AUSTRALIAN-PLACENAMES
List of Resources
This page is a list of resources that may be help those with an interest in Australian placenames. It includes not only those available directly on the internet, but books and other media such as CDs. The resources include gazetteers and maps, and items of general interest as well as specialised resources.
This list is not "official" in any aspect as it consists of entries volunteered by numerous individuals. If you know of other resources that you think should be here, please contact the webmaster Peter. If submitting a resource entry please include a general description of the resource, and feel free to give personal comments (either positive or negative). And if you have an opinion on the usefulness of a resource already listed, likewise send me a comment.
One other website of interest is the Australian National Placenames Survey.
This page includes both Australia wide resources and those grouped by state.
Use the following links to go to your area of interest.
Australia
Australian Capital Territory
New South Wales
Northern Territory
Queensland
South Australia
Tasmania
Victoria
Western Australia
Other
(e.g. Antarctica)
| Name: | http://www.ga.gov.au/map/names/ |
| Type: | Internet - General - Gazetteer - Official Commonwealth Government |
| Description: | This website is the official government website maintained
by Geoscience Australia. Quoting the website, this page provides access to
"The Gazetteer
of Australia [which] contains over 297 000 geographic names in Australia
provided by members of the
Committee for Geographic Names in Australasia". It includes locations of towns, localities, streams, bridges, mines, dams, and nearly everything else you can want. Good search engine. One feature allows one to calculate distance between places. Gives a very rough map showing the location of the selected place. Does include historic as well as current places. |
| Comments: | If one only had access to one resource, this is the one to have. Some minor differences in the latitude/longitude readings compared with other equally valid sources. |
| Name: | http://www.nla.gov.au/map/gazetteers.html#top |
| Type: | Internet - General |
| Description: | Website prepared by the National Library of Australia which "identifies material held in the National Library Map Section and provides links to gazetteers available on the internet" |
| Comments: | Good listing of resources. |
| Name: | http://whereis.com.au/ |
| Type: | Internet - General - Map |
| Description: | Provides good detailed maps of areas where one can zoom in and out. |
| Comments: | Only gives current locations. Maps although detailed are small and things can go wrong when zooming in. |
| Name: | http://www.multimap.com.au |
| Type: | Internet - General - Map |
| Description: | Provides maps of areas where one can zoom in and out. |
| Comments: | Maps not as informative as http://whereis.com.au/ and can be confusing. |
| Name: | http://www.arta.com.au/ |
| Type: | Internet - General - Map |
| Description: | ARTA (Australian Registry of Tourism and Accommodation) site that includes some general large scale maps and street maps for some major rural towns. |
| Comments: | Suggest that http://whereis.com.au/ is better |
| Name: | http://www.travelmate.com.au/Home/Home.asp |
| Type: | Internet - General - Maps and histories |
| Description: | Commercial site for travel/accommodation but does include a
mapmaker at http://www.travelmate.com.au/MapMaker/MapMaker.asp?TM_Page=mapmaker and town histories for some 2,000 towns at http://www.travelmate.com.au/Places/Places.asp |
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| Name: | http://walkabout.com.au/AtoZ/A.shtml |
| Type: | Internet - General - History |
| Description: | Commercial site that has good histories of major towns. |
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| Name: | http://www.zades.com.au/ozindex/ozindex.html |
| Type: | Internet - General |
| Description: | Website of links to websites that include some history of towns. |
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| Name: | http://www.anps.mq.edu.au/about.html |
| Type: | Internet - General |
| Description: | Webpage of the Australian National Placenames Survey organised by Macquarie University containing details of the project |
| Comments: | Does not contain any gazetteer itself but has a
page of links to Australian and overseas websites. A free quarterly magazine can be ordered from the newsletter page or past issues can be read online. |
| Name: | Place Names of Australia Author: A.W. Reed Published: 1973 |
| Type: | Book - General |
| Description: | Need help here from someone that has read this! |
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| Name: | Australian Place Names Author: Brian Kennedy Published: Hodder & Stoughton, 1989 ISBN: 0 340 50654 7 |
| Type: | Book - General - Gazetteer |
| Description: | Contains entries for about 2,000 places in Australia including the origin of the name and, for the larger places, historical details |
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| Name: | A Geographical Dictionary or Gazetteer of the Australian
Colonies by William Henry Wells in Sydney (1848). 438 pages |
| Type: | Book and CD - General |
| Description: | "Compiled in the 1840s, the Gazetteer has a comprehensive list of places with a brief description of each one. Several maps are included." Originally published as a book, it was released as Australia Gazetteer 1848 on CD in 2002 by Macbeth Genealogical Services Pty Ltd. |
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| Name: | http://www.actpla.act.gov.au/tools_resources/maps_land_survey/place_names/place_search |
| Type: | Internet - General - Gazetteer and Map - Official State Government |
| Description: | This webpage is part of the ACT Land & Planning Authority which presents general policy statements. It is an interesting page which describe the origin of the names of suburbs, features and (being so small) even the streets. |
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| Name: | http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/ |
| Type: | Internet - General - Gazetteer and Map - Official State Government |
| Description: | Official Geographical Names Boards of NSW website. Has links to internal search engine and LGA maps. Name search results give very good information detailing coordinates, county, description, name variations, etc. Rough maps available. |
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| Name: | http://www.lands.nsw.gov.au/survey_and_maps/maps_and_imagery/parish_maps |
| Type: | Internet - General - Maps |
| Description: | A collection of historical county, municipal, parish, town or pastoral maps. |
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| Name: | http://www.livingharbour.net/aboriginal/place_names.htm |
| Type: | Internet - Specialised |
| Description: | "Aboriginal place names around Sydney Harbour and Botany Bay. The Aboriginal place names on the map in this site come from historical
documents and publications dating from 1788 to 1899." [Quoted from website] For current names, lists the original Aboriginal name and the source for the information. A single map is aavailable. |
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| Name: | Place Names of New South Wales: their origins and their meanings Author: A.W. Reed Published: 1969 |
| Type: | Book - General |
| Description: | Need help here from someone that has read this! |
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| Name: | http://www.nt.gov.au/lands/lis/placenames/ |
| Type: | Internet - General - Gazetteer and Map - Official State Government |
| Description: | Northern Territory Lands Group, a part of the Northen Territory Dept of Planning and Infrastructure. |
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| Name: | http://www.nrm.qld.gov.au/property/placenames/ |
| Type: | Internet - General - Gazetteer and Map - Official State Government |
| Description: | Official website provided by the Queensland Department of
Natural Resources, Mines and Energy (NRM&E). Good search engine available providing good detail and including a map showing the approximate location. |
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| Name: | http://www.piulapublications.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=107&vmcchk=1&Itemid=107 |
| Type: | Internet - Specialised - Gazetteer |
| Description: | For SE Queensland. From the website "The area covered is that extending from Hervey Bay to the New South Wales border and from the Leichhardt Highway to the Pacific Ocean. You will find some references to physical features, but the emphasis is rather on towns, cities and suburbs". Author is Ron Potter. |
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| Name: | http://www.mackayhistory.org/research/placenames/placenames.html |
| Type: | Internet - Specialised - Gazetteer |
| Description: | For Mackay and surrounding area. Produced by Mackay Historical Society and Museum Inc. |
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| Name: | http://www.placenames.sa.gov.au/ |
| Type: | Internet - General - Gazetteer - Official State Government |
| Description: | Includes a search engines for towns and features resulting details including coordinates, name origin and variations. |
| Comments: | Doesn't appear to include links to the appropriate maps. |
| Name: | What's In A Name, A Nomenclature of South Australia Author: Rodney Cockburn Publisher: Ferguson Publications, Glen Osmond, S.A. |
| Type: | Book - General |
| Description: | Contains some 4,000 South Australian placenames |
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| Name: | http://services.land.vic.gov.au/vicnames/ |
| Type: | Internet - General - Gazetteer and Map - Official State Government |
| Description: | Official Victorian government site giving the list of
official Victorian placenames. You can download co-ordinates of a specific location at http://services.land.vic.gov.au/vicnames/place.html?method=list You can download a database of place names in total or by selected shires at http://services.land.vic.gov.au/vicnames/placeName.html?method=exportList Historical places can be found at http://services.land.vic.gov.au/vicnames/historicalInformation.html?method=list |
| Comments: | As with many other sites, the latitudes/longitudes are not as precise as they could be, even though 10 digits are used. Appears to be more the centre of the postal district rather than the Post Office or centre of town. |
| Name: | http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~surreal/victowns/ |
| Type: | Internet - General - Gazetteer |
| Description: | Gazetteer of 5,200 Victorian town and locality names.
Includes names no longer used, name changes and names of ghost towns. Gives latitude and longitude for each place. Includes the current shire for towns. For those towns in central and eastern Victoria, links exists to the appropriate mailing list. |
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| Name: | http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kenmac/victowns/index.htm |
| Type: | Internet - General |
| Description: | Information on parishes, counties, districts and towns of Victoria. |
| Comments: | The list of towns is still under construction. |
| Name: | Place Names of Victoria Author: Les Blake ISBN: 0 7270 0250 3 Publisher: Rigby Ltd Published: 1977 |
| Type: | Book and Microfiche - General |
| Description: | Lists most towns/localities in Victoria including historical
ones. Gives general locations of places e.g. 13km SSE of xxx. Includes name changes and the origin of names. Includes pre amalgamation shire names as well as county and parish names. |
| Comments: | Some of the suggestions for the origin of a placename are vague (e.g. may be xxx or yyy). An invaluable resource. |
| Name: | Firemap |
| Type: | CD - General |
| Description: | This 2x CD set was produced by the Victorian Dept of Natural
Resources and Environment in 2000. That Department is now called the Dept of
Sustainability and Environment. Contains nearly 32,000 entries but this includes non-population items such as reserves, schools, fire stations, mines and post offices. Co-ordinates are given for each item. Maps at scales of 1:25,000 and 1:100,000 are included. |
| Comments: | Good resource. Not sure if the CDs are available to the public. |
| Name: | http://members.westnet.com.au/talltrees/resources/vic_abbr.htm |
| Type: | Internet - Specialised - Text |
| Description: | Webpage produced by Carolyn Harris providing placenames for abbreviations found on Victorian BDM (Birth Death and Marriage) Index CDs. For example YDAH is a common abbreviation for YACKANDANDAH in these indexes. |
| Comments: | Should be used with other Victorian gazetteer sites to broaden the results. |
| Name: | http://www.australiagenweb.org/archive/vicplacenames.php |
| Type: | Internet - Specialised - Text |
| Description: | Webpage produced by Sally Routledge providing placenames for abbreviations found on Victorian BDM (Birth Death and Marriage) Index CDs. Similar yo above one by Carolyn Harris. |
| Comments: | Should be used with other Victorian gazetteer sites to broaden the results. |
| Name: | Vision and Realisation Editor: Leslie James Blake ISBN: 0 7241 0458 5 Publisher: Education Department of Victoria Published: 1973 |
| Type: | Book - Specialised |
| Description: | This is a 3 volume set which covers the history of schools in Victoria. Included in the history of the individual schools are time frames for the towns as well as name changes and locations. |
| Comments: | I believe that schools submitted their own school history and its accuracy varies with individual efforts. Some errors evident by inconsistencies most likely occur due to this. Overall, an excellent resource. |
| Name: | Victorian Squatters Compiled by Robert Spreadborough and Hugh Anderson Publisher: Red Rooster Press Published: 1983 |
| Type: | Book - Specialised |
| Description: | Lists all the squatting runs and the earlier ownership. Has modern maps with run boundaries superimposed. |
| Comments: | Shows that many of the current placenames were derived from the original station names or their owners. |
| Name: | Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip Authors: R.V. Billis and A.S. Kenyon Publisher: First edition Macmillan & Company (1932). Second edition Stockland Press (1974) |
| Type: | Book - Specialised |
| Description: | Lists all the squatting runs and the earlier ownership. No maps (only rough one inside the cover). |
| Comments: | Shows that many of the current placenames were derived from the original station names or their owners. |
| Name: | Digging For Gold Author: Helen Doxford Harris ISBN: 0 9593585 1 X Publisher: Aristoc Press P/L, Nunawading, Vic. Published: 1988 |
| Type: | Book - Specialised |
| Description: | The book concentrates on the "Golden Triangle" of Victoria
which includes the goldfields of Bendigo, Ballarat and Maryborough and
others in that vicinity. 121 pages. |
| Comments: | Basically a history book but includes an excellent list of historic placenames for that area. |
| Name: | Names of the Omeo Highway; their origins, meanings and
history (2nd print run 1992) ISBN: 1 875254 03 X Names around the Gippsland Lakes; their origins, meanings and history (1991) ISBN: 1 875254 05 62 Names of the Victorian Alps; their origins, meanings and history (1991) ISBN: 1 875254 06 4 Names of East Gippsland; their origins, meanings and history (1992) ISBN: 1 875254 07 2 Names of South Gippsland; their origins, meanings and history (1992) ISBN: 1 875254 08 0 Names of the Latrobe Valley and West Gippsland; their origins, meanings and history (1992) ISBN: 1 875254 09 9 Author: P.D. Gardner Publisher: Ngarak Press |
| Type: | Book - Specialised |
| Description: | Six book in the series. Generally each book has entries for approx 120 places
and covers the origin of the name,
name variations, location and historical notes. Generally 48 pages in each book Each book contains rough maps showing approx location of the places and contains numerous photographs. |
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| Name: | http://www.landgate.wa.gov.au/corporate.nsf/web/Western+Australian+Place+Names+and+Addressing |
| Type: | Internet - General - Gazetteer - Official State Government |
| Description: | Official state government website. |
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| Name: | http://aadc-maps.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/search_names.cfm |
| Type: | Internet - General - Search engine - Official Government |
| Description: | A search engine by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre. Covers the Australian Antarctic Territory, and the Territory of Heard Island and the McDonald Islands. |
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Last updated on 03 May 2010