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Abbotsford Sir Walter Scott�s home near Melrose in Scotland was called Abbotsford, and the name was used, first for a land holding and then for a parish and for a road in the North Brisbane area to honour that distinguished early 19th century poet and novelist. Acacia Ridge Apart from the eucalyptus or gum tree there is no tree more closely identified with Australia than the wattle or acacia, and this tree grew well in that area which before the end of the 19th century gained the name Acacia Ridge. Acland Queensland Railways gave its station the name of Acland, it being the family name of the Commissioner for Railways, Chas Evans C.M.G.. Advancetown Advancetown was moved to its present location from the valley below to make room for the Hinze Dam, but, as Advance Town, it started back in the 1880s as a staging camp for bullockies. The hotel there was at first called Beechmont Hotel, but its name was later changed to the Advancetown Hotel. Albany Creek The name Albany Creek arose out of anti-Chinese racism among the settlers in 1885. Up until that time it had been marked on maps as Chinaman Creek, a small tributary of the South Pine River. There were many Chinese working on the goldfields around Australia, and the antagonism felt toward them by white people prompted some to write to the Minister of Lands requesting a name change and recommending the substitute name of Albany, after the Duke of Albany. Albany is the Anglicised form of Albania, the name given to the ancient Kingdom of the Picts, taken over by the Kings of the Scots. Albert The Albert River, and with it Alberton, and for a time the Albert Shire, which depended on the river for their names, bring to mind the person of Prince Albert, son of the German Duke of Saxe-Coburg who married Queen Victoria of England, 10 February, 1840. The match-making was the work of her uncle, Leopold of Belgium, but she fell madly in love with Albert and was devoted to him for all of their 21 years of marriage. Although he was her cousin, he was very different from her in temperament and outlook. While she was passionate and emotional, he was calm and logical. He had high ideals for marriage and family life setting what he hoped would be a good example for her subjects. Protocol did not allow him to propose, she had to do that. But while he took second place in all matters of state, he was the head of the household as far as she was concerned and her advisor and confidant. He acted as her fulltime secretary. In 1857 he was given the official title of Prince Consort. He made much of the policy, she signed it. With a strong sense of duty, he worked hard to support her in her role, but started to suffer rheumatism, insomnia and stomach upsets. His death caused by typhoid fever in 1861 at the age of 42 was a devastating blow to her. Albion Albion is indirectly named after Britain. As used by the ancient inhabitants of Britain it meant the world. It is more directly named after The Albion Hotel built by Thomas Hayseldon in the middle of the 19th century. As the area around the hotel developed it was first known loosely as The Albion, but by the last quarter of the century it was simply referred to as it is today. When the Roma Street quarry of convict times was worked out, John Petrie bought land here for a quarry and brickworks, but it became quite an exclusive suburb in the 1890s. The solicitor, Robert Little, built Whytecliffe in 1875, and Andrew Lang Petrie and Margaret Petrie had their home, Mooloomburram, there near the quarry. Alderley The suburb of Alderley got its name from a property in the area called Alderley Edge, which in turn was named after a village just north of Macclesfield in Cheshire, England. |