I am not sure it is relevant but we saw a raucous group of about five flying around the South Alligator last Tuesday week.
Off topic but why, after we succeeded in overthrowing US imperialism with Kokoda Track (nee Trail) and Christidis and Boles have corrected our Latin declensions, do we tolerate all these rivers with names from the Louisiana bayous? East Crocodile River anyone?
Chris Lloyd
Logo v5
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I have appended a TODO list for Chris created by combining North American animals lists from Wikipedia with the Gazetteer of Australian place names. More than the South/East/West Alligator River have to go.
Don’t panic Chris, the name counts are inflated because the one geographic feature can have multiple entries in the gazetteer. Also the North American lists apparently include vagrants & ferals – so you can skip for example, Blackcap Qld, if you are only worried about North American imperialism.
I guess Blackcap and several others probably aren’t named after the foreign animal. Others like Cotinga Hill SA are harder to understand.
BTW I didn’t do this manually – I wrote a small script to do it to see if it’d be a good programming exercise for my students – and it will.
Andrew
Alligator: Alligator Peak AAT and 74 other Australian names Armadillo: Armadillo SA Auk: Auk Point TAS Badger: Badger Brush NSW and 52 other Australian names Bear: Bear Creek NSW and 25 other Australian names Beaver: Beaver Lake AAT and 14 other Australian names Blackbird: Blackbird Creek NSW and 10 other Australian names Blackcap: Blackcap QLD Bluebird: Bluebird Island SA and 3 other Australian names Boa: Boen Boa NSW Boar: The Poley Boar NSW and 12 other Australian names Brant: Brant Ridge QLD Bullfinch: Bullfinch WA and 3 other Australian names Bunting: Bunting Creek QLD Caiman: Caiman Creek NT Canary: Canary Island VIC and 7 other Australian names Cardinal: Cardinal Bore WA Caribou: Caribou Creek QLD and 2 other Australian names Chameleon: Chameleon Bore SA Condor: Condor NSW and 3 other Australian names Cotinga: Cotinga Hill SA Deer: New Deer QLD and 24 other Australian names Dunlin: Dunlin TAS Ferret: Ferret SA and 2 other Australian names Flamingo: Flamingo NSW and 2 other Australian names Fox: Fox Ridge AAT and 119 other Australian names Goat: Goat Bay AAT and 130 other Australian names Goldfinch: Goldfinch Creek QLD Greenfinch: Greenfinch Reserve SA Grouse: Grouse Swamp Bore SA Guan: Guan Gua NSW and 2 other Australian names Hare: Hare Bay NSW and 9 other Australian names Iguana: Iguana VIC and 15 other Australian names Jabiru: Jabiru QLD and 24 other Australian names Jackdaw: Jackdaw Bank Dam SA Jaguar: Jaguar Reef QLD Jay: Jay Creek NT and 10 other Australian names Lark: Lark Hill NSW and 12 other Australian names Lemming: Lemming Corner NSW Lion: Mount Lion NSW and 38 other Australian names Lynx: Lynx Reef QLD and 1 other Australian name Macaw: Macaw Peak SA and 3 other Australian names Mallard: Mount Mallard QLD and 1 other Australian name Marten: Cape Marten WA Merlin: Merlin QLD and 10 other Australian names Mockingbird: Mockingbird Gully NSW Mole: Mole Station NSW and 37 other Australian names Monkey: Monkey Cot NSW and 64 other Australian names Moose: Moose Hill NSW and 3 other Australian names Otter: Otter Reef QLD and 3 other Australian names Partridge: Partridge NSW and 15 other Australian names Pheasant: Pheasant Creek NSW and 47 other Australian names Porcupine: Porcupine NSW and 55 other Australian names Rabbit: Rabbit NSW and 70 other Australian names Rattlesnake: Rattlesnake Point QLD and 5 other Australian names Redwing: Redwing SA and 3 other Australian names Rook: Rook Workings SA and 2 other Australian names Screech-Owl: Screech-Owl Creek SA Solitaire: Mount Solitaire NT and 1 other Australian name Sparrow: Sparrow Flat NSW and 4 other Australian names Squirrel: Squirrel Creek QLD and 5 other Australian names Starling: Starling Park NSW and 2 other Australian names Stork: Stork Reef QLD and 2 other Australian names Toucan: Toucan NSW Turkey: Turkey Creek QLD and 132 other Australian names Weasel: Weasel Gap AAT and 3 other Australian names Wildcat: Wildcat Bore NT and 8 other Australian names Wolf: Wolf Rock QLD and 3 other Australian names Wolverine: Wolverine Shoal TAS Woodcock: Mount Woodcock NT and 4 other Australian names Woodpecker: Woodpecker Creek QLD Zebra: Zebra Peak AAT and 2 other Australian names ===============================
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What about ‘Fucking’ in Austria?
Where would we be without ‘Middelfart’ (Denmark) or ‘Intercourse’ (Pennsylvania)?
I was in the US last year (can’t remember which state as I visited a few) and some roads had fractions in the numbers – like 1 1/4 road. I guess they originally had grid on mile boundaries and then put a few extras in. Made it hard entering into the GPS!
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As the saying goes ‘everyone is entitled to their own opinions but not their facts’. Here we have ‘tracks’ and ‘crocodiles’ (or the indigenous analogue) not ‘gators’ and ‘trails’. The errors of some sailors (like US Generals) a century ago are not cast in stone are they?
As Keynes is reputed to have said when he contradicted some of his earlier work “When the facts change I change my mind. What do you do sir?”
…but imagine how much fun we would have if birds’ names were changed to fit our changing opinions and values…
Regards, Clive.
I don’t see any problems with odd or anachronistic geographic names, they add a bit of humour to a map. My favourite is Up the Road, just outside Hartford, Connecticut.
I say, leave Alligator River as is. If we changed every geographic place name because some people are perturbed by lack of “correctness” of some form in the name, it would be a somewhat boring world. May as well just use numbers, though some people would complain about some numbers.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
Sent from my iPad
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The Alligator rivers were named in the 19 century by a ship’s captain who thought the crocodiles were alligators.
I’m quite happy to revert to the original ie Aboriginal, names for the Alligator rivers.
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow 1/7 Songlark Street, Bakewell, NT 0832 043 8650 835
PhD candidate, SCU Vice-chair, Wildlife Tourism Australia Nominated for the Condé Nast international ecotourism award, 2004 by the renowned American website, Earthfoot.
Birds of Australia’s Top End and Quiet Snake Dreaming available on amazon.com A second edition of Fauna of Australia¹s Top End used by the University of NSW as a text for 12 years is now under preparation.
‘It gave me huge insight into the lives’ of Aboriginal Australians¹, Jonathon Franzen, American author, birder, conservationist (August, 2011) on Quiet Snake Dreaming.
http://www.denisegoodfellow.com ( to be launched again soon).
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