Aboriginal Place Names
NAIDOC Week in Australia is held annually in the first week of July, to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, culture and achievements.
If you happen to pass any of these places in Melbourne, why not make it an opportunity to share the Aboriginal meaning of the place name with your family or friends?
Bundoora
The plain where kangaroos live
Bulleen
Lyrebird
Kooyong
Camp or resting place
Mernda
From "merndi" meaning "earth"
Monbulk
Granite outcrops in the hills
Moonee Ponds
Traditionally named Moonee Moonee Ponds, the name is said to come from Wurundjeri willam man, a member of the Billibellary people who died serving the native police corps in Wimmera in 1845. It is thought that the name was derived from an Aboriginal word for lizard.
Murrumbeena
The name of this eastern portion of the former City of Caulfield is an adaptation of the Aboriginal word Mirambeena. Supposedly named after a member of the native police.
Narre Warren
The name appears to be of Aboriginal derivation, suggesting either "hilly country" or "no good water".
Nunawading
Nunawading derives its name from a local Aboriginal word translated variously as "meeting place", "battlefield" and "ceremonial ground".
Prahran
George Langhorne, who ran a missionary for Aborigines from 1836, called this area "Pur-ra-ran", using local indigenous words believed to mean "land partially surrounded by water".
Toorak
Swamp with rushes
Tullamarine
The name is thought to derive from Tullamareena, a young member of the Wurundjeri (who later in 1838 escaped from the first Melbourne Gaol, burning it down in the process) according to Reverend Langhorne, an advisor to the first government surveyor, Robert Hoddle.
*Thanks to our reader Ittay Flescher who coordinated the Yorta Yorta Beyachad Program, fostering Jewish-Aboriginal partnerships at Mount Scopus Memorial College, and sent in this item.
Attributions: Ittay's source material came from this Melbourne Herald-Sun article. We thank him for his wonderful contribution.
If you would like to add more names, or have any queries, please write to the Publisher of Jewish Australia.com
