Central Queensland Place Names

and Their History

 Frenchville and Frenchman Creek:

Frenchville and Frenchman Creek were named after Anthelme Thozet as he was a Frenchman

Lakes Creek:

Lakes Creek was named after Captain Lake from the ship Boomerang

Allenstown:

Allenstown was named after William Allen who was a businessman in Rockhampton

Mornish:

In 1861 Colin MacKay established a grazing station which he named Morinish after a property his brother owned in Scotland

Stanage Bay:

Stanage Bay was named after William Stanage who sailed into Percy Island on 14 October 1854 on the ketch Vision to collect plants.  He was speared and killed by Aboriginals.

Keppel Sands:

Keppel Sands was called Sand Hills until the name was changed in 1927.  The Sand Hills State School was opened in 1893.

Joskeleigh:

Joskeleigh was first settled by Paul Alexander Joske and wife Leigh for whom the town was named

Mount Chalmers:

Mount Chalmers was named after J Chalmers who was the second miner in this area

Yaamba:

Yaamba is an Aboriginal word meaning main camping ground or home

Jambin:

Jambin is an Aboriginal word meaning echidna

Marlborough:

Marlborough was named after the first Duke of Marlborough (1650 – 1722) who was a British Army Commander

Westwood:

Westwood was named that after the first stage of the railway line was opened heading west of Rockhampton on 19 September 1867.  Name was given by Sir George Ferguson Bowen, Governor of Queensland (1859 – 1867)

Duaringa:

Aboriginal name meaning a meeting place on the swamp oaks, D’warra D’nanjie

Marmor:

Marmor is named that as it is the Latin word for marble which is found in the district

Bajool:

The town takes its name from the lagoon at the Archer Brothers’ property Gracemere.  It has been suggested that the meaning of the name was Big Fella Waterhole or Stop Here. 

Port Alma:

The town was named by hydrographer Commander J Jeffrey of the HM Colonial Schooner Pearl.  In 1864 after a battle site of the Crimean War from October 1853 to February 1856 the Russian Empire lost the top alliance of the Ottoman Empire (France, Britain and Sardinia) 

Emerald:

How Emerald got its name was from the lush green hill, emerald in colour, located just north of the town called Emerald Down Hill.  It was established in 1879.

Blackwater:

Blackwater was named after the Blackwater Creek which apparently was first observed to flow with black water, believed to be caused by the local coal deposits

Bluff:

Bluff was named after a local hill known as Arthur’s Bluff.  The district was originally called Duckworth or Duckworth Creek

Comet:

Comet is the oldest town in the Emerald district and was named after the Comet River originally called Cometville.  It was named by Ludwig Leichhardt who observed Comet Wilmot in the area on 29 December 1844

 Bouldercombe:

Bouldercombe was called Crocodile after Crocodile Creek.  The state of the creek bed suggests the origins of Bouldercombe’s name however that is not officially verified

Struck Oil:

Struck Oil was named after the play Struck Oil (1874 Salt Lake City America)

Raglan:

Raglan was named in honour or Lord Raglan who was a British hero of the Crimean War (1853 – 1856)

Biloela:

Biloela is an Aboriginal name meaning white cockatoo

Thangool:

Thangool is an Aboriginal name meaning possum

Calliope:

Calliope – in 1854 the town and the local river were named by Governor Charles Augustus Fitzroy after the HMS Calliope was the vessel in which the governor was travelling

Gladstone:

Gladstone was named after the British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone

Barney Point:

Barney Point was named in 1847 after Colonel George Barney

Aukland:

Auckland – on 25 January 1847 the Lord Auckland carrying 87 soldiers and convicts arrived off the southern entrance of Port Curtis

Port Curtis:

Port Curtis – in August 1802 Matthew Flinders named the harbour Port Curtis after Admiral Roger Curtis, a man who was of assistance to Flinders a year earlier at the Cape of Good Hope

Mount Larcom:

Mount Larcom (the mountain) was named by Matthew Flinders on 4 August 1804 after a Royal Navy Colleague Captain Thomas Larcom who he had served under

Clermont:

Clermont is named after Clermont-Ferrand in France; Clermont-Ferrand was the ancestral home of Oscar de Satge who was one of the first European graziers who owned the Wolfgang Downs Pastoral Run.

Banana:

The name was from an old dun-coloured working bullock, called Banana that was used by the local stockmen to help them when herding some of the wilder cattle into the yards

Moura:

Moura is an Aboriginal word meaning native camp dog

Rolleston:

The town was named after Christopher Rolleston a pastoralist who was involved in leasing a number of pastoral runs in the area in 1860

Wowan:

Wowan an Aboriginal word for Australian bush turkey

Dululu:

Dululu an Aboriginal word meaning soft

Theodore:

Theodore was named after Queensland Premier Ted Theodore in 1926.  He had given much support to the irrigation scheme.  The town was initially called Castle Creek after the local railway station which in turn took its name from the creek which flowed into the Dawson River just south of the town