Daniel Gregory | Australia is lacking in placenames of southern European and Asian origin

Everybody knows that the history of the treatment of Australia's Indigenous peoples is a story filled with horrors. It is a rare, positive note in this history that many placenames in Australia are Indigenous placenames (or near approximations of them) or words from Indigenous languages. Yarralumla in Canberra, Maribyrnong in Melbourne, Bondi in Sydney, and Woolloongabba in Brisbane are among the most famous suburbs in the country - and the name of Canberra itself is derived from an Indigenous word. Outside the capitals, there are towns and cities such as Echuca, Mudgee, Gympie, Oodnadatta, and Kalgoorlie. Uluru is the heart of Australia. In this important way, Australia has acknowledged its Indigenous people.

Apart from this, however, the names of places throughout Australia are distinctly British-sounding. There is a reasonable number of Irish names, but nothing approaching what one might expect given that the Irish arrived in Australia with the British. But most conspicuously lacking are names of obviously southern European or Asian origin.

Why does this matter?

In a unique, insightful, and largely forgotten piece of writing from 1851, The Philosophy of Geographical Names, an English clergyman and thinker named Abraham Hume identified three themes in the naming of places.

Some places are named after eminent persons. Thus, Melbourne is named after William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, the British prime minister at the time of the city's founding.

Some places are named after other places. Thus, New South Wales is named after the southern part of Wales, which it was thought to resemble.

And some places are given descriptive names. Thus, Australia, once "terra australis" or "land of the south", is named for its location on the globe, and the Australian Capital Territory is named for its role as the seat of federal government.

Hume's taxonomy makes it easy to see what has been most neglected in the naming of places in Australia. Those placenames in Australia which fall into Hume's first category - those placenames derived from the names of eminent persons - should include many ethnically diverse names, given the huge contributions of Asian, continental European, and other immigrants and their descendants in Australia. But they do not.

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The issue here is not about being fair. As a community, we exercise discretion in naming places, recognising contributions and achievements, but making no pretense to consistency.

The issue is that, when those who have power name the places in an area or region, they assert categorically that they own and control it. In doing so, they imply that they decide who is welcome there. And if the responsible authorities do not recognise the contributions and achievements of outstanding individuals from ethnic communities by naming significant places in their honour - not just the occasional street or avenue, but suburbs and electorates, at least - then they communicate that those communities should not quite think that Australia is their home, even if they have been in the country for generations. It is like the ethnic majority is saying: You are here, but only at our pleasure.

It is also striking many of the indigenous placenames in Australia are in Hume's third category, being terms in an Indigenous language describing some aspect of an area's environment. "Berowra", for example, is a word from the Darug language meaning "place of shells". It is right that we have placenames of this kind, but it is remiss that there are so few places named after Indigenous people. The suburb of Pemulwuy, named after the great warrior, is a rare example.

It was reported recently Victoria is taking initial steps to redress the incredible imbalance between public statues depicting men and those depicting women. It is right to do so - and we should hope that the rest of the country does likewise. For the monuments that we pass and move around and between - often looming over us like gods - tell us who we should admire. And about half of the people we should admire are not men.

But placenames are perhaps especially important. We cannot escape them, because we are always somewhere.

Hume wrote "we have upon the surface of a well-constructed map the elements of the history of a country". On this measure, the maps of Australia and its cities, states, and regions would be improved if the places they identified bore more diverse names, recognising the contributions of diverse populations.

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