What’s In A Name?
By Ivor Jones
Have you ever wondered how your street, suburb or district got the name that it has? Some names are logical. Australian towns, villages and streets were often given names that were familiar to white settlers from the “old country”. Around Windsor in the Hawkesbury district names such as The Terrace came about as it overlooked the river. Bridge St is selfexplanatory as it ran down to the South Creek Bridge and Court St led to the Court House.
Green Hills was the original name given to present day Windsor by settlers due to the hills that surrounded the settlement. Lachlan Macquarie, when visiting Green Hills, said that it reminded him of Windsor in England and renamed the settlement to reflect that. Some of the early streets of Windsor owe their names to Lachlan Macquarie such as Campbell Street which was named after Lady Macquarie whose maiden name was Campbell. Argyle Street was named after Argyleshire, Scotland from where Governor Macquarie had originally come from. Quite a few streets were named after early settlers and prominent citizens in the area whereas George St was named after King George III who had many streets and towns named after him throughout the then British Empire. British politicians and noblemen also provided a source for the names of towns, villages and streets in the district. Politicians such as William Wilberforce, William Pitt, Evan Nepean, Viscount Castlereagh all provided a source for town names around the Hawkesbury, or in the case of Evan Nepean the name for a river.
Pioneer settlers and prominent residents are remembered by names such as Mileham St named for Dr Jas Mileham, Bell St for Lieutenant A Bell, Day St for Dr Day, Christie St for William Christie and so on. The Hawkesbury was so named after Baron Hawkesbury the Earl of Liverpool (1770-1828). There is some conjecture however over the name of Freemans Reach. Some say it got its name as it was the site of settlement for free men whilst others claimed that two brothers named Freeman settled there. Names such as Tizzana, of Italian origin, was given by Dr Fiaschi, a vitner and Vineyard was so named as it was in this area that early settlers grew grapes. Aboriginal names were also used for local settlements such as Kurrajong which has also appeared with alternative spellings such as Curryjong (1824), Korijong (1857) and has appeared in places as Kerri Jong and Kurry Jung. Cattai also had various alternative spellings over time including Caddie, Caddye, Catta and Catye. The settlement along the banks of the Hawkesbury named Cornwallis was named after the ship “Marquis Cornwallis” which arrived in the colony in 1796 carrying Capt. Brabyn, an early settler in the area who also has a street named after him.
There we have it. The origins of some of the street, suburb and town names. Of course there are a few names that I haven’t mentioned which I am sure some of our readers would know. Space in this publication prevents me from mentioning them at the moment but they may become part of a future “Memories” article.
