Foul Bay, Banana, Nowhere Else and other Australian places with weird names
Source:Escape
EVER wondered where some of Australia’s strangest sounding places got their names from? Here are the real reasons and why they’re worth a visit.
1. FOUL BAY
Sounds like: A pungent, weed-infested coast where old seals go to die.
But in fact: A beautiful and isolated 16km beach where the fishing is great and your campsite has guaranteed water views.
Foul Bay is near the bottom of little-visited Yorke Peninsula; if you need some amenities and a little more company, scoot 10 minutes west to Marion Bay township, right next door to fabulous Innes National Park.
Named for: Poor anchorage. Explorer Matthew Flinders couldn’t find a place to park HMS Investigator and decided to condemn the place forever more.
Not to be confused with: Dismal Swamp (Tas), Stinkhole (Tas), Smelleys Lagoon (NSW), and Pisspot Creek (Tas).
Getting there: Foul Bay is a 3.5-hour drive from Adelaide.
2. BANANA (QLD)
Sounds like: Yet another fruitful corner of Queensland — sweet and lush and packed with Vitamin B6.
But in fact: A dot on the hide of cattle country in central Queensland. Banana is the historic heartland of the region (established in 1860), and while the Banana Hotel Motel serves a mean steak, ’nanas are no more in evidence than any other fruit. The hero of the Banana Shire is Biloela, 50km east and gateway to barra-packed Lake Callide and Kroombit Tops National Park.
Named for: “In bygone days, of bullock drays, Banana led the team/ An enormous yellow bullock who died beside a stream.” A yellow cow, then.
Not to be confused with: The Pineapple (Tas), Apple Trees (SA), Pear Gully (Qld) and Orange (NSW).
Getting there: Banana is 170km south of Rockhampton.
3. WOOLLOOMOOLOO (NSW)
Sounds like: Someone had a bunch of spare Os and wanted to have some fun at the expense of American tourists.
But in fact: A flash waterside suburb in Sydney that was reinvented from a run-down wharf. In the mid-’90s, when developers transformed the timber Finger Wharf into a model of industrial chic, Woolloomooloo was suddenly on everybody’s hot list. As well as boasting eight Os, the area is now home to flash boats, flash restaurants (Otto, Manta, China Doll), and a flash hotel (formerly the W, presently the Blue Sydney). The Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel is now similarly all chic and shiny, though the Bells Hotel retains some grit and live music.
Named for: John Palmer’s homestead, Wolloomooloo House, built in 1801. Palmer may have cobbled the name from different Aboriginal words, though it could be derived from Wallabahmullah, meaning a young black kangaroo.
Not to be confused with: Kooloonooka (WA), Moonyoonookah (WA), Oondooroo (Qld) and Oona-Woop-Woop (SA).
Getting there: Turn right at Circular Quay and cut through the Royal Botanic Gardens …
4. MT BUGGERY (VIC)
Sounds like: The surveying party had too much time on its hands.
But in fact: A high point on a walking trail through Victoria’s dramatic Alpine National Park. Mt Buggery peaks at 1153m and lies about 15km east of the Mt Buller ski resort; walkers connect with it via the Crosscut Saw from Mt Howitt. Think trails through thick forests, steep climbs, stunning views — and general exhaustion.
Named for: The irritation felt by a member of the Melbourne Walking Club, one Stewart Middleton in the 1930s. According to Alan Budge’s book No End to Walking, “Stewart, perhaps not quite as fit as he could have been, was finding the going tough … faced with the prospect of yet another laborious climb he exploded with the words ‘What another bugger! I’ll call this mountain Mt Buggery.’ ”
Not to be confused with: Spanker Knob (Vic), Burrumbuttock (NSW) and Intercourse Island (WA).
Getting there: Search “Crosscut Saw” and figure out your closest carpark to join the trail.
5. USELESS LOOP (WA)
Sounds like: You’re being given the run-around.
But in fact: A company town that’s anything but useless. Owned and operated by Japanese company Mitsui Salt, Useless Loop houses a giant evaporative farm using wind and sun to produce 1.6m tonnes of crystal-clear salt each year. Workers are served by a shop, a tavern and schools but the town is closed to the public — begging the question, why are we here? Well, it’s because we’re near the pristine waters of Shark Bay in Western Australia, a World Heritage site that’s also home to Monkey Mia (famous for its dolphins).
Named for: A sandbar that prevented French explorers on the Baudin expedition from entering Shark Bay. The waters were labelled “inutile” or useless.
Not to be confused with: Lost Hope (NSW), Desolation (SA) and Mt Despair (Vic).
Getting there: Shark Bay is 320km drive from Geraldton or 700km from Perth.
The crystal clear waters of Shark Bay. Picture: Alamy
6. MANANGATANG (VIC)
Sounds like: Australia found hip-hop 100 years before anyone else. If this isn’t a band name, we don’t know what is.
But in fact: A country town of 500 souls on the Mallee Highway.
If you’ve arrived at the Manangatang crossroads you’re either (a) getting your groove on in the car and repeating the word “Manangatang” over and over, or (b) turning north to travel 50km to Robinvale. Robinvale is a playground on the Murray where the river makes an extraordinary loop around a 566ha island called Bumbang.
Named for: Manang meaning “land” and kaaiti meaning “water from”.
Not to be confused with: Funkmeister monikers such as Jackalass (NSW), Crackenback (Vic) and Wonglepong (Qld).
Getting there: Manangatang is 150km south of Mildura.
Harvesting at Manangatang in the morning. Picture: Greg Scullin
7. NOWHERE ELSE (TAS)
Sounds like: A great branding opportunity — “There’s nowhere else like Nowhere Else”.
But in fact: A small community of farms gathered along Nowhere Else Rd, 20 minutes south of Devonport. Nowhere Else is about as attractive as everywhere in Tasmania, complete with rich green farmland, narrow lanes that wouldn’t look out of place in the Cotswolds and walloping Lake Barrington to the west.
Named for: The fact the original road from Barrington ended up in a farmer’s paddock and presumably “went nowhere else”. Today, however, you can continue 6km down Nowhere Else Rd and arrive at Promised Land.
Not to be confused with: Nowhere Else in South Australia. Doh!
Getting there: Take the B14 out of Devonport until you reach the much-photographed signpost.
8. COME BY CHANCE (NSW)
Sounds like: A lot more fun than going by bus.
But in fact: A pretty, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it agricultural town in northern NSW, one that is, unusually, often described as a village.
Come By Chance is home to fewer than 200 people, but is significantly boosted once a year thanks to its popular picnic race meeting.
Named for: William Colless’s sheep station. He won something of a lottery when his sons put in for a parcel of land; people already had dibs on the rest of the properties that had been sectioned, so Colless thought it was entirely “come by chance”. He obviously did well on raising sheep, since he came to own all of the village blocks including the post office, cemetery and police station.
Not to be confused with: Happy Go Lucky (Vic), Lottery Creek (Qld), Dice Rock (WA) and Casino (NSW).
Getting there: Come By Chance is 100km north of Coonabarabran.
9. XANTIPPE (WA)
Sounds like: A piece of vinyl by Olivia Newton-John that you have stashed somewhere in the shed.
But in fact: A defunct town in the wheat ’n’ sheep shire of Dalwallinu.
Xantippe obviously did it hard, with its school located on a thoroughfare called Struggle St until it closed in 1940. Today, if you’re at Xantippe, you’re on a dirt road 50km from Dalwallinu on the Great Northern Highway and (to be frank) you’re probably lost.
Named for: A bad-tempered old bag who was married to Socrates — or a local Aboriginal word for waterholes. Xantippe is often (mistakenly) said to be Australia’s only place name beginning with an X.
Not to be confused with: Mt Xeromero (Qld), Xavier Reserve (SA), Xmas Well (WA) XXXX Bore (NT) and Xanthorrhoea Sanctuary (SA).
Getting there: Xantippe is three hours north of Perth.
10. BUBBLE BUBBLE (NT)
Sounds like: New York, New York — so good they named it twice.
But in fact: An outstation on the banks of the Chinaman Creek in Keep River National Park.
Although almost unknown outside of NT, Keep River National Park is similar to that more famous double-B destination, the Bungle Bungles. Take the park’s Jarnem Loop Walk and you’ll find yourself in smaller but almost identical “beehive” landforms carved by wind and water.
Named for: Water. That bubbles.
Not to be confused with: Bong Bong (NSW), Book Book (WA) and Booti Booti (NSW).
Getting there: The park is 470km west of Katherine. The park entrance is on the NT/WA border.
Keep River National Park in the Northern Territory. Picture: Alamy
