Highways Byways
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Highways AND Byways THE ORIGIN OF TOWNSVILLE STREET NAMES Compiled by John Mathew Townsville Library Service 1995 Revised edition 2008 Acknowledgements Australian War Memorial John Oxley Library Queensland Archives Lands Department James Cook University Library Family History Library Townsville City Council, Planning and Development Services Front Cover Photograph Queensland 1897. Flinders Street Townsville Local History Collection, Citilibraries Townsville Copyright Townsville Library Service 2008 ISBN 0 9578987 54 Page 2 Introduction How many visitors to our City have seen a street sign bearing their family name and wondered who the street was named after? How many students have come to the Library seeking the origin of their street or suburb name? We at the Townsville Library Service were not always able to find the answers and so the idea for Highways and Byways was born. Mr. John Mathew, local historian, retired Town Planner and long time Library supporter, was pressed into service to carry out the research. Since 1988 he has been steadily following leads, discarding red herrings and confirming how our streets got their names. Some remain a mystery and we would love to hear from anyone who has information to share. Where did your street get its name? Originally streets were named by the Council to honour a public figure. As the City grew, street names were and are proposed by developers, checked for duplication and approved by Department of Planning and Development Services. Many suburbs have a theme. For example the City and North Ward areas celebrate famous explorers. The streets of Hyde Park and part of Gulliver are named after London streets and English cities and counties. Aitkenvale continues the English theme by having streets named after various members of Queen Victoria’s family. Wulguru streets bear the names of scientists and inventors. Garbutt, home to the R.A.A.F. Base and Airport, has streets named after aircraft and airmen. Douglas is the literary suburb, the streets of which remind us of Australian authors. An American numerical system for naming streets was adopted for Railway Estate and South Townsville. Servicemen who lived in Townsville, or enlisted here to serve in two World Wars and other conflicts, have given their names to many of our streets, as have many of the City’s Mayors. It is the intention of this book to provide a record of the source of our street names and also give a brief glimpse into the past life of the City and its citizens. Streets named after 1990 are not contained in this book but information about them is available at Townsville City Council, Department of Planning and Development Services. Cecilia O’Donnell Reference Librarian Page Abbott Street, Oonoonba. In 1892 Henry James Abbott had a furniture store in Flinders Street, near the Palace Hotel and a branch store at Charters Towers. He was declared insolvent in 1896 with debts totalling about 6,000 pounds but by 1902 was back in business in a new Flinders Street warehouse built by Messrs McLay and Ball. He sold his business later the same year to N. Baxter. Mr Abbott was a former Chairman of the Thuringowa Divisional Board. Abney Court, Aitkenvale. Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney (184-1920), a specialist in the chemistry of photography, was commissioned in the Royal Engineers in 1861, where he taught chemistry and photography at the School of Military Engineering, Chatham. Elected to the Royal Society in 1876, he was knighted in 1900. Acacia Street, Mundingburra. The name of several shrubs and trees including the Australian wattles. The name was suggested by the subdivider, James Hogan. The locality was once known as Acacia Vale. Acacia Vale. A suburb in the Thuringowa Shire usually described as extending from the Mundingburra post office to Thompson Street and the Hubert Wells (West Street) and from Ross River to the line of Fulham Road. Acacia Vale Road, Acacia Vale. The road provided access to Gulliver’s Gardens and Nursery located where Villa Vincent in now established. It is now named Gulliver Street. Acheron Avenue, Cranbrook. The street was named after Acheron Island, between the Palm Group and Magnetic Island. Acheron Island. In classical mythology a river in Hades. The island was named by Commander John Lort Stokes (1812-1885) after HMS Acheron, a five gun paddle sloop launched in 188. It was the first surveying vessel in Australasian waters fitted with auxiliary power. The ship was paid off in Sydney in 1851. Ackers Street, Hermit Park. In 1918 when the suburbs of Hermit Park and Hyde Park were transferred from Thuringowa Shire to the City of Townsville, there were two streets named Ackers, the present one in Hermit Park and another in Hyde Park near the Causeway. This was renamed Yeatman Street in 1919. William Archer Ackers, auctioneer and agent, was the senior partner in Ackers, Wilson, Ayton and Ryan, stock, station and financial agents who had offices in Charters Towers and Townsville. He was born in London in 1848, arrived in North Queensland in 1869 where, after a short stay on the Ravenswood goldfield, he set up as an auctioneer in Charters Towers in 1874. On 2nd May 1877 the Townsville Herald published the following report, “Charters Towers, 0th April. On Saturday last Ackers, auctioneer, horsewhipped Thadeus O’Kane, editor and proprietor of the Northern Miner on account of a scurrilous publication affecting him in that day’s issue.” After Ackers’ action had been considered by the court the Townsville Herald made the following editorial comment, “An Editor’s Hide: Since the decision at Charters Towers the other day that an aggrieved party can horsewhip an editor for a pound, we should think that nobody in future will complain or have a right to complain of the lashes of the press...” In the subsequent libel case Ackers was awarded one hundred pounds damages and costs. He served several terms as an Alderman In Townsville from 1885 and was Mayor in 190. Ackers was a member of the Townsville Harbour Board Page 4 from 1896 to 1908 and was chairman of the Board, 1902-190. A lieutenant in the Queensland Marine Defence Force he was appointed Commanding Officer, Townsville Naval Brigade in 1887 and in the same year became Officer Instructor to the force. Ackers Street, Hyde Park. Renamed Yeatman Street in 1919 after A.P. Yeatman who was killed in action during the First World War. Adams Street, Heatley. John Couch Adams (1819-1892), British mathematician and astronomer, one of two people who independently discovered the planet Neptune. After being made professor of mathematics at the University of St Andrews (Fife) in 1858, and Lowndean professor of astronomy and geometry at Cambridge in 1859, he became director of the Cambridge Observatory in 1861. Addison Court, Cranbrook. Brian Addison was the manager of Planet Homes Pty Ltd, the subdivider of the land. Adelong Drive, Cranbrook. An Aboriginal word meaning ‘Plain with a river.’ Adler Court, Wulguru. Alfred Adler, (1870-197), Austrian physician and psychiatrist was a follower of Freudian principles. Ahearne Street, Hermit Park. Doctor Joseph Ahearne arrived in Townsville in 1879 and served as State Medical Officer from 1879 to 1894. He was appointed Municipal Medical Officer by the council in 1888 and held the rank of Surgeon-Major in the Queensland Defence Force from 1885 being the principal medical officer for the Northern Military District. Active in public affairs, he was one of the leading advocates of Separation and in 1886 went to London to place the proposals of the Separation League before the British Government. On the 25th May 1905 he addressed the Committee of Federal Parliamentarians enquiring about the repatriation of Kanakas on the subject “The Physical Unfitness of White Workers to Cope with the Tropics.” In 1914 Ahearne closed his private hospital in Townsville and returned to Britain, and later served with the British Red Cross in Macedonia. He retired to his property at the Burdekin. Aikens Park. Bounded by Harold, Francis and Leigh Streets, West End, the park was named after Thomas Aikens, engine driver, politician and a founding member of the North Queensland Labour Party. Aitape Street, Roseneath. A town in the Sepik district of New Guinea taken by the Japanese in 1942 and where a successful allied landing involving 80,000 troops was made on 22nd April 1944. Aitken Hill. A small hill near Ross River between Louise and Arinya Streets, Cranbrook. Shown on Robert Logan Jack’s 1878 plan and named after Thomas Aitken who selected ,500 acres in the Aitkenvale-Cranbrook area in 1867. Aitken Street, Aitkenvale. Thomas Aitken arrived in Townsville from Ravenswood Station in 1867 and selected ,500 acres of land fronting Ross River where he established a dairy. The suburb of Aitkenvale occupies much of his selection. He died in 1897. Aitkenvale . The suburb was named after Thomas Aitken, the original grantee of Portion 8, Parish of Coonambelah. He began subdividing the property during the 1880s, putting 440 quarter acre residential Page 5 allotments on the market in 1885. The Aboriginal names for the area are Boor-bang-ga and Boor-ga. (C.A. Price, 1885). Aitkenvale Road. A name used locally until the 190s to describe the present Ross River Road. Aitkenvale Street, Acacia Vale. Named after Thomas Aitken, selector and dairyman. It was renamed Sabadine Street in 1919 after Eugene Edward Sabadine who was killed in action during the First World War. Akuna Street, Aitkenvale. Until November 1961 the street was named Patrick Street East. Akuna is an Aboriginal word meaning “Flowing Water” and “To Follow”. Alamein Street, Aitkenvale. El Alamein is a village in the Western Desert province of Egypt.