CAIRNS RESIDENTS HAVE CHANCE TO MAKE THEIR MARK ON THE MAP

Minister for Natural Resources and Water, Craig Wallace, today encouraged residents of Cairns to become involved in the creation of their community’s history by suggesting new place names.

Minister Wallace is inviting residents to name a geographic feature or area of land by lodging an application with his department.

“The Department of Natural Resources and Water administers the Place Names Act 1994, which controls the official naming of localities, suburbs and geographical features within local government areas,” Mr Wallace said.

“Queensland has over 40,000 official place names and these are constantly being added to by the community,” Mr Wallace said.

“People have a chance to be part of history by creating a new Queensland place name,” he said.

“We do not accept place names that honour living people, we try to avoid duplicating names and commercial names but otherwise people are free to put their mark on the map.”

Some of Queensland’s more unusual names include Baking Board (Chinchilla Shire), Yorkeys Knob (Cairns), Macaroni (Carpentaria Shire), Hell Hole Gorge National Park (Quilpie Shire), Silver Spur (Inglewood Shire), Beer Creek (Esk Shire) and Ginger Beer Creek (Calliope Shire).

Close to 110 new and amended place names were added to the database over the past year.

According to the Department of Natural Resources and Water’s (NRW) place names database, explorer, public servant and politician George Elphinstone Dalrymple (whose moniker has also been used for several Queensland place names) first named Mt Whitfield in 1873.

“A large number of our suburbs and place names commemorate explorers, early settlers or well known local identities," he said.

“Whitfield, Mt Whitfield, Whitfield Cove, Whitfield Creek, Whitfield Point and Whitfield Range were all named after Edwin Whitfield, a storekeeper and merchant from Cardwell in the mid 1800s.

"Smithfield is the name derived from a township which existed on the banks of the Barron River from the early 1870s to 1881.

"It was named after William (Bill) Smith, a prospector, packer and track finder to the Hodgkinson Gold Field. The township failed and was deserted by 1881.

"Trinity Beach gets its name from Trinity Bay, which was named on Trinity Sunday, 1770, by Lieutenant James Cook.”

Mr Wallace said while many of the names on the database were European in origin, a large number reflected Aboriginal culture and language.

"If you look up Babinda on the website, you will find that the name is derived from an Aboriginal (Yidinji) word for water.

"Similarly, Kamerunga is reported to be an Aboriginal word, from the Yidinji language that was used to refer to the Barron Gorge."

Minister Wallace said the place names database reflected the diverse and fascinating background of many of the state’s suburbs and towns.

“While many of the names on the database are European in origin, a large number reflect Aboriginal culture and language,” Mr Wallace said.

Other interesting place names include:

Miallo – an Aboriginal word indicating wild country

Julatten – an Aboriginal word for small creek

Lake Eacham – Eacham is reportedly an Aboriginal word meaning big spring

Lake Barrine – Barrine is a corruption of “barrang”, an Aboriginal word indicating big water.

Malanda – an Aboriginal word indicating the stream known as the Upper Johnstone River, possibly with the connotation little stream with big stones.

Millaa Millaa – a corruption of “millai millai, possibly from the Yindinji language indicating a fruit bearing plant Eleagnus latifolia.

Mr Wallace said people could look up the name of their suburb or town by visiting: www.nrw.qld.gov.au/property/place_names.html

"The place names website is an evolving document and we are always on the lookout for new information about how a suburb, town or land feature got its name."

Media inquiries: Clare Gillic, Minister's Office, 3896 3688