BURDEKIN RESIDENTS HAVE CHANCE TO MAKE THEIR MARK ON THE MAP

Minister for Natural Resources and Water, Craig Wallace, today encouraged Burdekin residents 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.

"The Burdekin River was named by Ludwig Leichhardt, naturalist and explorer, after Mary Ann Burdekin (nee Bossley), who provided considerable financial support for the 1844 expedition to Northern Australia.

"Other names of interest include

• Home Hill - named in 1911 by the surveyor general (SG). It was to have been called Inkerman, but the SG went with Home Hill which was also a place associated with the Battle of Inkerman, during the Crimean War."

• Gumlu - named after a railway station. The name Gumlu is a corruption of the Aboriginal word gunyaloo, meaning rock wallaby.

• Giru - named after a railway station name, used by the Railways Department from 30 March 1916. The name comes from a species of sugar cane, which was originally called goru.

• Ayr - named around 1888 in honour of the birthplace of former Queensland Premier Sir Thomas McIlwraith.

• The Houghton River was named by James Cassady, a pastoralist and explorer, after Richard Houghton a stockman and colleague. The spelling was altered to Haughton at the request of local residents and the State Electoral office in 1950.

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: Minister for Natural Resources and Water, Craig Wallace, today encouraged Burdekin residents 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.

"The Burdekin River was named by Ludwig Leichhardt, naturalist and explorer, after Mary Ann Burdekin (nee Bossley), who provided considerable financial support for the 1844 expedition to Northern Australia.

"Other names of interest include

• Home Hill - named in 1911 by the surveyor general (SG). It was to have been called Inkerman, but the SG went with Home Hill which was also a place associated with the Battle of Inkerman, during the Crimean War."
• Gumlu - named after a railway station. The name Gumlu is a corruption of the Aboriginal word gunyaloo, meaning rock wallaby.

iru - named after a railway station name, used by the Railways Department from 30 March 1916. The name comes from a species of sugar cane, which was originally called goru.

·Ayr - named around 1888 in honour of the birthplace of former Queensland Premier Sir Thomas McIlwraith.

·The Houghton River was named by James Cassady, a pastoralist and explorer, after Richard Houghton a stockman and colleague. The spelling was altered to Haughton at the request of local residents and the State Electoral office in 1950.

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