LOVE IS EVERYWHERE IN QUEENSLAND ON VALENTINE’S DAY

It is known as the Smart State and the Sunshine State but could Queensland be missing out on its true calling – that of the Romance State?

To mark Valentine’s Day this week Natural Resources and Water Minister Craig Wallace today said Queensland had numerous place names that tugged at the heartstrings.

“Queensland is full of place names that are about love and romance,” Mr Wallace said.

In south east Queensland place names include Love Creek in Pine Rivers Shire, Heart Lagoon in Beaudesert Shire and of course Kissing Corner in Nanango Shire.

Fitzroy Shire is home to Sweet Water Creek and both Fitzroy and Livingstone Shire can boast a Valentine Creek.

North Queensland features Lovers Bay and Kissing Point in Townsville City, Mount Sweetland in Mackay City, Mount Valentine in the Mareeba Shire and Rose Hill in the Torres Shire.

The romance continues with the Darling Downs and Lilly Lagoon and Rosebud Homestead in Cloncurry Shire.

For those contemplating a commitment this Valentines Day, perhaps an ideal proposal location could be Bride Creek (Blackall Shire) or Groomsville (Crows Nest Shire), Ringstead Parish (Diamantina Shire), Honeymoon Lagoon (Burke Shire) or Honeymoon Waterhole (Broadsound Shire).

Other ideal locations include Dove Point (Livingstone Shire), Mount Candlelight (Fitzroy Shire), Starlight Waterhole (Carpentaria Shire), Little Moonlight Creek (Dalrymple Shire) and Moonlight Waterhole (Quilpie Shire).

Precious stones for that special ring can be found across the state with the Valley Of Diamonds (Crows Nest Shire) and Ruby Creek (Mount Isa City), not to forget Emerald (Emerald Shire) and Mount Emerald (Mareeba Shire).

Valentines Day gifts feature noticeably on the Queensland map with Teddy Bear Creek (Livingstone Shire), Champagne Creek (Taroom Shire) and Champagne Gully (Dalrymple Shire).

Minister Wallace said that the romantic place names were featured in the Place Names database administered by the Department of Natural Resources and Water.

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

It is unknown how some of the romantic place names listed on the database acquired their names.

"I would be interested to find out where many these romantic names originated from. We are always on the lookout for new information about how a suburb, town or land feature got its name."

“Queensland has over 40,000 official place names many of which have been named by the community,” 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

Media inquiries: Clare Gillic, Craig Wallace’s office, on 3896 3688.