Gundagai, NSW
Is said to mean, 'to cut with a hand-axe behind the knee' in Wiradjuri language. Situated on the bend of Murrumbidgee River, much like the bend in a knee, is the town Gundagai.
Wollongong, NSW
Thought to mean 'sound of the sea' in the Dharawal language.
The word is pronounced Woll-long-gong, with the second syllable being accented, and is supposedly onomatopoeic for the pounding and surging of the waves.
Dubbo, NSW
Is thought to come from a Wiradjuri word, Thubbo, which is in conjecture of two possible meanings; either 'red earth' or 'head covering', as the first permanent European settler, Robert Dulhunty's house may have looked like the shape of a hat to the local people.
Katoomba, NSW
Comes from a Gundungurra word meaning 'falling water tumbling over a hill' and takes its name from a waterfall that drops into the Jamison Valley in the region.
Wangaratta, VIC
A Waywurru word for 'resting place of cormorants'. Wonga, meaning 'cormorants' (bird) and -ratta meaning 'meeting place of the rivers'.
Marrawah, TAS
Peerapper language name for 'eucalypt tree'.
Whyalla, SA
Comes from a Barngarla word meaning, 'place with deep water'.
Piccadilly, SA
Sometimes a place name that looks very English is a camouflaged, hidden Aboriginal name. The original name was in the Kaurna language, pikurdla, which literally meant ‘two eyebrows’, from piku ‘eyebrow’ and the dual suffix -rdla.
Mandurah, WA
A Noongar word originally as mandjar meaning, 'meeting place'.
Tammin, WA
Takes it name from the nearby Tammin Rock, which is thought to come from a Noongar word Tammar, a name for the 'Black Gloved Wallaby'.
Kalgoorlie, WA
Steams from the Wangai word Karlkurla or Kulgooluh, meaning 'place of the silky pears' referring to local edible fruit.
Yalyalup, WA
A Wardandi variation of 'place of many holes'.
Mataranka, NT
Thought to mean 'home of the snake' in the local Yangman language.
Larrimah, NT
Meaning 'resting place' in the local Yangman language.
Toowoomba, QLD
The local Aboriginal people's pronunciation of the English word 'swamp'.
Bundaberg, QLD
A multilingual name; the city name is thought to be a combination of bunda, the Kabi Kabi word for an 'important man', and the suffix -berg meaning 'town' from the Old English beorg (a hill).
