Mary Cairncross Park

The sixty acres of rainforest which her daughters gave to the Landsborough Shire Council are now adminstered by the Caloundra City Council and carry Mrs A.J.Thyne's maiden name. 

Maryland

When the three young gentlemen, Matthew Marsh, Charles Marsh and Charles Perrot, imbibed too heavily in rum to bolster their courage against an expected Aboriginal attack which did not, in fact, occur, they gave to the place the name of Merrylands. Matthew Marsh later changed it to Maryland. 

Maryvale

Originally the name of a pastoral holding belonging to the Wienholt family.

Mayne

Patrick Mayne, erratic and unstable in behaviour, grew prosperous through his Queen Street butchering business and land acquisitions.  One of his properties gave his name to a part of Brisbane where extensive railway yards came to be built.  The generous donation by two of his children, James and Mary Emelia,  of the purchase price for the land on which the University of Queensland is built at St Lucia is commemorated by the naming of the Mayne Hall. 

McDowall

The suburb is named after Ambrose McDowall, a landowner in the area. McDowall gave the name of his house Everton to neighbouring suburbs. 

Meadowbrook

Meadowbrook was gazetted as a place name in October 1991 although the estate had been marketed under the name of Meandowbank.

Meeandah

The name is formed from the English word meander which in turn comes from the name of a river in Turkey. An aerial view of the Brisbane River twisting and turning on its way to Moreton Bay well illustrates the meaning of the word. 

Meldale

The area now called Meldale was once owned by Major Mellish and the name derives from the first syllable of his name. 

Memerambi

The meaning is given by Queensland Railways as scrubby tree. 

Meridan Plains

Richard and William Westaway named their property Meridan Plains in the 1860s. It had some connection with their father's home county of Devon.

Meringandan

The name is a corruption of the Aboriginal words Moorin Gandan, meaning fire clay.  

Mermaid Beach

This part of the Gold Coast was named after the cutter Mermaid which carried Oxley, Stirling and Uniacke from Sydney in 1823. 

Merrimac

Behind the name of Merrimac stands the Stephens family. Thomas Stephens had made his money out of newspapers and wool when he took up a large tract of mostly low-lying land along by the Nerang River in 1876. He had been the second Mayor of Brisbane, and for the last two years of his life was a member of the Queensland Legislative Council. He died the following year at the age of 58 leaving the property to his wife, Anne, but it was his son, William, who was mainly instrumental in developing his dream of draining the swamps and turning them into good agricultural land.

The first dairy established by the family was called Hill View, but the second was called Merrimac, thought to mean merrily running waters. It was on reclaimed land. William, like his father, became involved in community and political affairs. All of the Stephens Estate except 300 acres was sold in 1901 and subdivided, and it was then that the area came to be known as Marrimac Estate.  

Messines

Named after an Allied victory in the First World War.

Merthyr

Samuel Griffith's rise from poverty in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, to wealth and prominence as a Queensland judge, Australian statesman and Father of Federation, is represented by the name he gave to his Brisbane house with its spacious riverside grounds, Merthyr.

His father was a Congregational minister who migrated to Australia when Samuel was eight years of age. He distinguished himself at Sydney University, went into law and entered politics in a by-election for the Queensland seat of East Moreton in 1872. The speaking and argumentative skills which made him a good barrister made him a prominent politician. He was Premier for a total of about eight years.

He has been called, 'Lean, ascetic, cold, clear, collected and acidulated.'  He was thorough in his attention to detail. He became the Chief Justice of Queensland and, after federation, Chief Justice of the High Court. This latter position took him to reside in Sydney, but he returned to Merthyr on retirement.

The Welsh name means the burial place of the saint, Tydfil. Tydfil was a Christian woman who was killed for her faith in that area of South Wales in the 5th century. 

Miami

The Miami Shore development took place prior to the Great Depression in the 1920s.  The Hotel Miami opened 1925.

Milbong

Some people called the area One Eye after an Aboriginal shepherd who had only one good eye, but the Aboriginal term for one-eye came to be accepted. 

Middle Ridge

The teamsters used to graze their bullocks and horses on the ridge between East and West Creeks in the 1860s and from this time on the area which is now a suburb of Toowoomba was known by this name.

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