Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), Wednesday 16 April 1902, page 4


"WHAT'S IN A NAME."

If a certain tradesman of Queenscliffe, Kangaroo Island, heard the observation "What's in a name?" he would probably reply with a good deal of vigour, "Loss of money and inconvenience." Queenscliffe is one of those fortunate, or unfortunate, places which are known by two names, not merely in private, but also in official cir-below. It is officially both, Kingscote and Queenscliffe. Originally it was Kingscote. The post-office, police-station, and other Government property are situated within

the Government survey of the township, but when the settlement was young an enterprising individual stepped in and pegged out a private township adjoining, and named it Queenscliffe. Nearly all the houses are built in the private township, and the place is now better known as Queenscliffe than as Kingscote. Mr. H. S. Rumball (the local postmaster) is not only telegraph-master of Kingscote, but also harbor-master and deputy returning-officer. On the other hand, he holds official appointments as registrar of

births, deaths, and marriages, and clerk of the Local Court of Queenscliffe, while it is as a Queenscliffe officer that he deals with certain postal matters and the issue of money orders. "Queenscliffe" is frequently confused with Queenscliffe, the

popular pleasure resort near the Melbourne heads, and the utmost inconvenience has occasionally been caused by this fact. The storekeeper referred to has good reason to complain of the absurdity of giving two places the same name, even though they may be in different States. On one occasion some time ago he sent an order to Adelaide for potatoes, and the consignment arrived by the next steamer, but there was no invoice. As he had dealt with the firm for a long time he was perfectly satisfied that the invoice had been posted to accompany the tubers, and in response to his request Mr. Rumball made a careful search for the missing document, but it was no-where to be found. The potatoes were wanted for immediate sale, so there was nothing for the tradesman to do but sell at the same price as he charged for the preceding shipment. Subsequently the missing invoice turned up, marked "Try Queens-cliffe, Kangaroo Island. It had been addressed to "Queenscliffe" only, and the postal officials had sent it to Victoria. The price of potatoes had advanced since the previous shipment, and to his horror and disgust the shopkeeper found he had sold the whole of the parcel at a figure considerably below that which he had still to pay for it. After that he took care that "Kangaroo island" was added to the address. Mr. Rumball states that it is a common occurrence for postal matter intended for the Victorian town to go to the island, and vice versa.