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History of country town names - C


The following information is a summary of the origins for towns names in rural Western Australia. Please select the first letter of the town you wish to see.
Please note: The names of all rural towns are being added progressively to the database.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

CADOUX

Latitude 30° 46' S Longitude 117° 08' E

Cadoux is a townsite in the north eastern wheatbelt. When it was decided to establish a railway siding here in 1927 the local road board secretary suggested "Cado", after the name of the farmer who owned the land. The name was later confirmed to be correctly spelt Cadoux, and honours Donald Cadoux, an English settler, who arrived in Western Australia in 1909. He died at Gallipoli during the Great War 1914-1918 and his name was suggested as a fitting memorial for the town. The townsite was gazetted in 1929.


CALINGIRI

Latitude 31° 05' S Longitude 116° 27' E

The townsite of Calingiri, located north east of Perth near New Norcia, derives its name from Calingiri Waterhole, the name of which was first recorded by a surveyor in 1903. Between 1914 when a settlement was first proposed at Calingiry W H and 1917 when it was gazetted, this townsite was variously spelt Calingtry, Kalingiri, The Washpool, Kalingary, Calingarra, Calingtry, Calingiry, Kalingiry and finally Calingiri. The name is believed to be derived from "Calingal", the Aboriginal word for the diamond dove. Calingiri was known to early settlers as the Washpool and was formerly a mission waterhole where flocks of sheep were washed before shearing.


CALLION

Latitude 30° 07' S Longitude 120° 34' E

Callion is an abandoned goldfields townsite, located about 60 km south west of Menzies. It was gazetted in 1897, and prior to gazettal was locally known as Speakman's Find, after the prospector who originally found gold here in 1896. Callion may have been another prospector , but this information is not known at present.


CAMBALLIN

Latitude 17° 59' S Longitude : 124° 11' E

Camballin townsite, in the Kimberley district between Derby and Fitzroy Crossing, was gazetted a townsite in 1959. The name was selected by Northern Development Ltd in 1957, and the townsite was to service the Company's Liveringa Rice Project. Camballin is the name of a nearby pastoral station.


CANNA

Latitude 28° 54' S Longitude 115° 52' E

Early in 1913 the Public Works Department proposed placing a siding at the 51 mile, 2 chain peg on the Wongan Hills - Mullewa Railway which was then under construction. The name originally agreed upon for this siding was "Pindawa" after the Aboriginal name for a well situated 8km West of the site, but when land was set aside for a future townsite the same year it was spelt "Pinndawa".
In 1914, this name was declared unsuitable because of its similarity to the existing town of Pindar on the same line. The alternatives "Yondong" or "Canna" were suggested, and the latter was chosen in June 1914. The railway line was opened for traffic on 5 April 1915 with Canna being one of the stopping places. The townsite was not formally gazetted and land made available for sale until 1928. No reason is given for the choice of name, but almost all the siding names on this line are Aboriginal. The other alternative, "Yondong", is an Aboriginal name for the "black goanna", but "Canna" has not been found in various vocabularies consulted. Nevertheless, despite the existence of a Scottish island and a plant of that name, an Aboriginal origin is considered most likely. Canna may well be a form of "Kana" meaning "alive or green" in the Wongi language.


CAPEL

Latitude 33° 33' S Longitude 115° 34' E

Situated 17 miles south of Bunbury on the Capel River after which it is named. The Capel River was discovered by F. Ludlow in1834, but no name was applied, and it was not until Lt. H W Bunbury on the 17th December 1836 quotes crossing a considerable river with steep banks, hitherto unknown to colonists which he says was afterwards named the "Capel" by Mr Bussell after a cousin, Miss Capel Carter. Plans to establish a townsite here were first noted in 1844, and the place was given its Aboriginal name "Coolingnup". The townsite was surveyed in the 1870's, but lots were not sold until 1897. The townsite name was changed from Coolingnup to Capel in 1899.


CARBUNUP RIVER

Latitude 33° 42' S Longitude 115° 11' E

Situated about 15km WSW of Busselton, this townsite was declared as Carbunup in 1926. It is named after the nearby river of this name, and the name was changed to Carbunup River in 1958. to avoid confusion with Carbarup, a townsite in the Mount Barker region Carbunup is an Aboriginal place name that has been variously said to mean "place of a kindly stream" , "place of cormorants" (WA Museum which gives the word for cormorant as carbanga), and "place of the stinkwood thicket".


CARNAMAH

Latitude 29° 41' S Longitude 115° 53' E

Carnamah, gazetted a townsite in 1913, is located in the midlands wheatbelt area , 23 kilometres south east of Three Springs. It is named after "Carnamah", the name of a pastoral property established by Duncan Macpherson in this location in the late 1860s. A telegraph station was established here in 1873, and is referred to in 1876 by the famous explorer Ernest Giles. Giles spells it "Cornamah" in his book, but "Carnamah" on his map.
Macpherson's property "Carnamah" derives its name from Carnamah Spring, first
mentioned in an application for grazing leases in 1861 in the name of Macpherson and Slater. The name is probably Aboriginal of unknown meaning, or possibly is a Gaelic word meaning "cairn of the cattle" or "cattle rocks".


CARNARVON

Latitude 24° 53' S Longitude : 113° 40' E

Carnarvon, located on the coast at the mouth of the Gascoyne River, was gazetted a townsite in 1883. It is named after the 4th Earl of Carnarvon, Henry Howard Molyneux, Lord Lieut and Custos Rotulorum of Co. Southampton, High Steward, Univ. of Oxford, and Constable of Carnarvon Castle; Secretary of State for the Colonies 1866-1867 and from 1874 to 1878, Lord Lieut. of Ireland 1885-86. The Aboriginal name for this area is "Kow-win-wordo", said to mean "neck of water"


CARON

Latitude 29° 38' S Longitude 116° 19' E

Caron is a townsite in the north east wheatbelt, located just south of Perenjori. It was gazetted in 1921, and is named after the railway station there on the Wongan-Mullewa railway. The railway station is assumed to have been named after Carun Spring situated about 26km west. Carun Spring first appeared on plans in 1895, but is incorrectly spelt "Caron Spring" on plans from 1907 to 1955, accounting for the spelling variation retained in the townsite name.
Caron is an Aboriginal name of uncertain origin and meaning, but is possibly related to "Coron", a word recorded in Bishop Salvado's 1851 vocabulary as meaning "hail" or "hailstones".


CARRABIN

Latitude 31° 23' S Longitude 118° 41' E

The townsite of Carrabin is located about 43 kilometres ENE of Merredin, on the railway line between Merredin and Southern Cross. It was gazetted in 1912, and took its name from the already existing railway siding located adjacent to the townsite. It is an Aboriginal name of unknown meaning.


CASCADE

Latitude 33° 28' S Longitude 121° 04' E

The townsite of Cascade is one of the most recent wheatbelt towns, and is located near the south coast between Ravensthorpe and Esperance. The name was suggested by the Esperance Shire for the Townsite because the area was locally known as "Cascades", but it is not known why. The townsite was gazetted in 1976


CERVANTES

Latitude 30° 30' S Longitude 115° 04' E

The townsite of Cervantes, a fishing settlement on the west coast near Jurien Bay and Nambung National Park, was gazetted in 1963. It is named after nearby Cervantes Islands, which in turn are named after the "Cervantes", an American whaler, wrecked just north of the islands on the 20th July 1844. The "Cervantes" was under the command of Captain Gibson at the time of the shipwreck and the survivors walked about 160 km south along the coast to Fremantle. At the time of naming of the townsite it was thought that the islands had been named "Cervantes" by the Baudin Expedition of 1801-03 after a Spanish author, and, as a result, many of the streets received Spanish names


CHANDLER

Latitude 31° 06' S Longitude 118° 25' E

Chandler is a townsite in the eastern wheatbelt, located about 47 kilometres NNE of Merredin. Now abandoned, it was established to service the mining of Alunite from nearby Lake Campion. Land was set aside for the townsite in 1942, and the name Chandler was chosen in honour of Mr J Chandler, the farmer who discovered the alunite deposits. The townsite was gazetted in 1943.


CHINOCUP

Latitude 33° 32' S Longitude 118° 23' E

The townsite of Chinocup was declared as "Chinokup" in 1923, to satisfy a need for blocks of land at the station of this name on the Nyabing-Pingrup Railway (now abandoned) The station was named after nearby Lake Chinocup, and the spelling of the townsite was changed in 1962 to agree with the lake. Chinocup is an Aboriginal word of unknown meaning which had been recorded as the name of the lake in 1879.

CHITTERING

Latitude 31° 27' S Longitude 116° 06' E

The locality of Chittering, located about 70 kilometres north east of Perth has been known by this name since first recorded by explorer George Fletcher Moore in 1836. It is an Aboriginal word probably meaning "place of the willy wag tails". One of the Aboriginal words for this bird is "chitti-chitti'.


CLACKLINE

Latitude 31° 43' S Longitude 116° 31' E

The townsite of Clackline, located 17 kilometres south west of Northam, was gazetted a townsite in 1896. Despite being on a railway line, the name has no connection with the railway, and is an Aboriginal name. The surveyor John Forrest, later Premier of Western Australia, recorded the name for a well and brook in 1879, but did not record a meaning for the name.


CLARENCE

Latitude 32° 08' S Longitude 115° 46' E

Clarence is a townsite in the Perth suburb of Munster, located on Cockburn Sound south of Perth. Land was set aside for townsite here in January 1830, but was not formally gazetted until 1906. It is named after Prince William, the Duke of Clarence and Earl of Munster.


COLD HARBOUR

Latitude 31° 54' S Longitude 116° 47' E

The townsite of Cold Harbour, located just east of York, was gazetted in 1903. It is named after a property name in use in the area since the 1840's. In 1842 Stephen Stanley Parker and his elder brother John Wyborn Parker branched out from their father's property of 'Northbourne' at York to establish themselves on 'Cold Harbour', a property just south of York on the same side of the Avon River as 'Northbourne'. The estate was named in honour of the grandfather, John Parker, who had purchased the 'Cold Harbour' portion of the Northbourne Court manor in Kent. "Cold Harbour" seemed an appropriate name for the estate, the beauty of the land with its loamy soil, winding streams and tall green timbers reflected the images of exuberantly green, river nourished farmlands of Stephen Stanley's native County of Kent.


COLLIE

Latitude 33° 21' S Longitude 116° 09' E

The townsite of Collie is located in the south west agricultural region, 202 km south south east of Perth, and about 50 km east of Bunbury. It is situated on the Collie River after which it is named. The river, which rises in the Darling Range and flows into Leschenault Estuary near Bunbury, is named after Dr Alexander Collie. Dr Collie, a Royal Navy surgeon, and Lt. William Preston of H.M.S. Sulphur, explored this country and discovered the river in 1829, and Captain James Stirling, the Lieutenant Governor, named it in Collie's honour. Collie was appointed the first Resident Magistrate at Albany in 1831, was later appointed Colonial Surgeon, and died at Albany in 1836.
Collie is a coal mining town, coal having been discovered near here by George March, a shepherd, in the early 1880s. The coalfields were developed in the late 1890s, and land set aside for a townsite. The name Collie was generally used from the beginning, and when lots were surveyed and the townsite gazetted in December 1897, it was named Collie. However, the selection of name was immediately a problem, as there was already a railway station near Roelands named Collie. Collie townsite was therefore renamed Colliefields in January 1898. The Colliefields Progress Committee immediately protested at this decision, and after further consideration the Collie railway station was renamed Roelands and Colliefields townsite renamed Collie in 1899.


COLLIE BURN

Latitude 33° 24' S Longitude 116° 11' E

Collie Burn is a townsite near Collie . In 1902 the government decided to establish a town in the Collie Coalfields, near the terminus of the Collie Boulder Railway, south east of Collie. The town was to service the Collie Burn and Collie Cardiff coal mines, and a site midway between the two mines was chosen. The townsite was gazetted in 1907, and was named Collieburn, as Cardiff was used elsewhere in Australia. The townsite was sometimes referred to as Collie-Burn, but in 1944 a government notice proclaimed the correct spelling to be Collie Burn. In 1916 the southern portion of the townsite was renamed Collie Cardiff.
The Collie part of the name is from the Collie River, and the Burn is probably from the old English word for a stream or river.


COLLIE CARDIFF

Latitude 33° 26' S Longitude 116° 12' E

Collie Cardiff is a townsite in the Collie coalfields south east of Collie. The need for a townsite here was identified in 1902, and a townsite known as Collieburn, midway between Collie Cardiff and Collie Burn was gazetted in 1907. By 1915 the main requirement for land was closer to the Collie Cardiff end of the townsite, and the Cardiff Progress Association sought to rename the town, Cardiff. The government supported the change of name, but only of the southern portion of the Collie Burn Townsite, and this was officially changed in 1916. It was first declared as "Collie-Cardiff", but was amended to Collie Cardiff (no hyphen) in 1944. The name is derived from it being on the Collie coalfields, and Cardiff being the name of the Welsh coal mining city.


COLREAVY

Latitude 30° 53' S Longitude 119° 01' E

Colreavy is a townsite in the Yilgarn Goldfield, located near Bullfinch. A townsite near here was declared as "Knutsford" in 1889, but Knutsford was cancelled in 1912 due to a bad design. The townsite of Colreavy, about 500 metres SE, was gazetted in 1912. Colreavy was originally going to be called Golden Valley after the name of the general area, but this was rejected due to duplication in the Eastern States. Colreavy is named after Bernard Norbert Colreavy, one of the prospectors who in 1887 found gold in this area. This gold find led to the gold rush which created the Yilgarn Goldfields.


COMET VALE

Latitude 29° 56 36' S Longitude 121° 07 34' E

Comet Vale is an abandoned goldfields mining town, situated about 30 kilometres south of Menzies. It is named after a comet, visible at the time gold was discovered in the area, and in 1895 had a population of 500. It was gazetted a townsite in 1916.


CONDINGUP

Condingup is a townsite located in a wheat and sheep area near the south coast east of Esperance. It was declared a townsite in 1963, and takes its name from the nearby Condingup Peak. This is an Aboriginal name of unknown meaning, first recorded during surveys for the telegraph line in 1875/6.


CONGELIN

Latitude 32° 50 29' S Longitude 116° 53 02' E

A townsite in the South West between Narrogin and Wandering, Congelin was gazetted in 1913. The townsite was requested by the "14 Mile Brook Progress Association"in 1911, and the name was derived from a nearby pool. The name is Aboriginal, of unknown meaning.


COOLIMBA

Latitude 29° 51' S Longitude 114° 58' E

Coolimba is a coastal fishing town, located on the coast west of Eneabba. The townsite was gazetted in 1969, and the name is Aboriginal, said to mean "place by the water". This place is also sometimes referred to as "Desperate Bay".


COOKERNUP

Latitude 32° 59' S Longitude 115° 53' E

Cookernup is a town in the south west between Waroona and Harvey. A townsite was gazetted here in 1894, and derives its name from a farm established nearby by Joseph Logue in the early 1850's. Also spelt Kookernup in 1853, Logue Brook was once known as Cookernup Brook. The meaning of this Aboriginal name is given as "the place of the swamp hen"(cooki).


COOLGARDIE

Latitude 30° 57' S Longitude 121° 09' E

Coolgardie is one of the major towns in the goldfields of Western Australia, and is located 510 kilometres east of Perth. Gold was discovered here by Bailey and Ford in 1892, and the townsite of Coolgardie was gazetted in 1893. At its peak in 1900 it had 23 hotels, 3 breweries, 6 banks, 2 stock exchanges and 3 daily and 4 weekly newspapers. The population then was 15,000, with 25,000 more in the area.
Coolgardie is an Aboriginal name of uncertain meaning. Different sources give it as meaning "a rockhole surrounded by mulga trees" ( the mulga tree is named "koolgoor"), from "coolgabbi" meaning a tree near a waterhole, or after the large Bungarra lizard, pronounced "Coorgardie"by the Aborigines. It is claimed that Warden John Finnerty was the first to record the name, having asked local Aborigines the name of the place. The name was difficult to spell, and what some claim is "Golgardi", was spelt by Finnerty as Coolgardie.


COOLUP

Latitude 32° 44' S Longitude 115° 52' E

Coolup is a town in the south west between Pinjarra and Waroona. It was gazetted a townsite in 1899, but the name has been recorded in the area since at least 1886. Coolup is an Aboriginal name possibly meaning "place of the wild turkey". (kool or koonlie are given as words for the wild turkey).


COOMALBIDGUP

Latitude 33° 38' S Longitude 121° 22' E

Coomalbidgup is a townsite on the South Coast Highway between Esperance and Ravensthorpe. It was gazetted in 1961, and takes its name from the nearby Coomalbidgup Creek. The name is Aboriginal, and one informant states it means
"Possum scratches up a tree & there is water there". The explorer George Grey in 1839 recorded "Koo-mal" as meaning Possum, "up" means place, and Bid-dee or Bid-gee means waterhole in the dialect of the Mundrabilla Tribe.


COOMBERDALE

Latitude 30° 28' S Longitude 116° 02' E

Coomberdale is a locality in the Midlands area, located between Moora and Watheroo. It takes its name from the railway siding established here by the Midland Railway Co. in 1895, the year the Company's railway from Midland to Walkaway was opened. The siding is named after Coomberdale Well which was recorded by surveyor Alexander Forrest in a property surveyed for Edmund King in 1872. The name was probably given by King who settled in the area around 1866, and who came from Oxfordshire in England He named his property "Oxfordale".


COOROW

Latitude 29° 53' S Longitude 116° 01' E

Coorow is a town in the Midlands wheatbelt area, 264 Kilometres north of Perth, between Carnamah and Moora. The townsite of Coorow was gazetted in 1893, and the name is derived from the Aboriginal name of a nearby spring, first recorded in 1872. The meaning of the name may be from the word "Curro", which is the Aboriginal word for a variety of Portulacca, or another source gives it as "many mists".


CORDERING

Latitude 33° 30' S Longitude : 116° 39' E

Cordering is a townsite in the south west, located on the railway between Collie and Wagin. The townsite, gazetted in 1916, is named after the railway siding located here. The siding is in turn named after the nearby Cordering Creek. Cordering is an Aboriginal name which was first used as the name for a farm in the area around 1903. Its meaning is not known.


CORINTHIA

Latitude 31° 07' S Longitude 119° 14' E

Corinthia ia an abandoned goldfields townsite, located about 13 kilometres north west of Southern Cross. The townsite took its name from the nearby "Corinthian Mine", but was gazetted spelt Korinthia in 1911. It was changed to Corinthia in 1912, and the name is believed to be derived from the biblical city of Corinth in Greece.


CORRIGIN

Latitude 32° 20' S Longitude 117° 52' E

The townsite of Corrigin, located in the wheatbelt area between Brookton and Kondinin, was first gazetted in 1913 as "Dondakin". This name was derived from the adjacent railway siding, which in turn was a form of the Aboriginal name of a nearby soak, Dondakine Soak. The local name, "Corrigin", was not accepted by railway authorities at first because of the likelihood of confusion with another siding called "Korrijinn".
Eventually, due to public protest, Korrijinn was changed to "Bickey", and Dondakin changed to Corrigin on 15 May 1914. Corrigin is named after Corrigin Well, another local Aboriginal name, first recorded in 1877. The meaning of the name is not known.


COSSACK

Latitude 20° 41' S Longitude 117° 11' E

Cossack, a once thriving port and pearling centre, is located on the Pilbara coast near Roebourne. It was gazetted a townsite in 1872, but by the turn of the century the port had silted up. It is now virtually abandoned, and all that remains are a few historic buildings. The townsite was named after H.M.S. Cossack which visited Tien Tsin harbour in 1871 with the Governor, Sir Frederick Weld, on board


COWARAMUP

Latitude 33° 51' S Longitude 115° 06' E

Located 12kms north of Margaret River, Cowaramup derives its name from Cowaramup Siding, which was located near the townsite, on the Busselton to Augusta railway. The townsite was gazetted in 1925, and the name is believed to be derived from "Cowara", the Aboriginal name for the Purple Crowned Lorikeet..


COWCOWING

Latitude 31° 00' S Longitude 117° 27' E

Cowcowing is a townsite in the central wheatbelt between Wyalkatchem and Koorda. It was gazetted a townsite in 1919, but had earlier been a siding on the railway line here. Cowcowing is an Aboriginal name, first recorded as the name of nearby lakes in 1854. One earlier record in 1846 refers to a Gow gow eeh Lake, and this is presumed to be the same lake. The meaning of the name is not known.


CRANBROOK

Latitude 34° 18' S Longitude 117° 33' E

Cranbrook is a town in the Great Southern region, situated 39 kilometres NNE of Mount Barker. It was one of the original railway stations on the Great Southern Railway when the railway opened in 1889, and was gazetted a townsite in 1899. The name is taken from the town of Cranbrook in Kent, about 65 kilometres south east of London. It is believed to have been named by Mr J A Wright, who was manager of the Western Australian Land Company which built the railway. Mr Wright was educated at Queen Elizabeth School in Cranbrook.


CUBALLING

Latitude 32° 49' S Longitude 117° 11' E

Cuballing is a townsite on the Great Southern Highway between Pingelly and Narrogin, 195 km from Perth. It is one of the original stations on the Great Southern Railway, and was in use when the railway opened in 1889. The station was originally spelt Cubballing after nearby Cubballing Pool, but when the townsite was gazetted in 1899, the current spelling was adopted. The name of the pool was first recorded in a lease application in 1868, but the meaning of this Aboriginal name is not known.


CUDDINGWARRA

Latitude 27° 22' S Longitude 117° 47' E

Cuddingwarra is a townsite in the Murchison goldfields near Cue. When gold was first discovered in the area in 1888 this place was known as "Dead Finish", but when the government gazetted a townsite in 1895, Cuddingwarra was the name chosen. Cuddingwarra is the Aboriginal name of a nearby hill, first recorded in a pastoral lease application by Lacy Brothers in 1878-79.


CUE

Latitude 27° 26' S Longitude 117° 53' E

Cue was gazetted a townsite in August 1893. It is named after Tom Cue, one of those who discovered gold there in 1892. The following account from an article in the "Sunday Times" dated Nov. 24th, 1974, page 7 describes the beginnings of Cue "Back in the young Western Australia of 1890, the gold rush to the Murchison was in full swing. Crowds of gold seekers actually walked over large quantities of surface gold that was eventually found by Tom Cue after one of those all too common droughts removed the surface grass. Cue, the capital of Murchison, mushroomed near the spot where Tom Cue and his mates made fortunes by turning over stones with forked sticks as their only equipment. Gold virtually covered the ground. This surface gold did not build the town though. The deep gold did this."


CUNDERDIN

Latitude 31° 39' S Longitude 117° 14' E

Cunderdin is a central wheatbelt town on the Great Eastern Highway between Meckering and Tammin, 156 km east of Perth. Land was set aside for a townsite here in 1904, and the townsite was gazetted in 1906. Cunderdin is the Aboriginal name of a nearby hill, first recorded by the explorer C C Hunt in 1864. The meaning of the name is not known, but one source states "Cunder" is derived from "Quenda", meaning "place of the bandicoot", and another source gives it as meaning "big turkey".


CUTHBERT

Latitude 35° 01' S Longitude 117° 47' E

Cuthbert is a townsite on the western edge of Albany. It was originally established as a siding on the Great Southern Railway in the 1890's, and named "Eastwood". In 1909 the government decided to subdivide land here, and when a name for the townsite was sought Eastwood was unacceptable because it was already in use in three other Australian states. Alternative names of "Karajinup" and Ätwell" were considered before the name "Werillup", an Aboriginal word meaning "place of swamps" was chosen and gazetted as the name of the townsite in 1914. The Deputy Postmaster-General objected to Werillup, and the name "Cuthbert"was suggested as an alternative by the Secretary for Railways in 1915. The change of name was gazetted in September 1916, and the name is believed to honour an 1890's settler of the area.

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