Origin of Place Names

Council is often asked by the community for information as to how a particular place obtained its name. Council is developing a Register that will record the reason for the naming of a particular place. Some information from this Register is listed below.

Beechwood

Named after the Beech trees that abounded in the district.

Byabarra

Originally known as Sleepy Hollow and Low Town. When the first post office was built the name was changed as there was another Sleepy Hollow. The name change was made by Thomas Hayward after an elderly Aboriginal known as Black Charlie, who camped near the Hayward property, told him that the Aboriginal name for a sleepy hollow was Byabarra.

Camden Haven

Named by surveyor John Oxley, later Surveyor General, after the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, John Jeffreys Pratt Camden (1804-1805), 2nd Earl and 1st Marquis Camden.

Camden Head

Named after the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, John Jeffreys Pratt Camden (1804-1805), 2nd Earl and 1st Marquis Camden.

Comboyne

Named from an Aboriginal word meaning Kangaroo.

The village is located on land formerly owned by the Jones family and in the early 1900s was known as 'Wadeville'. However, the original proclaimed village was located approximately one kilometre north of the present village.

Dunbogan

Named after Mr Dunn and Mr Bogan who established a sawmill along the Camden Haven River not far from the entrance to Gogley's Creek.

Ellenborough

Named by surveyor John Oxley after Edward Law, 1st Baron of Ellenborough (1750-1818) Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench.

Gum Scrub

Believed to have been named after the large stands of gum trees that were predominant in the locality.

Hibbard

Originally known as Hamilton. The name was changed to Hibbard in 1912, when the Post Master Generals Department claimed there was confusion with Hamilton Post Office at Newcastle. The new name was chosen because mail for the area was delivered in the private bag of Mr John Hibbard who owned a sawmill in the locality.

Hollisdale

Named after the Hollis family early settlers in the area.

Huntingdon

In 1840 Lieutenant Colonel Charles George Gray purchased 3 portions of land in the vicinity of land that had earlier been purchased by Joseph Roberts of Sydney for 214 pounds and 8 shillings in 1836. The land that Roberts purchased at auction was portion 18 and covered some 536 acres (217 hectares). Gray's purchase totalled 1016 acres (411 hectares) and Gray subsequently purchased Robert's land.

Gray, who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland named his property Huntington. His native East Lothian in Scotland, just few miles from the centre of Edinburgh, contained a number of villages and hamlets associated with his family one of these being Huntington. Though Gray himself kept the original spelling local usage seems to have altered it to Huntingdon.

In about 1858 the property was purchased from Gray by Lauchlan Lindsay and descendants of the Lindsays still reside in the Huntingdon area.

Kendall

Originally known as the village of Camden Haven. The name was changed to Kendall in recognition of the poet Henry Kendall who once lived and worked in the area until 1881.

He worked as a clerk for the Fagan brothers who had established a mill near the banks of the Camden Haven River in present day Kendall. He then left moved to Cundeltown to take up the job of Inspector of Forests. This job was strenuous and his health failed. He died in 1882.

King Creek

Named by surveyor John Oxley after Phillip Parker King (1791-1856), the eldest son of Governor Phillip Gidley King.

Laurieton

Originally known as Peach Grove. It was recommended that the Post Office be erected at Peach Orchard and the name Peach Grove be changed to Laurie Town after the Laurie brothers Andrew, Alexander and Joseph who had established a timber mill along the Camden Haven River.

Port Macqaurie

Named by surveyor John Oxley on 11 October 1818 in honour of his Excellency Governor Lachlan Macquarie (1762-1824) who was Governor of the Colony 1810-1821 and the original promoter of the early expeditions in the area.

Rawdon Island

Named after Francis Rawdon Hastings 1st Marquis of Hastings (1754-1826).

Rollands Plains

Named after Captain John Rolland, the 2nd Commandant of the Settlement of Port Macquarie, during an expedition that he led, in 1824, to Mount Cairncross then known as Coolabarama.

Ross Glen

Named after Frederick D. Ross who bought land along the Camden Haven River with the idea of establishing a deepwater port.

Tacking Point

Named by Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) who in 1802 'tacked' off the point in his ship the Investigator during his circumnavigation of Australia.

Telegraph Point

Originally known as Apple Tree Flat. The name was changed as the telegraph line that ran between Port Macquarie and Kempsey crossed at the point.

Thrumster

Named after the ancestral home of the Archibald Clunes Innes (1800-1857), the 6th Commandant of the Settlement of Port Macquarie, from Caithness, Scotland.

Wauchope

The name Wauchope comes from a Scottish family named Wauchope that lived for some 700 years on a family estate in Edinburgh. In 1761 Robert Wauchope was born. When Robert's father died the family quarrelled about the sharing of the estate and the matter was taken to court. Robert lost the case and became so embittered that he retired to his portion, called Foxall and eliminated the letters 'ope' from his name. His son, born in 1786, was given the surname Wauch.

Like his father the son decided to follow an army career and became Capt Robert Andrew Wauch of the 28th Regiment of Foot. When he retired from the army he sailed for Sydney in 1836 with his wife and 3 children and came to the Hastings Valley.

He purchased 2297 acres on King Creek and 4 years later bought an additional 1168 acres. He built a house and called it Wauch House.

Following his death in 1866 in the Macleay the Government Gazette published the deeds of the blocks Capt Wauch had purchased 30 years earlier. For a reason never explained the deeds specified the properties should been called Wauchope.

In 1881 the postal authorities opened a post office in the nearby settlement and gave it the name Wauchope, even though the Government Gazette, because of a misprint, spelt it Wanghope. The error was not corrected until 1889.

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For further information please contact Council's Administration Officer on 02 6581 8111 or email Administration Officer