Place Names of South-East Queensland

  

 

Glen Niven

Glen Niven was named after Lawrence Niven, manager of a local tin mine.  

Gneering Reefs

The Gneering was an old sailing ship formerly the Granite City used by the timber merchant, William Pettigrew, to carry timber from coastal areas to his mill in Brisbane.

Goat Island

Prior to a Land's Department mapping error this island was known as Wreck Island.  This was seen as a good place on which to run goats as it was free of foxes, but this stopped after  the goats were drowned in a flood in 1916

Gold Coast

In 1949 the centres along the coastal strip from Southport to Coolangatta combined together to form the Town of South Coast, and in 1958 adopted the name of Gold Coast. In the following year it was declared a city, but prior to this the name had gained popularity in recognition of the prosperity of the area and the rising price of land, the golden beaches and the suntanned bodies of their devotees. The name had been borrowed from the West African coastal strip given that nickname by Europeans.   

Goodna

The name comes from the Aboriginal name for the area and it meant dung. (Petrie)    

Goombi

This district west and south-west of Chinchilla has a name derived from the Aboriginal word for swamp.

Goombungee                                                                              

This was the Aboriginal name for the locality named  in 1854 by Mr Pitts who is commemorated today by the name of Pittsworth.     


Goomburra

This run was taken up in the early days of Darling Downs settlement by Ernest Dalrymple. The name comes from Gooneburra, fire-black tribe.  

Goomeri

The town had its beginnings with the sale of Boonara Station  by the retailing family, David Jones, of Sydney. Allotments went on sale,  6 March, 1911, nine years after the railway line had been put through. The train station was initially called Goomeribong.  

Goondiwindi

The name of the town on the Macintrye River is derived from the name of a station property in the area, variously given as Gundawinda, or Gundiwindi said to mean either a resting place for birds or droppings of ducks or shags in the original Aboriginal language. Gundiwindi was the spelling of the property name when it was registered in the names of Richard and Samuel Marshall around 1848, hence the pronunciation that continues.   

Gore

Named after St George Gore, owner of Budumba run and a member of the Queensland parliament.

Gowrie

Originally called Stambrook or Stanbrook, the pastoral run was given the name of Gowrie in 1847, said to come from a corruption of the local Aboriginal word for a bivalve mussel shell plentiful in the creek bed there.   

Graceville

Literally the name means agreeable village, but it was named after the daughter of Samuel Grimes, the local member of parliament. The Railways Department asked him to suggest a name for the station to be located on the new line through the old Boyland estate and his suggestion of Graceville was prompted by his daughter's name, Grace. Captain Boyland owned two cargo boats, the Hawk, and the Swallow, which plied between Brisbane and Ipswich.  

Grandchester

Grandchester was originally called Bigges' Camp after two brothers who settled in the Brisbane Valley in the first great rush for land by free settlers in the 1840s. These were Frederick and Francis Bigge, nephews of Commissioner Bigge. Frederick was known as 'Big'Bigge and Francis as 'Little' Bigge.

The first railway line to be built in Queensland ran from Ipswish to Bigges' Camp. It was opened 31 July, 1865. Governor Bowen thought that the terminus of such an historic railway should have a more dignified name so made up a name from grandis meaning great or big, and chester meaning camp.  

Grange

The word grange is used of a moderately sized English country residence, so this was the name chosen by T.K.Peake who established a tannery and fellmongery there and built the house which has now long since disappeared.  

Granite Belt

The name obviously refers to the large number of granite boulders evident in the area. It came into use after the separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859. Before that it was simply seen as part of the New England Tableland.  

Grantham

Grantham run was taken up by C.W.Pitts in 1845. Grantham, in England, after which it was presumably named is known in historical records as far back at 1086 in the Doomsday Book when it was spelt exactly as it is today.

Green Island

This Moreton Bay island was called Tanggeera, Tangaree or Doongerri.

Greenbank

In the 1890s the old Greenbank Station, owned by the Slack family, was subdivided into farming lots and the Greenbank Provisional School was built on land leased from Will and Catherine (nee Lane) Slack.  Greenbank station had previously been owned by his father, William Dunbar How Slack.


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