Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Wednesday 16 April 1913, page 6


TERRITORIA OR KINGSLAND! In giving his evidence before the Northern Territory Railways Commission on Tues-day, and in response to an enquiry whether he had any additional suggestions to make, Rp. Gordon said he would like to refer to the need for a better name for that vast portion of Australia than "Northern Territory," which was a misnomer. It conveyed to the minds of most people an impression merely of the coastal tropical portion around Darwin, and quite ignored the great tract of country forming a part of Central Australia. He suggested that a better name for the Northern Territory would be Territoria or Kingsland (to correspond with Queensland). The Chairman of the Commission (Hon. F. Clark) said nomenclature did not come within the scope of their duties, although the mem-bers had among themselves referred to the unsatisfactory nature of the present name. Mr. David Lindsay mentioned that the original cognomen was Alexandraland, and the comment concerning it was that it was too long. Rp. Gordon contended that it was a mistake to concentrate too much at-tention on the tropical coastal districts of the Territory at the outset. Tho move-ment should be from the known to the un-known, and successful development was moat likely to be a gradual, process of ex-tension from the temperate regions—from south to north—along, the lines of railway.