Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Saturday 4 July 1908, page 7


NOMENCLATURE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

NAMES AND THEIR ORIGIN XIX.— AN ALPHABETICAL REVIEW. ——— —A Populous Suburb.—

Norwood received its name from the town of similar designation near Lon don. The oldest part of it was laid out by Mr. Samuel Reeves in 1838, and several years later it was added

to by Messrs. Robert Miller, William Anderson Bryden, William Paxton, and Henry Collier, who, act-ing as a company, agreed to a certain design for a town showing streets and a limited number of allotments of vari ous sizes, the original plan of which cannot be traced. The vendors of the allotments were those mentioned above, and some of the streets are named after members of their fami lies. One of the earliest residents of Norwood was Charles Bouncy, then Commissioner of Crown Lands and afterwards first Mayor of the town. Kensington and Norwood were the first suburban townships to be granted separate municipal government. (July 7. 1853.) Robert Harrison wrote appa-rently in haste when, in his 'Colonial Sketches,' he referred contemptuously to Norwood as 'a village; in fact, an-other square mile of imaginary streets in imitation of the great metropolis.' —Famous for its Caves. — Narracoorte is a name that would scarcely be recognised by the natives who gave it to us. The late Mr. Wil-liam Mclntosh, who laid out the ad-joining town of Kineraig in 1850, said that the name Narracoorte was known as far back as 1845. The town was laid out by the Government in 1859. The late Dr. Gunning, who settled there in 1849, in a letter to the late

Mr. A. T. Magarey in 1883, said that the name should be Gnanga-kurt, but did not give the meaning of it. Mr. Magarey stated that his father, who was at Narracoorte in 1861, was told by the blacks that the name was Nanna-coorta. Mr. Mclntosh recorded that the word meant ''large water hole.' Mr. A. Caldwell, proprietor of the local Herald, wrote as follows, in reply to an enquiry from the writer: —'Dying legends state that Narra coorte derived its name from Narcoot, a native appellation of a waterhole somewhere in the neighbourhood, the locality of which is not generally known. Its residents and the general public call the town Nartacoorte, but the Government departments drop an R. For some years after its settle-ment the business portion of the pre-sent Narracoorte was known as Kin-craig, the name of the birthplace in Scotland of the late Mr. W. Mclntosh, founder of the place. That name is now almost forgotten, and is used only on official documents. The late James McLean, Sheriffs officer, referred to Nancoota Springs in one of his re-ports, and Tolmer to Narcoota Springs. Who shall decide between these multi-

farious corruptions? The discovery of beautiful caves a few miles from the town has given favour to the place among tourists. —Miss Nairne.— Nairne and the surrounding district were originally owned by the late Mr. Matthew Smillie, who on January 20, 1839. applied for a block of 4,000 acres of land as a special survey at the source of the Onkaparinga, north of Mount Barker. He selected land there in what is now the Hundred of Kan-mantoo. At the end of 1840 he laid out a portion of his land as a town, and called it Nairne after the maiden nama of his wife — Miss Elizabeth Corse Nairne, whom he had married some years before in Scotland. Mr. S. Sanders did much of the surveying of the land, which was eventually re-sold. The final sales took place in November. 1886. Part of the special survey is known as Hay Valley. Mr. Matthew Smillie built a large two story house on his land, and called it The Valleys. His son, the Hon. Wil liam Smillie, was Advocate-General and Crown Solicitor here for some years, and died in Paris on December 11, 1852. He also acted as Emigration Agent for a time. —Why Not Narnu?— Nailsworth was christened by Enoch Fry, a farmer, after his birthplace in Gloucestershire. He bought two sec

tions of land there in 1836. It had the spare names of Pine Forest and St. John's Wood. A splendid opportu nity to bestow a native name was missed in this instance. The aborigi nal word for the native pine that once flourished in that locality was Narnu, which would have sounded well as the appellation of the township. It had nothing in common with the Glouces tershire Nailsworth, where they manu facture stockings, pins, woollens, and patent leather boots. The first Go-vernment House in Adelaide was buiit of native pine from our Nailsworth. —A Stiff Pinch .— Norton's Summit honours the late Robert Norton, who, with his bullock dray in 1851, was the first to scale this up, to that time inaccessible hill.

—The Horseshoe.— Noarlunga, or the Horseshoe as it.is sometimes called, is a town on the banks of the Onkaparinga that dates away back to 1840. Capt Barker, who discovered the Onkaparinga, wrote:— "We crossed the bar, and ascertained; that it was a narrow inlet of four miles in length that terminated at the base of the ranges"— which is the lo cality of the Noarlunga of to-day. One of the native vocabularies says that the word is aboriginal for 'fishing place.' The designation of Horseshoe is obtained from the curve of the river in the vicinity. — Netley Abbey.—

Netley, in the Hundred of Adelaide, was bought by the late Thomas Hud son Bear in 1838. He came to South Australia in the Duke of York in 1836, and called the place Netley after the ruins of Netley Abbey, in Hamp shire, his native county. There is also a run called Netley near the Yunta Railway Station. — No Trees.— . Nullabor Plain was discovered and named by Mr. E. A. Delisser in 1866-7. The name is a combination of two Latin words— nulla and arbor— mean-ing 'no trees.' The discoverer wrote that there was no tree visible from the Western Australian border to the meridian of Fowler's Bay. The na-tives called the coastal country adja cent 'Bunda Bunda,' probably mean ing 'high cliffs.' —Closer Settlement— Narrung, the scene of one of the lat est efforts in closer settlement, is derived from Ngnara-rung, meaning 'place of large sheaoaks.' —An Eariy Dentist— Normanville bears the name of Robert Norman, dentist, father of Dr. H. H.Norman. His brother-in-law came out here in the early days and selected land in this locality, and Robert Norman followed in 1847. At Sellick's Hill there is an hotel known as Norman's Victory. This was so called in compliment to John Norman (brother of Robert), who as a member of the Central Road Board, was mainly instrumental, after a long and persistent struggle against many opponents, in having the road constructed over Sellicks Hill. —A Black Girl's Name.— Orroroo was once part of the Pekina Run. In its present form of spelling it has been stripped of a few round vowels, for the natives made a much bigger mouthful of it than the whites do. The late Mr. C. Sabine told Mr. T. R. Bowman that Orroroo was the name of a black girl who used to run about Pekina Station. Other, deriva-tions suggesting dust and drift and wind have been put forward, but the character of the word is all in favour of its having been applied to a living object. Sir Charles Todd, when asked to establish a post office at the town many years ago, jocularly replied:— 'Dear me! There are only two letters in Orroroo. What do you want a post office for?' —A Name That Tripped.— Onkaparinga River is a word that has had many variations in spelling. It was discovered by Capt. Collet Bar-ker, of the 29th Regiment, on April 17, 1831, when searching

the gulf for an outlet of the waters of Lake Alexandrina. He cros-sed the bar in his boat, and recorded the name of the stream as Ponke-purringa Creek, as given to him by the natives. Later on it was called Unka-paringa, while Messrs. Teichelmana and Schurmann spelt it Ingangkipard in their vocabulary. Dr. Wyatt spelt it Ungkeperringga and gave its mean ing as 'Mother river; plentiful.' It is in relation to that part of the river between Noarlunga and the sea that the first syllable changes to Ponke, meaning' 'shadows or reflections in water.' In a map of Col. Light the stream is marked Field's River. It was rediscovered by Lieut. Field on October 3,1836, when in charge of the brig Rapid cruising along the coat from Rapid Bay. He reported the circumstance to Col. Light, who sent Mr. Pullen in the brig's gig to examine the entrance. He reported that he had seen a large river for some distance, but the bar of sand at the entrance had such a heavy surf over it that the gig was nearly upset. It was the wish of Col. Gawler to keep to the native names of localities, so later on, the river was given its proper designation of Onka-paringa. — Founder of Whinham College. — Ovingham was cut up by Mr. John Whinham, founder of Whinham Col-lege, who called it after the quiet, rustic village of Ovingham, near New castle-on-Tyne. — An Early Police Commissioner. — O'Halloran Hill derives ite name from Mjr. Thomas Shuldam O'Halloran, second son of Gen. Sir. Joseph O'Halloran. Having seen ac-tive service in the British Army, he came to South Australia with his fa-

mily, and settled at the spot now known as O'Halloran Hill. He was appointed Commissioner of Police and Police Magistrate by Governor Gawler in 1838, and his adventures in the former capacity form quite a ro-mance, particularly in contact with, hostile blacks. Mjr. O'Halloran re-tired from the Government service in 1843 on account of his disinclination to fulfil the dual position of Police Commissioner and Police Magistrate. He was a member of both the nominee and elective Legislative Councils. — A Misnomer. — Onetree Hill is about two ntiies from a hill bearing the same designation. It is a complete misnomer, because the township is in the midst of timber and practically on the edge of a forest ex-tending back to the Rivei Murray. The solitary tree on the hill remained until it was cut down about 12 years ago.

—Where Australia's Greatest Steeple-chase is Run.— Oak bank, the scene of the great pic nic race meeting on Easter Monday, was named by the late Mr. James Johnston (who bought ihe township, section) after his property in Camp-belltown, Scotland. —Crumbs of Nomenclature.— Nepean Bay, Kangaroo Island, which is associated with the earliest history of the State, was named by Flinders on March 21, 1802, after Sir Evan Nepean, Bart, first secretary of the Admiralty. Cape Northumberland was named by Lieut J. Grant on December 3. 1800.

after the Duke of Northumberland, a general in the British Army. . Cape Nelson is another of Lieut Grant's names, taken from his ship, which was known as 'His Majesty's tinder box.' Neptune Islands were christened by Flinders in 1802. Neptune was the god of the sea. Lake Newland was discovered by Eyre in September 1839, and called after the Rev. W. R. Newland, of En-counter Bay. Naugkita, where a village settle-ment was established, means in the native language "place of little frogs." Nantawarra is a corruption of the native word Nurntowerrah, meaning 'black kangaroo country.' Our autho-rity is Mr. T. R, Bowman. Nelshaby, otherwise spelt Nelshiby and Nelcebee, is aboriginal for 'boil-ing spring.' The River Neales and the Hundred of Neales honour John Bentham Neales, who came here in the ship Eden in 1838, succeeded as an auc-tioneer, and sat in Parliament both before and after the granting of re-sponsible government. Navan, a township of the past be-tween Riverton and Tarlee, is after the Navan in County Meath, Ireland. Nuyt's Archipelago and Cape Nuyts are two of the oldest names on our map. They bear the name of Peter Nuyts, who was in Australian waters in the Gulde Zeepard in 1627. Ninnes Plains and the Hundred of Ninnes derive their cognomen from Thomas Ninnes, who died at Clare in 1804. Oodnadatta is a name adopted by Edward Lees, of the Survey Depart-ment, when he trigged the locality. He left no record of its meaning, which probably has reference to the barren and stony' nature of the country surrounding Oodnadatta. Overland Corner is on a bend of the Murray, about six miles north-west of Lake Bonney, and is on the main road from Adelaide to New South .Wales. It was an important centre in the ovev-landing days. All stock travelling be-tween New South Wales and South Australia passed through Overland Corner, where there is a ferry. Lake Ormerod, near Narracoorte, derives its name from George Ormerod. a pioneer pastoralist, who held coun try there in 1846. Mr. Ormerod was interested largely in pastoral matters, and was the head of a big shipping firm at Guichen Bay. He died in Mel bourne in 1872.

Osmanli Beach obtained its cogno men from the fact that the steamer Osmanli was wrecked on that part of Kangaroo Island on November 25, 1853, on a voyage from Port Adelaide. Oskden Hills were named by the late Mr. Allan McFarlane after Mr. Philp Oakden, now of Lerida, New South Wales. Oxford, a small suburb of Adelaide, was christened by Mr. T. J. Matters after the English Oxford. Onaunga is native for "big water-hole." There is a district council of that name. O'Connell street, North Adelaide, perpetuates the name of Daniel O'Con nell, the celebrated Irish politician. — Missing Derivations.— Nackara, Napperby, Narridy, Nuri ootpa, Oladdie, Olary, Oodlawirra. Owen, Oulnina, and Outalpa. .