Cecilia Street, ST HELENS TAS 7216, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.bodc.tas.gov.au/tourism/st-helens-vic-history-room

140 Waratah-Wynyard: History behind the Name; provided by John Stretton, Corporate Secretary, Waratah-Wynyard Council, PO Box 168, Wynyard Tas 7325, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.warwyn.tas.gov.au/page.aspx

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141 Leanne, State Library of Tasmania & Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, 91 Murray St, Hobart TAS 7000, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.linc.tas.gov.au/

142 Daniel Bunce; Australasiatic Reminiscences of Twenty-Three Years’ Wanderings in Tasmania and the Australias; Hendy; 1857

143 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Victoria

144 http://services.land.vic.gov.au/vicnames/historicalInformation.html?method=edit&id=366 ; Land Victoria, 570 Bourke Street, Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia; [email protected]

145 http://services.land.vic.gov.au/vicnames/historicalInformation.html?method=edit&id=5 ; Land Victoria, 570 Bourke Street, Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia; [email protected]

146 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

147 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

148 http://services.land.vic.gov.au/vicnames/historicalInformation.html?method=edit&id=2218; Land Victoria, 570 Bourke Street, Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia; [email protected]

149 Adria Ferluga, City of Boroondara Library Service, City of Boroondara, 8 Inglesby Road, Camberwell, Victoria, Australia 3124; [email protected]; www.boroondara.vic.gov.au

150 James Bonwick; Geography of Australia and New Zealand; W Clarke; 1856

151 Ruth Gooch; Frontier French Island; Prahran Mechanics’ Institute Press; 2006; provided by Mick Douglas, Ranger Team Leader, French Island National Park; [email protected]; http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/french-island-national-park

152 George Butler Earp; The Gold Colonies of Australia: Comprising their History, Territorial Divisions, Produce, and Capabilities, How to Get to the Gold Mines, and Every Advice to Emigrants; G Routledge and Co; 1852

153 Nerida Dye, Library, Arts & Culture Manager, Gannawarra Shire Council, 23-25 King-Edward Street, Cohuna Vic 3568, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.gannawarra.vic.gov.au/play/library-service/library-activities/

154 http://www.mvcc.vic.gov.au/about-the-council/demographics-and-history/local-history.aspx ; Moonee Valley City Council, 9 Kellaway Avenue, Moonee Ponds, VIC 3039, Australia; [email protected]

155 George Arden; Recent Information Respecting Port Phillip, and the Promising Province of Australia Felix, in the Great Territory of New South Wales: Including Their History, Geography, and Important Natural Resources, with Interesting Sketches of the Aboriginal Inhabitants, and Valuable Advice to Emigrants; Smith, Elder & Co; 1841

156 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murrindindi,_Victoria

157 Barbara Bee; Jarramongup; 1969; provided by Marlene Anderson, Library Research Volunteer, Royal Western Australian Historical Society, Stirling House, 49 Broadway, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia; [email protected]; http://histwest.org.au/?page=contact_us

158 Barbara Hellriegel, Reference and Local History Team Leader, 90 Boas Avenue, Joondalup WA 6027, Australia; [email protected];

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http://www.joondalup.wa.gov.au/explore/libraries.aspx

159 Paula Wilkins, Museum Attendant, Kalamunda History Village, 56 Railway Parade, KALAMUNDA WA 6076, Australia; [email protected]; www.kalamundahistoricalsociety.com

160 Mount Magnet; Sydney Morning Herald; February 8, 2004; http://www.smh.com.au/news/Western-Australia/Mount-Magnet/2005/02/17/1108500208552.html

161 Marlene Anderson, Library Research Volunteer, Royal Western Australian Historical Society, Stirling House, 49 Broadway, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia; [email protected]; http://histwest.org.au/?page=contact_us

162 Peppermint Grove Digital Heritage Trail; provided by Sindy Dowden, Community History Librarian, The Grove Library, 1 Leake Street, PEPPERMINT GROVE WA 6011, Australia; [email protected]; www.thegrovelibrary.com

163 Rhoda Glover et al; Plantagenet: A History of the Shite of Plantagenet Western Australia; 1979; provided by Marlene Anderson, Library Research Volunteer, Royal Western Australian Historical Society, Stirling House, 49 Broadway, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia; [email protected]; http://histwest.org.au/?page=contact_us

164 Nicholas Reynolds, Museum Development Officer, 3 Peel Street, PO Box 210, Mandurah WA 6210, Australia; [email protected]; http://www.mandurah.wa.gov.au/

165 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999

166 John H Chambers; A Traveler’s History to Australia; Interlink Books; 1999