Place Names of South-East Queensland

  

 

 

Macalister

This township on the Western line was named after 'Slippery Mac', or rather, the Hon. Arthur Macalister, three-times Premier of Queensland. Born in Glasgow, Scotland (1818), he came from a poor family but studied law and came to Australia with his wife in 1839. During the 1850s he practised law in Ipswich, but from 1859 to 1876 he was prominent in the Queensland parliament. He has been called the "father' of Queensland railways. In 1876 he became Queensland Agent-General in London. The deficiencies in his understanding and practise of economics lead to difficulties for the Queensland government and landed him in bankruptcy more than once.   

Macgregor

William MacGregor was a bright young shoolboy from a poor family in Aberdeenshire whose intelligence was early recognized by the local schoolmaster, minister and doctor. They encouraged him to undertake further studies, but his studies for the ministry were cut short when he got a girl pregnant. He married her and went on to study medicine.
He joined the colonial service as a doctor, but Sir Arthur Gordon in the Seychelles encouraged him to take up administrative work and, when Gordon was sent as Governor to Fiji, MacGregor accompanied him. His first wife died while they were in Fiji and he married again. Both wives had the same name, Mary.

He was knighted while serving as Administrator of British New Guinea, and he then served as Governor of Lagos, then of Newfoundland, and (1909-1914) of Queensland. He retired to Scotland and died there 1919.

He studied the classics and languages and always encouraged education and scientific research. He was the first Chancellor of the University of Queensland. His attitude toward native peoples has been described as that of humanitarian paternalism. 

Macintyre River

Allan Cunningham named the river after Captain Peter Macintyre who had provided horses and drays for his 1827 expedition.

Mackenzie

The name commemorates Colonel W. Mackenzie who had a sugar mill on Scrubb Road. 

Maclagan

The name of the Scot, Major-General Sinclair Maclagan, killed in action in France, replaced the name of Prince Otto Edward Leopold von Bismarck (1815-98), first chancellor of the German Empire, as the name of this township during the First World War. 

Macleay Island

According to Archibald Meston, this island was known to the Aboriginal people as Jencoomercha. For a while it was known to the whites as Tim Shea's Island because a convict by that name managed to live on the island for nearly fourteen years without detection. It was given its current name by surveyor Warner, 1839, thereby giving recognition to Alexander McLeay who was the Colonial Secretary in Sydney from 1825 to 1837.

Alexander Mcleay was 58 years of age when he came to Sydney with his wife, Elizabeth, to become the civilian assistant to the Governor, a position he held for eleven years, first under Darling and then under Bourke.

He made full use of his entitlement to land grants and bought up as much land as he could. He was an enthusiastic horticulturalist and entomologist, and became the first President of the Australian Museum in Sydney. He was President of the Public Library as well, and in that capacity laid the foundation stone for the building in 1843. He was over eighty when he was involved in the carriage accident which claimed his life. 

McPherson Range

The range which forms part of the border between New South Wales and Queensland was named by Logan, Cunningham and Fraser while on their 1828 expedition. Major Duncan McPherson after whom they named it was an officer in the 39th Regiment. 

Maleny

It has generally been understood that the name derives from a Scottish village, Maleny Bank, today part of the Edinburgh suburb of Balerno although sometimes reference is made to the Malleny Hills, south-west of Edinburgh. An 1866 map shows Malleny Mountain on the Blackall Range.  However Catherine Rees in her recollections of pioneering days says that she understood it was named after the surveyor who laid out the property boundaries for the settlement. 

Malling

Originally named Box Gully, this district became Malling in 1921. 

Ma Ma Creek

Named by Europeans using words derived from Aboriginal  mia mia (however not in local language) referring to bark huts.

Manchester Falls

The poet and writer, George Essex Evans, said that Manchester Falls were named after the Duke of Manchester who probably visited the Bunya Mountains around 1880.

Manly

The bayside suburb of Manly borrowed its name from Manly in Sydney when the Arnold Brothers developed Manly Beach Estate in 1882. It is said that Manly in New South Wales got its name from the impression the manly appearance of the Aboriginal warriors there made on the white people who first saw them. The earlier name for the Manly area came from a property called Wyvernleigh owned by Thomas Jones. This house was purchased by the Arnold brothers in the 1880s. It later became Tingalpa House. The Aboriginal name for the area was Narlung. 

Mansfield

Named after Sir Alan Mansfield.


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