History of country town names

Latitude 29° 19’ Longitude 118° 23’

A goldfields town near Meekatharra, Abbotts was first settled in 1898/9 and was declared a townsite in 1900. It is named in honour of a prospector, Mr Vincent Abbott, who in 1893 changed his name from Vincent Vrauizan.


AGNEW

Latitude 28° 01’ Longitude 120° 31’

A goldfields town near Leinster, Agnew was declared a townsite in 1936. It is named after a miner, Mr John A Agnew of Bewick, Moreing & Co., a local mining firm.


AJANA

Latitude 27° 57’ Longitude 114° 30’

A farming town in the northern wheatbelt north of Northampton, Ajana was gazetted as a townsite in 1915. The name is an Aboriginal word, believed to be derived from "Ajano", the Aboriginal name for the area around nearby Barrel Well. Another source states the name is derived from the word Ngatjana or Ngajna, an Aboriginal word meaning "mine", and suggests that stone axes would be quarried at such locations.


ALBANY

Latitude 35° 02’ Longitude 117° 54’

The City of Albany, located on the south coast of Western Australia, was officially named by Governor Stirling at the beginning of 1832. It is named after Frederick, the Duke of Albany and York, and the favourite son of King George III. The city is located on King George Sound which was discovered and named "King George the Third's Sound" on 28th September, 1791, by Captain Vancouver.
Albany was the site of the first settlement in W.A. when Major Edmund Lockier of the 57th Regiment, under instructions from the N.S.W. Govt. hoisted the British Flag on 21.1.1827 on the site of "The Residency".
The city was more often referred to as King George Sound or King George's Sound for about the first 40 years of settlement. Portion of it was originally named "Fredrickstown" by Major Lockyer in 1827 in honour of the Duke of York and Albany, Commander in Chief of the British Army. This name disappeared about 1831 and the name Albany was retained for the whole town.


ALDERSYDE

Latitude 32° 22’ Longitude 117° 17’

Land for a proposed townsite at the 18 1/2 mile peg on the Brookton-Kunjinn Railway was resumed from four properties in 1913. One of the properties, owned by Mr Frederick Pyke was named "Aldersyde", and this name was suggested as the name of the town by the local progress association in 1914. Nuralgin and Markegin were other names considered, and Aldersyde was gazetted in 1915.


ALLANSON

Latitude 33° 20' Longitude 115° 09'

The townsite of Allanson is located 196 km south of Perth and just 6 km west of Collie. It is in the Collie Coalfields, and land was set aside for a townsite here in 1898, in accordance with government policy of providing land for coal miners close to the mine sites. A railway station named West Collie was opened in 1898, and when a townsite was gazetted in 1906 it was also named West Collie. However, much of the original townsite land was underlaid by coal seams, and little land was released. A new subdivision was made in 1911, and the townsite boundaries changed and gazetted 1912. The name was changed to Allanson in 1916, and it is believed to be named after Arthur Allan Wilson, the MLA for Collie from 1908 to 1947.


AMERY

Latitude 31° 09’ Longitude 117° 05’

A siding and townsite near Dowerin, Amery was first known as Ejanding in 1910. Its name was changed to Amery in 1928, apparently because another railway siding further north was to be named Ejanding. The name was suggested by S. J. Dobbin, Deputy Secretary for Railways, and although no origin for the name is given, it may be after Leonard Amery, Secretary of State for the Dominion, or his brother , William Banks Amery, OIC Development & Migration.


ARDATH

Latitude 32° 02’ Longitude 118° 06’

Ardath is a Townsite on the railway line between Corrigin and Bruce Rock. It was originally named Kerkenin townsite in April 1914, but was changed to Ardath in 1915 because of confusion with Kukerin. The name Ardath was suggested by the Secretary for Railways. Ardath is the name of a prophet mentioned in the second book of the Apocrypha called Edras. The name may also be from the novel "Ardath, the Story of a Dead Past" by Marie Corelli.


ARRINO

Latitude 29° 26’ Longitude 115° 38’

This townsite, located between Three Springs and Mingenew and gazetted in 1904, takes its name from the Aboriginal name of nearby springs, Arrino Well. These springs were recorded as early as 1859, and have been spelt variously as Arranoo, Arronoo and Arrino. An early settler, Mr N W Cooke had a property named "Arrino" here in 1876. The meaning of the Aboriginal word is not known, but one source states it means "many granite hills".


AUGUSTA

Latitude 34° 19' Longitude 115° 09'

The most south westerly town in the state, Augusta is located 320 km from Perth and 43 km south of Margaret River. In May 1830 Governor Stirling led a party of settlers on board the "Emily Taylor" to the mouth of the a river and inlet reported by sealers. Exploring the river, Stirling named it the Blackwood, after Vice Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood under whom he had served. Stirling also decided to declare a townsite at the mouth of the river, naming it Augusta in honour of Princess Augusta Sophia, 2nd daughter of King George IV and Queen Charlotte (1768-1840). The towns earliest settlers were the Molloy, Turner and Bussell families.


AUSTIN

Latitude 27° 38’ Longitude 117° 52’

A town in the Murchison goldfields near Cue, Austin is located on an island in Lake Austin. The lake is named after its discoverer, surveyor Robert Austin who explored this area in 1854. He named the lake Great Inland Marsh, but it was later changed to Lake Austin. The townsite, which was named after the lake, was gazetted in 1895.


AUSTRALIND

Latitude 33° 17' Longitude 115° 43'

The town of Australind is located on the shores of Leschenault Eastuary, 165 km south of Perth and 12 km north east of Bunbury. In 1840 a company named the Western Australian Company was formed in England with the objective of purchasing lands in Western Australia and applying certain principles of colonisation and emigration as laid down by one of the Directors, Edward Gibbon Wakefield. The Company purchased 103,000 acres on Leschenault Inlet, and named the settlement proposed there "Australind", a combination of Australia and India. A grand town of 1,000 acres was planned and surveyed in 1840/41, but through causes beyond the control of settlers and despite the labours of the chief Commissioner, Marshall Waller Clifton, FRS, the achievement fell short of the expectations as an agricultural area. Within a few years most of the original settlers had drifted away, and the Western Australian Company was wound up in 1846. Little of the planned town was ever developed, and most of it was eventually re-subdivided.

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