CREATE A PRESENTATION ABOUT A PLACE OF YOUR CHOOSING

Setting the scene

Imagine that a baby boy has just been born into the world.  What would you call it?  You wouldn't give to a boy a girl's name, such as Sue.  You would give it a boy's name.  And if you were the parents of the baby, you would put a lot of thought into the name, do some research on what different names mean, and then name the boy with something that you think is appropriate for him.

The same goes with naming places.  Place names must be relevant to, and have some connection with, the place that is being named.  Canberra, for instance, has a lot of suburbs named after Prime Ministers, which is appropriate because it is the capital of Australia and it is where the Prime Ministers live.  And there are some newer suburbs in Canberra that are named after aboriginal people and tribes that had a connection to the land prior to the Europeans arriving.

So giving a place a name is no different to giving a new born baby a name - the name must suit the place or person that is being named.

In this task you should think about a particular place, and consider why it was so named.

Questions to keep in mind

1. What relationship does the name of a place have to the history of that place?

2. Does the name of the place relate to the names of places nearby?

Steps you need to take

Go to Geoscience Australia's Place Names Web Search .   Here you can search the Gazetteer of Australia.

1. Select a place name;

2. Using the various links in the National Gazetteer of Australia , build a factual story telling as much as you can about the place, including its location, description, the shire it's in, places nearby, and anything else of interest.