Top 10 most bizarre reasons for Australian place names

Giving a place a name is a weighty responsibly that requires serious thought and significant foresight…

Not in Australia! This is a list of the most random, interesting and fantastic stories behind the names of real places in Australia.

Israelite Bay, WA

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Israelite Bay is a popular tourist destination in Western Australia. Not many people know that this place was given its name not as an homage to Israel but as a description of the natives’ penises. Israelite bay falls on the boundary between the regions of two ancient Indigenous Australian tribes. It was discovered (it’s best not to think about how) that one of these tribes practiced male circumcision and one of them did not (link 2). So, early European settlers decided on the obvious name – Israelite Bay.

Eggs and Bacon Bay, Tasmania

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Eggs and Bacon Bay is a small bay in southern Tasmania. Local legend explains that Lady Jane Franklin, the wife of 18th century Governor John Franklin, once ate eggs and bacon at this beautiful coastal destination (link 4). Before this the area was referred to as South Deep Bay (Boring!). The best part about this place name is that animal rights group PETA has recently taken offence to the tasty name and wants it changed to something more vegan friendly (link 5).

This photo of Green Gables B&B is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Banana, Queensland

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Banana is a picturesque small town in sunny Queensland. One would be forgiven for thinking they may grow a certain curved yellow fruit in this town. However, the place was actually named after a bull (link 7). In the early 1860s a working bollock named Banana used to help the local stockmen herd other cattle into yards. According to legend this bull was exceptionally large and strong and lived for a long time. Banana was so named because he was light brown in color (link 8). The town is naturally very proud of their origin story and a large welcome information sign in the town bares the following poem.
In bygone days of bullock drays
Banana led the team,
an enormous yellow bullock
who died beside a stream.
The years have passed
“Banana’s Creek” tells of the bullock’s fame
for a town grew up beside it and BANANA was its name.

Canberra, ACT

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This one is particularly impressive because Canberra is Australia’s capital city and the headquarters of the Australian Federal Government. Surely, a town this important would warrant a well thought out name. However, the first settler in the region might have had his mind on something else when he named the area Canberry (later to become Canberra). According to Indigenous Australian elders the word is an anglicized version of the locals’ word for a woman’s cleavage (link 10). The name is fitting because Canberra is in a valley between two mountains, Black Mountain and Mount Ainslie.

Mount Buggery, Victoria

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Mount Buggery is part of the Great Dividing Range in alpine Victoria. In the summer of 1934 a man named Stewart Middleton, who history has suggested was not a fit man, found a long hike across the mountains to be difficult and tiresome (link 12). At the base of the mountain, faced with the prospect of climbing it, Middleton exclaimed ‘what another bugger! I’ll call this mountain Mt Buggery’ (link 13). Spoken like a true Australian! The name was quickly adopted by his walking buddies and the Melbourne Walking Club.

Come By Chance, NSW

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Come By Chance, a small outback town in New South Wales, was immortalized in Banjo Patterson's famous ballad of the same name (link 15). The town was named after a sheep station owned by William Colless and his sons in 1862 (link 16). Colless and his sons, William Jr and George, pooled their money together to purchase the property. They named the sheep station Come By Chance because they were so surprised and delighted at being able to buy such a large property in that district (link 17). When a town sprang up around the property the locals could obviously think of no better name than Come By Chance.
http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/4cda71c7e99cbc9b0b81bb870e726e70?width=650

Rum Jungle, NT

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Rum Jungle is a quaint area of the North Territory known for its uranium deposit and, of course, its awesome name. The name originated in the 1880’s when some prospectors from the John Bull goldmine passed through the area (link 19). They were carrying with them 750 precious ounces of gold from the mine when they came across a man with a team of horses hauling a cargo of rum. The man boasted about his quality rum and encouraged the thirsty travellers to try some. The miners must have liked the rum because legend has it that they drank till they dropped. When they finally woke, with pounding headaches, they found everything gone. The stranger with the rum had robbed them of their gold and their horses. The area became known as Rum Jungle to serve as a warning to travellers about the unscrupulous horse driver. The good news is that after a search lasting many months the thief and the loot were recovered (phew).

Intercourse Island, WA

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Just off the coast of Western Australia is the Dampier Archipelago which includes Intercourse Island and its friends West Intercourse Island, West Mid Intercourse Island, East Mid Intercourse Island, East Intercourse Island and Mistaken Island. Unfortunately, the origins of Intercourse Island are not as salacious as the name indicates. Intercourse Island was actually the site of a very productive conversation between Captain Philip Parker King and some Indigenous Australians (link 21). So, instead of choosing something like Friendship, Meeting, Harmony, or Alliance settlers in the area went for the obvious name - Intercourse. We can only guess what happened on Mistaken Island.

Struck Oil, Queensland

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The Queensland district of Struck Oil is a quiet scenic area just inland from the east coast of Australia. Strangely, the area is famous for its gold and doesn’t have any oil. The name came about when prospectors from the area went to the town of Mount Morgan to register their new gold mine (link 23). While they were in Mount Morgan they saw the hugely popular 1870s play Struck Oil. After the performance, the men were lucky enough to meet the play’s leading lady, American-Australian actress Maggie Moore (link 24). They were so taken by her that they pledged to name their mine, and consequently the district, Struck Oil.

Breakneck Hill, SA

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Breakneck Hill is a hill and a tiny town just outside of Adelaide in South Australia. During the early 1870s a group of men lead by John Parham and Thomas Giles were driving a team of bullocks through the hill (link 26). When the pastoralists reached the top of the hill Giles exclaimed ‘Oh, look, John, what a magnificent view’. The men were so taken by the view that they did not notice that the bullocks had started down the hill. Subsequently, one of the men assisting Parham fell and broke his neck. We can only assume that Parham felt that the best way to honor his comrade was to name the hill after the fatal injury he sustained. Sadly, there was no record kept of the poor guy’s actual name (link 27).

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