How places are named
What can be named?
Under the Place Names Act 1994, features or areas of land, whether natural or artificial, can be named.
Some types of places such as roads and national parks are excluded from the legislation. There are also some other places that are named by other processes or agencies and are not covered by this guide.
A list of these places is given below.
Type of place | Further information |
|---|---|
| Government buildings and facilities | A whole of government policy (PDF, 255KB) covers the naming and co-naming of government buildings and facilities. More information is available from the Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships. |
Roads, busways, bridges, cattle grids, culverts, ferries, fords, railway crossings, car parks, tunnels, viaducts and cuttings that are part of a road | These places are all considered roads. Major roads are named by the Department of Transport and Main Roads. Local roads are named by local government. |
Canals and open drains, except where they connect parts of a predominantly natural watercourse | |
Buildings and similar structures (including establishments such as schools and hospitals) | There is no single naming authority for buildings as responsibility varies depending on the use of the building. Also see the entry below regarding homesteads and rural properties. |
Dam walls and similar structures | |
Local government areas and divisions/wards of local government areas | |
Electoral districts | |
Marine parks | |
National parks, conservation parks, resources reserves, nature refuges, coordinated conservation areas, wilderness areas, World Heritage management areas, international agreement areas and forest reserves | |
Maritime, navigation, coastal, hydrographic and oceanographic features external to Queensland waters | Named by the Australian Hydrographic Office |
Undersea features located within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park | Named by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority |
Tourist regions, business districts, pastoral districts, agricultural regions, irrigation regions and similar | To avoid ambiguity and possible confusion for the delivery of emergency and location-based services, the only administrative boundaries named under the Place Names Act 1994 are the bounded localities and suburbs used in addressing. |
Unbounded localities | No longer named. All localities must now have defined boundaries. |
Airports, airfields, landing strips, runways, heliports, helipads and similar | |
Sports fields/grounds, courts, racing tracks, raceways and similar | Named by local government |
Timber reserves and state forests | |
Municipal parks and reserves | Named by local government |
Industrial estates, residential estates, business parks and similar | |
Statues, monuments and commemorative plaques | |
Survey marks, trigonometric stations, telecommunication towers, water towers and similar | |
Homesteads and rural properties | Named by the property owner and can be recorded as part of the property location address. Updates to rural property names should be advised to the relevant local council so they can update the rural property address. This information is passed on to DNRME and the geocoded national address file (G-NAF). Landholders can check their location address using Queensland Globe. |
Mines, mine fields, oil fields and similar | |
Boat ramps, jetties, marinas, ports, pontoons and similar (but not harbours) |
In this guide:
- What can be named?
- Naming processes
- Suggesting a place name or boundary change
- Naming principles
- Defining boundaries and extent
- History of Queensland place naming