During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, many German or German-sounding place names in Australia were changed due to

anti-German sentiment Anti-German sentiment (also known as Anti-Germanism, Germanophobia or Teutophobia) is opposition to or fear of Germany, its inhabitants, its culture, or its language. Its opposite is Germanophilia. Anti-German sentiment largely began wit ...

. The presence of German-derived place names was seen as an affront to the

war effort In politics and military planning, a war effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative si ...

at the time. The names were often changed by being

anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

(such as

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire unti ...

), or by being given new names of Aboriginal origin (Kobandilla, Karawirra) or in commemoration of notable soldiers ( Kitchener and Holbrook) or World War I battlefields (

Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...

, The Somme).

New South Wales

Queensland

South Australia

The South Australian ''Nomenclature Act 1917'' authorised the compilation and gazetting of a list of place-names contained in a report of the previous October prepared by a parliamentary "nomenclature committee", and authorised the Governor of South Australia, by proclamation, to "alter any place-name which he deems to be of enemy origin to some other name specified in the proclamation".''Nomenclature Act 1917 (SA)'

/ref> The table below includes the 69 changes gazetted on 10 January 1918. The '' Nomenclature Act 1935'' restored the former names of the towns of Hahndorf and

Lobethal Lobethal is a town in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Hills Council local government area, and is nestled on the banks of a creek between the hills and up the sides of the valley. It was once the centr ...

, and the

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

suburb of Klemzig. About 20 other names were reverted in the 1970s and 1980s; some of them were assigned to larger localities rather than reverting to the original place name, as also shown in the table.

Tasmania

Victoria

Western Australia

References

External links

Adelaide Co-operative History – German Place NamesAustralian Bureau of Statistics – Changing of German Place Names in AustraliaVictorian counties map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian place names changed from German names

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Place names changed from German names Place names changed from German names Place names changed from German names Lists of cities by toponymy Anti-German sentiment German-Australian culture Place names changed from German names Changed from German names City name changes