Australia has thousands of perfectly sensible place names.
This article isn’t about any of them.
Instead, we’re going to Come By Chance, visit Nowhere Else, perhaps stop for breakfast at Eggs and Bacon Bay, wonder what went wrong at Useless Loop and finish up trying to work out exactly how somebody decided to call a place Humpty Doo.
And these aren’t names invented for tourists.
They’re real Australian places.
Some have fascinating stories behind their names.
Others have several competing explanations.
And occasionally nobody seems entirely sure what happened.
Which somehow makes them even more Australian.
Come By Chance, New South Wales
There really is a place called Come By Chance in northern New South Wales.
And remarkably, the name appears to mean almost exactly what it says.
In 1862, brothers George and William Colless purchased a sheep station in the area. According to the commonly recorded history, they were surprised they had managed to acquire the property and named it Come By Chance. The locality later took its name from the station.
The name was unusual enough to catch the attention of Banjo Paterson, who used Come-by-Chance in one of his poems.
Imagine giving somebody directions.
“Where are you going?”
“Come By Chance.”
“No, I asked where you’re going.”
This could take a while.
Nowhere Else, Tasmania
If Come By Chance isn’t vague enough, Tasmania can do better.
It has Nowhere Else.
It’s a real rural locality near Sheffield in north-west Tasmania.
The name is believed to have developed from a road that apparently led to a place that didn’t have a name.
Eventually, Nowhere Else became the name.
Which means somebody can genuinely say:
“I live Nowhere Else.”
And be completely accurate.
There is even a Nowhere Else Road.
Australia has apparently managed to turn an existential crisis into a postal address.
Eggs and Bacon Bay, Tasmania
Tasmania wasn’t finished.
South of Hobart you’ll find Eggs and Bacon Bay.
With a name like that, you’d be forgiven for imagining an early explorer pulling ashore and cooking breakfast.
In fact, there is an old story claiming Lady Jane Franklin once ate bacon and eggs there.
It’s a lovely story.
It also appears not to be true.
The Huon Valley Council says the name actually comes from the colourful eggs-and-bacon wildflowers that grow around the area. The flowers belong to the pea family and produce the yellow and reddish colours that inspired their breakfast-like name.
So Eggs and Bacon Bay wasn’t named after breakfast.
It was named after flowers that were named after breakfast.
Perfectly straightforward.
Banana, Queensland
Yes, Queensland has a town called Banana.
No, it wasn’t named because the district was covered in banana plantations.
The most widely accepted story involves a bullock.
According to the State Library of Queensland, Banana was the name of a prized working bullock associated with the district during the 1800s. Accounts differ over exactly why the animal was called Banana, but one tradition says his colouring inspired the name, while another claims his tongue hung out like a ripe banana while he worked.
After the bullock died, his name became associated with the area.
Banana Station followed.
Then the settlement.
Eventually an entire Queensland local government area became the Shire of Banana.
That’s quite a legacy for one bullock.
There are humans who have achieved considerably less.
Humpty Doo, Northern Territory
Few Australian place names are as satisfying to say as Humpty Doo.
The town lies south-east of Darwin and traces its name to a cattle property recorded as Umpity Doo around 1910.
After that, things become considerably less certain.
Several explanations have been suggested.
One connects the name with an old expression meaning things were mixed up or done incorrectly.
Another connects umpty with old Morse code terminology.
There have also been claims that a similar-sounding Aboriginal expression meant something like a popular resting place, although historians have been unable to establish that explanation conclusively.
So after more than a century, nobody can say with certainty why Humpty Doo became Humpty Doo.
And perhaps we should leave it that way.
Some mysteries don’t need solving.
Useless Loop, Western Australia
This one sounds particularly harsh.
Useless Loop is in the Shark Bay region of Western Australia.
Imagine establishing a settlement and somebody suggesting:
“What should we call it?”
“Well, it’s useless.”
Done.
But the story actually goes back to French exploration.
During the Baudin expedition to Australia in the early 1800s, explorer Henri-Louis de Freycinet reportedly considered the harbour unusable because a sandbar prevented access and called it Havre Inutile — essentially Useless Harbour.
The name survived.
Today Useless Loop is associated with salt production.
So it turns out the place wasn’t entirely useless after all.
Bit awkward.
Dismal Swamp, South Australia
South Australia has Dismal Swamp.
Not Happy Wetland.
Not Pleasant Lagoon.
Dismal Swamp.
The name has been in use since at least the mid-1800s. Records show Anthony Sutton using the name in connection with an occupation licence in the area as early as 1845.
Exactly what inspired such an enthusiastic description is less clear.
Perhaps it was wet.
Perhaps it was miserable.
Perhaps somebody was simply having a very bad day.
Whatever happened, the name stuck.
Generations later, residents still get to tell people they live at Dismal Swamp.
Which presumably makes anywhere else sound quite cheerful.
Bong Bong, New South Wales
New South Wales has its own contender in Bong Bong, in the Southern Highlands.
Unlike some of the names on this list, this one isn’t an English joke.
Bong Bong is an Aboriginal name associated with the area.
The historic settlement became important during the early colonial period before nearby towns such as Bowral and Moss Vale developed.
Today Bong Bong is perhaps best known to many people through the famous Bong Bong Picnic Race Club.
The name might make modern Australians smile.
But its history reaches much further back than the joke people are probably thinking of.
Mount Buggery, Victoria
Australian explorers and surveyors weren’t always subtle.
Victoria has geographical features carrying the wonderfully expressive name Mount Buggery.
There are competing stories surrounding exactly how various Australian features acquired the name, but the general theme isn’t difficult to imagine.
Somebody was climbing.
Things weren’t going particularly well.
Words were said.
The landscape received a name.
Sometimes Australian geography appears to be a permanent record of somebody losing patience.
Iron Knob, South Australia
Then there’s Iron Knob.
This South Australian town developed around iron ore mining on the Eyre Peninsula.
The name isn’t actually particularly mysterious.
The “iron” refers to the enormous deposits of iron ore.
“Knob” was a common geographical term for a rounded hill.
So Iron Knob is really just a practical description of the landscape.
Perfectly innocent.
Of course, modern ears may hear it slightly differently.
That’s hardly the town’s fault.
Woodenbong, New South Wales
Northern New South Wales gives us Woodenbong.
Again, despite what modern Australians may assume, the name has Aboriginal origins.
It is generally associated with a word referring to wood ducks or a place connected with them.
The spelling evolved into Woodenbong.
Which means another perfectly respectable historical place name has spent years making passing motorists do a double take at the road sign.
Humpybong, Queensland
Queensland can compete.
North of Brisbane is Humpybong.
The unusual name has nothing to do with whatever you just imagined.
It is generally said to combine an Aboriginal word for shelter or hut — humpy — with the English word bong, understood in the historical story as meaning dead or abandoned.
The name became associated with the area after an early settlement was abandoned.
Essentially, it referred to deserted shelters.
Modern interpretation?
Slightly different.
Yorkeys Knob, Queensland
Far north Queensland gives us Yorkeys Knob, near Cairns.
The name comes from a fisherman known as Yorkey who lived in the area in the late 1800s.
The “knob” refers to the prominent hill.
So once again, the explanation is perfectly respectable.
Yorkey.
Hill.
Yorkey’s Knob.
Nothing to see here.
Stop laughing.
Funny Names Aren’t Always Funny Stories
It’s worth remembering that many Australian place names come from Aboriginal languages.
European settlers often recorded those names imperfectly.
Spellings changed.
Pronunciations changed.
Original meanings were sometimes lost.
A name that sounds amusing to modern English speakers may have a much older and more significant meaning.
Others commemorate people, describe geographical features or preserve words that have disappeared from everyday English.
So while Australia’s map provides plenty of entertainment, the stories behind the names deserve to be understood too.
Sometimes the explanation is much more interesting than the joke.
Then Again, Sometimes the Story Really Is That Strange
And then there’s Banana.
Named after a bullock.
Or Come By Chance.
Named because somebody apparently couldn’t believe their luck.
Or Useless Loop.
Named because a French explorer took one look at the harbour and decided it wasn’t much use.
You couldn’t make some of these stories up.
Well, you could.
But Australia has saved us the trouble.
Australian Place Names Tell Our History
Look closely at a map and you’ll find layers of Australian history.
Aboriginal names stretching back far beyond European settlement.
British names carried across the world.
Explorers naming rivers and mountains.
Settlers naming properties.
Mining towns appearing almost overnight.
Old words preserved long after they disappeared from everyday speech.
And occasionally someone simply looked around and thought:
Dismal Swamp.
Yep.
That’ll do.
The Best Names Make You Want to Stop
One of the pleasures of travelling around Australia is spotting a road sign that makes you look twice.
You might know nothing about the place.
But suddenly you want to know the story.
Why is it called that?
Who named it?
What happened here?
That’s exactly what a good place name should do.
It turns a dot on a map into a story.
And Australia has plenty of stories.
Australia’s Strangest Place Names – You Couldn’t Make Them Up
You can travel from Come By Chance to Nowhere Else.
Visit Eggs and Bacon Bay.
Pass through Banana.
Head north to Humpty Doo.
Then cross the country towards Useless Loop.
All without leaving Australia.
Some names came from Aboriginal languages.
Some came from geography.
Some came from explorers.
One apparently came from a bullock.
And several have origins that may never be completely settled.
Together they make the Australian map considerably more entertaining than it has any right to be.
So next time you’re travelling and pass a road sign with a ridiculous-looking name, don’t just laugh and keep driving.
There might be a great story behind it.
After all, in Australia you never quite know where you’ll end up.
Possibly Nowhere Else.
Possibly Come By Chance.
And if things go particularly badly…
there’s always Dismal Swamp.
