DARLING DOWNS RESIDENTS HAVE CHANCE TO MAKE THEIR MARK ON THE MAP

Minister for Natural Resources and Water, Craig Wallace, today encouraged Darling Downs 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.

Crows Nest is the perfect example of how local incidents have been transformed into the place names of our suburbs and towns.

Research has shown several possible origins of the name, but with the passing of time, the checking of dates and anecdotal tales has become more difficult, if not impossible, to authenticate.

The town’s name came from a pastoral run name in the area used by James Canning Pearce, but no record exists of why he chose the name.

It is widely accepted that the name came from Jimmy Crow, an Aboriginal named by early settlers, who used a hollow tree as part of his home and meeting place.

He was relied on for information and directions and the place became used as a camping place by teamsters and travellers and became known as Jimmy Crow's Nest and later shortened to Crows Nest.

Minister Wallace said searching through the department’s online place names database could reveal many interesting facts about the country we live in, especially how our towns were given their names.

“Many suburbs and town names echo the fascinating history of the area they occupy,” Mr Wallace said.

“Some reflect Aboriginal culture and language and others stem from a European background.”

Other examples of place name histories around the Darling Downs include:

• Highfields has had a difficult time maintaining its boundaries after the Highfields Agricultural Reserve was proclaimed in 1860. A Highfields post office opened for a short time in 1866, but closed soon after. Meanwhile, a second Highfields Post Office was opened in 1868, but became known as Geham Post Office in 1876 before it closed five years later. The old post office reopened in 1876 with a name change to Koojarawon in 1877. The local school then changed its name to Koojarawon in 1906, but the following year residents protested about the name change and the post office and school reverted to the original name of Highfields later that year.

• Cambooya has two recorded versions of the name’s origin: Language recorders John Mathew and William Ridley have it listed as “kambuya” indicating egg, skull or head, from the Gidabal language, while Commissioner for Crown Lands Christopher Rolleston named his Darling Downs’ headquarters Cambooya and reported it’s meaning as “reeds and rushes, or many winds”.

• Millmerran is believed to be derived from the Gooneburra language word group with “meel” indicating, “eye” and “merran” meaning “lookout”. The name originally applied to the hill Mount Domville near the town.

• Pittsworth was named after pastoralist C.W. Pitts. The town was known as Beauaraba until the change in 1915. The railway station in the town had been called Pittsworth since 1887.

• Cabarlah is an Aboriginal word, probably from the Waka and Kabi languages, indicating ring-tailed possum.

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.

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.