Origin of Brisbane Suburb Names

Please note... Some of this information has been extracted from the 2000 issue of "This is our Brisbane" published by 4BH and edited by Robyn Buchanan of Buchanan Media. Regrettably, this has been the only issue published. If you have any questions about the publication, please contact Robyn on (07) 3812 1328 or email Buchanan Media

BRITISH NAMES

Paddington, St John's Wood and Highgate Hill all appear on maps of London suburbs.

Annerley is believed to be named after a township in the English county of Surrey. The suburb was originally known as Stephen Shire.

Gailes was originally named Pullen Pullen Flats, then was renamed Dingo Hill in 1919 when the railway station was built. It was renamed to Gailes in 1925 in reference to the well-known Western Gailes Golf Club in Scotland. "Gailes" is said to mean "overgrown with bog-myrrh".

Holland Park was named after a resident named Holland, but probably also echoed a London suburb of the same name.

Kelvin Grove was named after Kelvin Grove Park in Glasgow. It was a notorious hideout for convicts who had escaped from the road gangs, taking shelter in the dense scrub surrounding the area.

Rocklea was named because of the rocky waterholes in the area and also after a town in Dorset, England. It was named by the Railways Department in April 1885 while the South Coast line was being constructed.

ABORIGINAL NAMES

Aboriginal names and words are recalled by several suburbs:

Banyo: Ridge.

Bellbowrie: Place of the flowering gums.

Bundall: Prickly vine; crooked creek.

Coochiemudlo: Red rocks.

Coorparoo: A ground dove. The name resembles the note of the cooing bird.

Dakabin: A grass tree.

Doomben (dumben): Meaning tree fern and actually the Aboriginal name for the area now known as Pinkenba.

Enoggera (yowoggera): Corroboree place.

Ekibin: Possibly from the Aboriginal word "Yeekeben" given to the section of the local creek where edible aquatic roots grew.

Indooroopilly: Yindurupilly, gully of running water, or Nyindurpilli, gully of leeches.

Jumpinpin: Root or sucker of the pandanus tree, used for chewing.

Karilpa: Plenty of rats.

Kawana: Flowers.

Keperra: Young man or bora ring.

Moggill: Large water lizard.

Mt Coot-tha (Kuta or Gootcha): Dark honey.

Narangba: Small place.

Nudgee: A green frog.

Nundah: Mouth; a chain of water holes; north.

Pimpama: Place of the peeweet.

Pinkenba (binkin-ba): Place where turtles can be found and actually the Aboriginal name for New Farm where they hunted turtles.

Pullenvale: From Pullen Pullen Creek. Pullen-pullen means tournament.

Tingalpa: There are two variations. One that it was named by an early surveyor from the Aboriginal word "tinggal" meaning fat and "Pa" the place of, giving "the place of fat kangaroo". Alternatively, that the word should perhaps be "Tingle-pa" meaning the place of the native dog or dingo.

Toowong: Koel cuckoo or place of doves. In the early days, it was known as the village of "Noona".

Yeronga (Yuranba): Sandy or a sandy place. There is also a New South Wales reference to this word which states that the meaning is the initiation of a bora ring.

Yeerongpilly: Rain coming, a word from the Yuggara dialect spoken by Aborigines in the sandy country between Ipswich and Brisbane.

Woolloongabba (Wooloon-capemm): Whirling water. Swampy area where in rainy weather water rushed from waterhole to waterhole linking them into a creek and in each making a whirling spiral. These waterholes were famous for the freshwater crayfish found in them.

Woolloowin: Fish.

Wynnum (Winnum): Meaning the breadfruit tree.

GENERAL NAMES

Belmont: This was the name given by Carl Bernecher to his estate in 1876.

Carina: This was the name of the daughter of Mr Ebenezer Thorne who owned land in this area in the 1870's. Thorne was a local councillor and his daughter used to write poetry.

Cleveland: Named on the 1st July in 1841 by surveyor James Warner after the Duke of Cleveland who died in 1842. His other title was Baron Raby, hence Raby Bay.

Coopers Plains: Originally spelled as Cowper's Plains after Dr Cowper, an early medical superintendant of the Moreton Bay penal settlement who usually stopped there on his journeys to and from Ipswich. "Cowper" is pronounced "Cooper" and this probably caused the change in spelling.

Eight Mile Plains: Shepherds named this area as it was eight miles by track from One Mile Swamp, as Woolloongabba was then called. The word "plains" referred to the grassy plains towards Sunnybank and Coopers Plains.

Fortitude Valley: Named after the immigrant ship "Fortitude". The new arrivals first lived in this locality.

Herston was a combination of two names, Herbert and Bramston. Robert Herbert and John Bramston both came to Brisbane in 1859 with Governor Bowen and they lived in a house named Herston. Robert Herbert became Queensland's first Premier.

Eagle Farm was originally a farm worked by convicts in the earliest days of Brisbane.

Greenslopes: Named by Frederick Wecker, a German farmer who first settled there. His farm was so lush he gave it this name.

Jamboree Heights is a more recent name after a major scouting jamboree held in the area.

Mt Gravatt As a prominent hill, believed to be named by Surveyor Dixon about 1840 after Lt George Gravatt who was commandant at Moreton Bay for about three months in 1839.

Mt Petrie is named after Andrew Petrie who found his bearings from the top of this mountain when lost with a party including Major Cotton.

Salisbury is named after the residence of Mr William Cootes who was editor of the Courier. It was named by the Railways Department in 1885.

Stones Corner is named after James Stone, an Englishman. In 1872, he with his wife and their infant daughters, came to this area which was then part of Bulimba. At the junction of two bush tracks, one leading to Cleveland Point and the other to Slack's and Grenier's pastoral stations, James built a two-roomed slab hut on one acre for which he paid £100 in September 1875. In 1884, he erected a 13-roomed house which he hoped to convert into a hotel, but he never succeeded in obtaining a liquor licence. He finally sold the property and the new owner established what is now the Stone's Corner Hotel.

St Lucia: Sugar used to be grown in this area, and the cane was said to have been introduced from the sugar-growing island of St Lucia in the West Indies. A crushing mill used to be located on the river bank, not far from the present-day boat sheds. Today's St Lucia Golf Links club house was originally the home of Mr Dart of the St Lucia Sugar Mill. In the early days, settlers spoke of "Long Pocket" and "Short Pocket", the latter name being applied to the St Lucia reach of the river.