Place Names of South-East Queensland

  

 

 

Greenslopes

Joseph Wecker's farm was known locally as 'Wecker's green slopes' before that name was used for the subdivision of the property in the second decade of the twentieth century. This German immigrant was the earliest known settler in the area. After farming there for some time he extended his property by buying some undulating land at the rear of his property from a Reginald Jennings, and grew lucerne there, calling it his 'green slopes'   

Griffin
Whiteside

Grovely

When John and William Nicholson adopted the name of GroveleyLodge for their property they acquired there in 1864, they had in mind Grovely in Wiltshire. On it they established a vineyard, and they gave some of it for a church. Governor Bowen laid the foundation stone of the Groveley Church of England, 1867, and gradually the district around the church came to be known by that name. Somehow the second e dropped out. The Railway Department gave this name to the station, 22 June, 1916.    

Guanaba

The creek and district make use of the name of the Aboriginal people who lived where Beenleigh is now situated.

Gunchellan Wharf

It is thought that this area on the Mary River was named by Charles White after the area from whence he came.

Gundiah

Several Aboriginal meanings have been given : magic stone, doctor or goodbye. 

Gympie

Gympie was  the Kabi Kabi name for a stinging tree which grew prolifically around the Mary River, and the name was given to one of the river's tributaries, Gympie Creek. The mulberry-leaved Dendrocnide moroides has tiny stinging hairs on leaves and narrow stems. Experience has taught bushwalkers to keep well clear yet its fleshy berries are edible.

It was along this creek that James Nash discovered gold in 1867. H had been working the Nanango field, but there was nothing much more there so he went off on his own prospecting in the Mary River region. This short, bearded loner of a man dressed in dirty moleskin trousers, flannel shirt and dusty boots turned up at the Maryborough Land Commissioner's place, 16 October, and lodged his claim for the reward being offered by the Queensland Government for the discovery of a new payable goldfield. The discovery of gold here saved the young colony from bankruptcy. See Nashville.  

 



Haden
This was the maiden name of Mrs Paget, the wife of the Minister for Railways. In the days of early settlement the area was known as Little Gomoron and when the railway line came through the station was originally called Wahoon , but after a load of Christmas perishables was delivered to Walloon near Ipswish by mistake the name was changed to Haden.

Haigslea
The school was opened, 5 July, 1875, as the Walloon Scrub State School, but nine years later it was given the German name of Kichheim This reflected the national origin of many of the district's settlers. However it was changed during the First World War when anti-German sentiment ran high to Haigslea after Sir Douglas Haig, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army fighting against the Germans.

Hamilton
The Aboriginal name for the area was Yerrool  and a long sandy reach in front of this area was called mooroo-mooroobbin, meaning long nose.  The name of Hamilton was first given to a hotel probably built by Gustavus Hamilton, solicitor, of Toowomba, and later owned by Sam Hamilton. The suburb gained its name from the hotel.

Hampton
When the railway line to Crows Nest was opened the name given to the rail stop here was Perseverance Siding, but during the following year the name Hampton was in use.  It is not known why this name was used although it is assumed that it harked back to a town in Middlesex, England.

Harlaxton
This suburban area of Toowoomba was named after the residence of Francis Thomas Gregory , Commissioner of Crown Lands on the Darling Downs 1862-1869.  When he built on land acquired from Martin Meldon he named his house after Harlaxton Manor, a family property in Lincolnshire.  While the railway was being constructed up the range there were so many Irish immigrants living in this area that it was locally known as Irishtown. 

who had named his house after his birthplace. F

Harlin
John Moore of Colinton station gave his son the names of William Harlin, and in this we seem to have the clue as to the origin of the township's name.


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