Alexandra Headland
In 1916 Thomas O'Connor subdivided his land and sold allotments at what had been known previously as Potts' Point. It had gained that name from John Potts who used to have a cottage there. O'Connor adopted the name of Alexandra Headland in recognition of Queen Alexandra, the wife of King Edward VII.
Algester
You might wonder what the Brisbane suburb of Algester has to do with an ancient Roman fort on the English River Alne, but there is a link. As far as its use in this part of the world goes, the naming of the road came first and then the suburb. In the early 1920s, F. S. Brecknell named Algester Road after Alcester Road in Moseley, a Birmingham suburb. That's where he came from. In its origins, the name of the town Alcester refers to a Roman fort on the River Alne. The suburb then took its name from the road which, by then, was being spelt with a 'g' instead of a 'c'.
Allora
The name, derived from the Aboriginal gnallorah, swampy place, was probably the name for a nearby lagoon. It started as an outstation of Neil Ross' Goomburra grazing run, near a ford across Dalrymple Creek. The village was surveyed in 1859.
Alloway
This railway station was named after the birthplace of Robert Burns, the Scottish poet.
Amamoor
There are two suggestions as to the Aboriginal derivation of the name: milk-like, referring to the colour of the water affected by flowing over white clay or running water.
Amberley
The Aboriginal name for the area was Jebropilly said to mean either flying squirrels or swampy place, but the property which the Australian Government bought in 1938 for an airforce base had already been given the name of Amberley by its first owner, W. Collett, who had named his dairying selection after the village in West Sussex that he came from.
Amiens
When land on the Granite Belt was opened up for soldier settlement after the First World War, battlefields where Australian forces had served in Europe were commemorated. Amiens was one of these. The city on the Somme River, in northern France has a history going right back to the time of Julius Caesar (54 BC) who established his headquarters in the area during the Gallic War. It means 'water dweller'.
Amity Point
Flinders simply marked the northern point of what is Stradbroke Island as Sandy Point, yet it seems to have been called Cypress Point prior to its being named Amity by John Oxley in 1824.
There is some confusion over why it was given this name. The Australian, 9 December, 1824, reporting on Governor Brisbane's visit to the infant Moreton Bay convict settlement, says that it was on account of the friendly contact between Whites and Aborigines that the place was given this name. But another theory is that it was named after the brig Amity which belonged to the New South Wales colonial administration and which, under Captain Penson, brought the first settlers to Moreton Bay, and which, later in the same year, brought Governor Brisbane on his inspection tour.
By the time the governor visited, a tiny settlement already existed there. After John Gray surveyed and buoyed the South Passage between Stradbroke and Moreton Islands in the following year, a seaman by the name of John Tosh, came to be stationed there in a bark hut as Pilot and Superintendent of Buoys. He died when the pilot boat overturned on the bar, 13 January, 1830.
Before 1828 when a storehouse was built at Dunwich, large ships used to unload their cargo at Amity Point, and it was then transported, little by little, across the bay and up the river to Brisbane Town. Two or three soldiers were stationed there to keep guard over the stores. According to Tom Petrie, the Aboriginal name for the area was Pul-an.
Amosfield
Amosfield was named after the Amos brothers who had tin mining claims in the area. They also held contracts with the New South Wales railways. It has sometimes been called Amosville. Earlier names were Herding Yard and Fern Gully
Andrews
The Andrews family, after whom this Gold Coast suburb is named, once held extensive land holdings in the area between Mudgeeraba and Tallebudgera. The name was officially gazetted 30 May 1981, but in 2002 became part of the new Varsity Lakes suburb.
Anglers Paradise
Anglers Paradise was the name given by R. G. Oates for his development when the Biggera Creek bridge was opened in 1960 from Lands End, Labrador on the Gold Coast. Now known as Biggera Waters.
Annerley
The name was chosen by the prominent Queensland businessman and politician, Frank Digby Denham, who was Premier 1911-1913, and was derived from the English village of Annerley in the county of Surrey.
Anstead
John Anstead was a timbergetter who leased land in the Moggill area in the late 1860s. He became the works manager of Gravel Sand and Metal Supply Ltd.
Applethorpe
This was one of those places that had its German name changed during the First World War. It was previously known as Roessler after the family that established there the first commercial orchard on the north side of Stanthorpe. It literally means apple-village.