The Geographical Names Board of New South Wales was established in 1966 as the official body for naming and recording details of places and geographical names in New South Wales.

Overview

The Board consists of eight members and is chaired by the Surveyor General of New South Wales. Other members include nominees of the Royal Australian Historical Society, the Geographical Society, the New South Wales Department of Planning, the State Library of New South Wales, the NSW Aboriginal Land Council and the Local Government and Shires Association.

The Geographical Names Act, 1966, empowers the Board to assign names to places, to investigate and determine the form, spelling, meaning, pronunciation, origin and history of any geographical name and the application of such name with regard to position, extent or otherwise.

A place is described in the Act as "any geographical or topographical feature or any district, division, locality, region, city, town, village, settlement or railway station or any other place within the territories and waters of the State of New South Wales but does not include any road, any local government area, urban area, county or district under the Local Government Act, electoral district or subdivision, or any school". The Act also specifies the procedures for formalising names.

Dual names

In recent years the GNB has been given the power to allocate dual names on equal status, one european, and the other aboriginal.

See also

• List of cities in Australia
• UNGEGN

External links

• The Board's website
• Search for a place name