Meaning of Place-Names
Baroon
(Lake Baroon)
(Lake Baroon)
The name 'Baroon' was first recorded in 1842, possibly derived from the Dallambara clan's Aboriginal word for 'meeting/fighting ground' which existed on Obi Obi Creek; Alternatively the word may be associated with either 'rat kangaroo' or with the word 'burun', the edible tops of the cabbage tree palm.
Blackall Range
Named by Hydrographic Surveyor Edward Parker Bedwell, in 1868, after Sir George Samuel Wendsley Blackall, Governor of Queensland 1868-1871
Bunya Pines
Derived from Kabi language word "bonyi" or "bunyi". Their botanical name is 'araucaria bidwilli', 'auricaria' probably being derived from the Southern Chilean region La Auracania, where a related tree species, the monkey puzzle tree 'araucaria araucana'), grows in abundance in the Andean Mountains.
Conondale
Derived from pastoral run name used by Donald Tuach McKenzie pastoralist,
when taken up on 6 October 1851.
McKenzie probably named the run after the valley of the Conon River, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland.
Glasshouse Mountains
Three of the most prominent were sighted on 17 May 1770 by
Captain James Cook RN, who named them "on account of their singular form of elevation
which very much resembles glass houses which occasioned my giving them that name".
Kenilworth
This town was originally called Hinka Booma.
It was renamed by Richard Joseph Smith merchant and pastoralist, in 1850.
Reportedly, Smith's wife was reading the Walter Scott novel "Kenilworth" at the time (published first in 1821).
Kondalilla Falls
'Kondalilla' is an Aboriginal word meaning 'Rushing Waters'
Obi Obi
(Obi Obi Creek)
(Obi Obi Creek)
Ubie Ubie was a fierce Aboriginal warrior after which this area, river and gorge was named
Maleny
Initially called 'Maleny Mountain' by the first European settlers was named after
the Scottish Town of Malleny near Balerno in Lothian
Montville
Early settlers called this town 'Razor Back'
Mooloolah
An aboriginal name for 'Place of Black Snakes' or 'Place of Schnapper'
Witta
Township renamed in 1916 from Teutoberg (during anti German feeling World War One)
using reportedly a corruption of the Kabi language word wetya, indicating dingo.
Wootha
The name of this village means 'Red Cedar' in Kabi language.
All information on this page taken from:
Queensland Government - Department of Natural Resources and Mines website
