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Day 3,087, 07:46 • Published in Australia

• by WyvernJack

Weird Australian Facts

Mt Kosciuszko, at 2228m, is mainland Australia’s highest mountain. But the Mt Kosciuszko we know today is not the peak originally called Mt Kosciuszko. The Year Book Australia 1910 explains: “Various measurements of the peak originally called by that name showed it to be slightly lower than its neighbour, Mount Townsend, and the names were thereupon transposed by the New South Wales Lands Department, so that Mount Kosciusko still remains the highest peak of Australia”

Melbourne was originally called Batmania. In May and June 1835, the area which is now central and northern Melbourne was explored by John Batman. who negotiated a purchase of 2400 sq km with Wurundjeri elders. Two years later, the settlement was named Batmania after Batman. It didn’t last long. Later that year the settlement was renamed Melbourne after the British Prime Minister, William Lamb, Second Viscount Melbourne.

The Australian Constitution still includes provisions for New Zealand to join Australia as its seventh state. The Manuka area of Canberra (named after the New Zealand tee tree) was named by Walter Burley Griffin in 1912 when there was still some optimism that the Kiwis might change their mind and join the Federation.

Comments

Henry the 8th Day 3,087, 18:57

Surfers Paradise is my backyard, here's some fun facts 😛

People looking at the high-rise buildings of Surfers Paradise today might not be surprised to learn that its original name meant, the place of the ant. (Umbi-gumbi in the Aboriginal language.) J.H.C.Meyer acquired land there in 1876 and established a sugar plantation and crushing mill near the Nerang River and ran a ferry over the river. In 1888 he built a hotel at what was then called Elston. That name was the maiden name of the postmaster's wife at Southport, bequeathed to the area when it needed a distinct postal address.
Growth came when the Jubilee Bridge was built across the Nerang River in 1925 and James Cavill, owner of two hotels and a sports store in Brisbane, built a hotel there to cater for fishermen. Prior to that there were only a few isolated shacks and a post office. He found that the beaches drew more people than the fish, so in 1933 he re-named his hotel The Surfers' Paradise and persuaded the authorities to make the same name change for the area. The hotel was burnt down a few years later, but rebuilt as a luxury hotel with a zoo and tropical garden