Place names in Australia have names of
Aboriginal origin for three main
reasons:
- Historically, white explorers and surveyors may have asked
local Aboriginal people the name of a place, and named it
accordingly. Where they didn't ask, they may have heard the place
was so-named. Due to language difficulties, the results
were often misheard and misunderstood names, such as the name of
the Yarra
River
. There are a suspicious number of place
names which translate as pretty and resting
place, which may imply European romanticism, and no doubt a good
deal of mispronunciation and corruption in general.
- Australian governments have officially named
many places, particularly suburbs, after Aboriginal people or
language groups, such as Aranda
or Tullamarine
.
- The place name has always been called thus by Aboriginal
people, and Aboriginal people still live in the area. This is particularly
so for Aboriginal communities, such as Maningrida
in the Northern Territory
. This is more frequent where white
settlement has been less dense, particularly in Central Australia and the Top End.
Watkin Tench, who arrived on the First Fleet, observed of the Aboriginal
languages of present-day Sydney
:
- We were at first inclined to stigmatise this language as
harsh and barbarous in its sounds. Their combinations of
words in the manner they utter them, frequently convey such an
effect. But if not only their proper names of men and
places, but many of their phrases and a majority of their words, be
simply and unconnectedly considered, they will be found to abound
with vowels and to produce sounds sometimes mellifluous and
sometimes sonorous. What ear can object to the names of
Colbee, (pronounced exactly as Colby is with us) Bereewan, Bondel,
Imeerawanyee, Deedora, Wolarawaree, or Baneelon, among the men; or to Wereeweea,
Gooreedeeana, Milba, or Matilba, among the women? Parramatta, Gweea,
Cameera
, Cadi, and
Memel, are names of places. The tribes derive their
appellations from the places they inhabit. Thus Cemeeragal, means the men who reside in the bay
of Cameera; Cadigal, those who reside in the
bay of Cadi; and so of the others.
Suburbs and towns
A
B
C
D
E
G
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
R
T
U
W
Y
Regions and Shires
Beaches and waterways
Beaches
Bays
Creeks
Dams
Lakes
Rivers
Mountains, ranges etc
Deserts
Parks and Forests
National Parks
Nature Reserves
State Forests
State Conservation Areas
Highways and main roads
Place names that sound Aboriginal that aren't
Place names over which uncertainty exists
References
- Tench reports that: Mrs. Johnson, wife of the chaplain of
the settlement, was so pleased with this name that she christened
her little girl, born in Port Jackson, Milba Maria
Johnson
- Watkin Tench, The Settlement of Port Jackson,
Chapter 17.
See also
(a corruption of the name Robert Ramsey Mackenzie, Prime
Minister of Queensland)
(Biblical Hebrew, From Book of Isiah)
(Gaelic)
(Italian)
(Sinhalese)
(German)
(Gaelic)
(Urdu?)
(Malayam)
(Welsh)
(Spanish, after a character in The Tempest)
(after Robert Pymble)
(Latin)
(Maori)
(Named after Robert Wallace)
(Wan(neroo) + (Gnan)gara)
(after Frank
Wittenoom)
- some argue named after Ballina in
Ireland.
- some argue a corruption of "boat
alley".
- some argue a corruption of "narrow
bean".
- some argue a corruption of "holey dollar".
- could be from Watanabe, Japanese surname.
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