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History of country town names - S


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

SALMON GUMS

Latitude 32° 58' S Longitude 121° 38' E

The townsite of Salmon Gums is located in the Esperance agricultural region, 817 km from Perth and 106 km north of Esperance. It is on the main road and railway routes between Esperance and the goldfields. A railway between Esperance and Norseman was proposed in 1910, and in 1912 land for a future townsite was set aside here, as it was considered a likely watering place for the railway. In 1916 the District Surveyor recommended the townsite be named Salmon Gums, and the name was also selected for the proposed railway station. The railway however, was not built until the mid 1920's, the Esperance to Salmon Gums section opening in 1925, and the townsite of Salmon Gums was also gazetted the same year.

This townsite derives its name from a prominent belt of Salmon Gums which was a landmark for travellers to the goldfields in the 1890's. In 1910 a surveyor reported "extending NNE for about 5 miles by about one mile and a belt known as "Salmon Gums". The tree is Eucalyptus Salmonophloia, a beautiful erect and branching tree of the semi arid regions growing to a height of 25 metres with a spread of 5 metres. It is so named because of its smooth salmon coloured bark.


SANDSTONE

Latitude 27° 59' S Longitude 119° 17' E

The goldfields townsite of Sandstone is located 660 km north east of Perth and 158 km east of Mount Magnet. Gold was discovered in this area in the early 1900's, and by 1905 there were enough miners in the area for the government to be requested to declare a townsite. Correspondence in 1905 refers to the area as "Hans Irvine's Find, also known as Sandstone" and that a large amount of money had been spent on Hotels, Banks, Stores etc. When the townsite was gazetted in 1906 the name of Sandstone was approved, based on the recommendation of Warden Lawlers who reported "I have since been to Black Range, but could not get the native name of the locality, and cannot suggest a suitable native name. I would recommend the town be called 'Sandstone' or 'Sandhurst'. The place is now well known as Sandstone but a small change such as to Sandhurst would not take the public long to get into the way of calling the town by the correct name, but I would prefer the name 'Sandstone'."


SCADDAN

Latitude 33° 26' S Longitude 121° 43' E

Scaddan is a townsite on the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway between Norseman and Esperance. It is located 783 km east south east of Perth and 52 km north north west of Esperance. The area of Scaddan was originally known as the "Thirty Mile", due to its distance from Esperance, but as early as 1914 residents in the area were using the name Scaddan for the place. They sought the declaration of a townsite in that year, but the government deferred such action until after the position of the Esperance-Norseman railway line was fixed. In 1915 the Post Office changed the name from Thirty Mile to Scaddan, and in 1916 sites for a school, hotel and hall were established. Despite continued pressure for a townsite, it was not until 1924 that the townsite of Scaddan was officially gazetted.

Scaddan is named after John Scaddan, CMG, Premier of Western Australia from 1911 to 1916. Known as "Happy Jack", Scaddan was born in South Australia in 1876, educated in Victoria and married in Boulder in 1900. He was elected to Parliament in 1904, and from then until 1933 represented 3 different electorates and served in many different roles in Parliament. He also served on the Perth Roads Board from 1926 to 1934, and was Chairman from 1931 to 1934.


SEABIRD

Latitude 31° 16' S Longitude 115° 26' E

The coastal townsite of Seabird is located 100 km north north west of Perth between Guilderton and Ledge Point. It is 18 km by road north of Guilderton. Like many similar coastal townsites in this region north west of Perth, the area was first settled by squatters. When this was reported on in 1965, a decision was taken to form a townsite, and the name "Chalon" after Chalon-sur-saone in France where the French botanist Leschenault was born. Pressure from the Shire of Gingin and local residents resulted in the name Seabird being adopted in 1968, the name being derived from the pastoral property within which it is located. The property name is named after the schooner "Seabird" which was stranded with a gaping hole in her port side in this area in 1874. The townsite was gazetted in March 1968.


SERPENTINE

Latitude 33° 22' S Longitude 115° 59' E

The townsite of Serpentine is located 55 km south south east of Perth and 7 km south of Mundijong. Serpentine is located on the South Western Railway between Perth and Bunbury, and was one of the original stations when the line was opened in 1893. In 1891 the government had opened up land in the area by declaring the Serpentine Agricultural Area, and in 1893 decided there was sufficient demand for town lots by gazetting the Townsite of Serpentine in December 1893. The townsite derives its name from the nearby Serpentine River. The name is descriptive, derived from the "serpentine" nature of the river in its lower reaches where it was discovered and named in the early 1830's.


SHACKLETON

Latitude 31° 56' S Longitude 117° 50' E

The townsite of Shackleton is located in the central agricultural region, 209 km east of Perth and 32 km west of Bruce Rock. It is located on the railway line from Quairading to Bruce Rock, and was approved as a siding in 1913,the year the railway line opened. A townsite was gazetted at the siding in 1951, the area having been privately developed some years earlier. There is a nearby hill named Mount Shackleton,and both the hill and townsite are named after the Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.


SHARK LAKE

Latitude 33° 47' S Longitude 121° 52' E

The townsite of Shark Lake is located in the south coastal region, 741 km east south east of Perth and 10 km north of Esperance. Land for a Common Reserve was set aside at Shark Lake in 1898, the area being a well used stopping place on the road from Esperance to the Dundas Goldfields. The area was also adjacent to the Esperance to Norseman railway which opened in the mid 1920's, but it was 1955 before a siding was opened at Shark Lake. Demand for industrial land in the 1960's resulted in the area being subdivided and a townsite gazetted in 1967. The townsite derives its name from the nearby feature Shark Lake, this name having been first recorded in 1894. It is not known why a small freshwater lake should be named Shark Lake. It was also often referred to as Shark's Lake.


SHAY GAP

Latitude 20° 31' S Longitude 120° 08' E

Shay Gap is an iron ore mining town in the Pilbara region, 1574 km north north east of Perth and 188 km east of Port Hedland. It is a company town, developed by Goldsworthy Mining Limited in the 1960's for the mining of iron ore from nearby deposits, and was gazetted in 1972. Shay Gap derives its name from a pass of the same name in the nearby hills. The name has been shown on maps since 1957, and it is believed named after a pearler named Robert Shea who, along with his companion Samuel Miller, was murdered by Aboriginals on the De Grey River in 1873.


SHELLBOROUGH

Latitude 20° 00' S Longitude 119° 22' E

The townsite of Shellborough is located in the Pilbara region, 1755 km north north east of Perth and 137 km east of Port Hedland. The early 1870's was a period of rapid growth in pearling in Western Australia, and the townsite of Shellborough was established in support of this industry. It was first surveyed in 1872, and was referred to as "Condong". However, when gazetted in 1872, the notice referred to "allotments at Condong" which will from this date be known as Shellborough. It was referred to "Condon" in the late 1870's, and has been more often known by this name than the official Shellborough. The population of the town peaked at about 200 in 1898 and decreased to about 12 in 1905. The telegraph station was abandoned in 1927.

Shellborough is located at Condon Landing on Condon Creek, hence the alternative name. This name may have some connection with Daniel Congdon (1838-1907), brother-in-law of Robert Fairbairn but the townsite was never gazetted as either Condon or Condong. The fact that the aborigines bartered shells with early visitors to this area or simply the fact that so many varieties of shells and pearl shell could be collected here may have led to the choosing of the name.


SHOTTS

Latitude 33° 23' S Longitude 116° 16' E

The townsite of Shotts is located in the south west agricultural region, 214 km south south east of Perth and 12 km south south east of Collie. It is located on the railway line from Collie to Narrogin (now closed), and opened as a siding named Benelaking in 1911. Later in 1911 the siding was renamed Shotts. The siding was in the Collie coalfields area, and Premier Coal Mining Company operated a mine at Shotts. In 1913 the Company suggested establishing a townsite there, a move supported by the Collie Road Board. The townsite was gazetted in 1917. Shotts is most likely named after the Scottish coal mining town of the same name, located approximately 30 km east of Glasgow.


SIBERIA

Latitude 30° 15' S Longitude 120° 57' E

Siberia is an abandoned goldfields townsite, located 655 km east north east of Perth and 86 km north west of Kalgoorlie. Gold was discovered here by the prospectors Billy Frost and Bob Bonner in the late 1890's, and the influx of miners into the area soon created demand for a townsite. Lots were surveyed and land for a townsite to be named Siberia was set aside in 1898, but when it came to gazetting the townsite the Chairman of the local Progress Committee suggested it be named Waverley, after one of the mines in the area. Waverley townsite was gazetted in October 1898.

In 1911 the Postmaster General's Department raised concern with the government about town names which were duplicated in other states, Waverley being one of these. Siberia was suggested as an alternative name, as was Wongi, derived from nearby Wongine Soak. The majority of the residents preferred Siberia, and the name change was gazetted in November 1914. Siberia derives its name from Siberia Tank, a nearby water supply for the area. The origin of the name is uncertain, but in a book on the goldfields by Duke Stewart the author wrote that J S Christie told him how Siberia was named. "A swagman struck the track near the Carnage and cut on a tree the words: To Hell or Siberia".


SIR SAMUEL

Latitude 27° 38' S Longitude 120° 33' E

The abandoned goldfields townsite of Sir Samuel is located 1011 km north east of Perth and about 40 km north north west of Leinster. Gold was first discovered in this area around 1895, and by 1896 it was regarded as likely to become an important mining centre, and a request was made to survey a townsite. Following the selection of a site for the townsite, the Mining Warden for the area, A G Clifton suggested 3 possible names, Clifton after himself; Herberton after Herberts the original finder of gold in the area and Newmanton, after A W Newman, the surveyor. The Lands Department felt that the area was already too well known as Mt Sir Samuel, but the Mt. could be dropped from the name. This was agreed to, and the townsite of Sir Samuel was gazetted in 1897.

The townsite takes it's name from the nearby feature of Mount Sir Samuel, which was named by the explorer Lawrence Wells in February 1892. Wells was the surveyor in the Elder Exploring Expedition which had left from Adelaide the previous year, and he named Mount Sir Samuel after Sir Samuel James Way, Chief Justice and Lieutenant Governor of South Australia.


SOUTH BOULDER

Latitude 30° 48' S Longitude 121° 30' E

The townsite of South Boulder is located in the eastern goldfields region, 595 km east north east of Perth. It is within the Kalgoorlie-Boulder urban area. Gold was discovered in this area in 1893, and the townsite of Boulder gazetted in 1896. As the area grew demand for land increased, and in 1898 the Ivanhoe Suburban Area was gazetted south of Boulder. In 1906 the Postmaster General's Department decided to establish a post office at Ivanhoe, but first requested the name be changed because of two established towns of this name in the eastern states. Local authorities suggested South Boulder as an alternative, and the South Boulder townsite was gazetted in August 1906. South Boulder derives its name from its location south of Boulder. Boulder in turn derives its name from a mine named "The Boulder" at Dashwoods Gully in South Australia.


SOUTH KUMMININ

Latitude 32° 12' S Longitude 118° 20' E

The townsite of South Kumminin is located in the central agricultural region, 281 km east of Perth and 19 km south of Narembeen. It is located on the railway line from Kondinin to Merredin, and when the Kondinin to Narembeen section was opened in 1917,the siding here was named Arrowsmith after nearby Mt Arrowsmith. However, it was soon confused with Harrismith siding, and in June 1917 was changed to South Kumminin. Lots were surveyed here in 1918, but it was 1921 before the townsite of South Kumminin was officially gazetted. Kumminin is an Aboriginal word of uncertain meaning.


SOUTH STIRLING

Latitude 34° 35' S Longitude 118° 12' E

The townsite of South Stirling is located in the great southern agricultural region, 423 km south east of Perth and 68 km east of Mount Barker. It is located about 20 km south of the Stirling Range, hence the name. In the early 1950's the government opened up land in this area, and it was known as the "South Stirlings War Service Land Settlement Scheme. In 1954 the local member of Parliament lobbied the Lands Department to establish a townsite, The establishment of a townsite was delayed until sufficient settlers had moved into the area, and it was not gazetted until 1959. In 1957 the name Stirling was considered unsuitable for the townsite because of duplication in another state, and other names were considered. Eventually Moirton, after the pioneering Moir family was selected and approved by the Minister for Lands, but was soon subject to a local protest. After lengthy debate on the selection of the name, South Stirling was supported in 1959, and was the name used when the townsite was gazetted. The Stirling Range, from which the townsite derives its name, was named in 1835 after the then Governor of Western Australia, Sir James Stirling.


SOUTHERN CROSS

Latitude 31° 14' S Longitude 119° 20' E

The townsite of Southern Cross is located in the central agricultural region, 369 km east north east of Perth and 109 km east north east of Merredin. Although now in an agricultural region, Southern Cross began as a gold mining town, gold having been discovered here in 1888. The original prospecting party to find gold here named the area after the Southern Cross constellation they had used at when travelling at night. Further rich finds of gold in the area resulted in Southern Cross booming, almost over night, and the townsite was gazetted in 1890.


STRACHAN

Latitude 34° 24' S Longitude 116° 28' E

The townsite of Strachan is located in the south west about 50 km east south east of Manjimup. The area was the site of the Tone River Mill, when in 1952 the government decided to design a new townsite here. The design was carried out by the State Housing Commission, as the housing to be developed here was to be State Housing for the mill employees. When it came to gazette the townsite in 1957 the Surveyor General suggested it be named Twakerup, the local Aboriginal name for the area, but local residents did not favour this name. The name Strachan (pronounced Strawn) in commemoration of two old pioneers of the district, a brother and sister, was suggested by the Forests Department, and this name gazetted in July 1957. There has been little public acceptance of the name Strachan, and the area is still referred to as Tone River. There is another townsite about 30 km north east on the Tone River named Tonebridge.

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Western Australian Land Information Authority