Original Place Names of Australia's Major cities.

Translationz would like to respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Yuggera and Woiworung land on which Translationz head offices are located. Translationz further acknowledges the Traditional Owners throughout the rest of Australia on which our business activities take place. Translationz pays respect to Elders both past, present, and emerging.  Translationz recognises that sovereignty has never ceded and respects the ongoing efforts of those protecting and promoting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.

Before invasion and the settlement of Europeans on Aboriginal land, all places, waterways, and land would have had a name given to them by Traditional Indigenous owners. Reclaiming these Traditional names is important to language revitalisation and re-asserting the Traditional ownership of places. Below are some brief descriptions of Indigenous names for capital cities in Australia. These names are not fixed or final. Translationz recognises that there are additional and alternate names used for these places. Also keep in mind that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture is an oral tradition, therefore, many place names will have multiple spellings.

• Warrane (Sydney): Warrane (also spelt War-an, Warrang, and Wee-rong) is the Eora name for Sydney Cove, the place of first contact between the Eora and the European settlers.
• Naarm (Melbourne): Naarm is the Woiworung name for Melbourne. Naarm was an important meeting place for the language groups of the Kulin nation.
• Meanjin (Brisbane): Meanjin translates to ‘spike’ and was the name given to the Central Brisbane area by the Turrbal people.
• Tarndanya (Adelaide): the Kaurna peoples’ name for the Adelaide Plains was the Kaurna Tarntanya, literally meaning the red kangaroo place.
• Boorloo (Perth): Boorloo is the name given to the area now known as Perth by the Noongar peoples.
• Kamberra (Canberra): Canberra is the name colonists gave the region based on the Traditonal owners, the Kamberra people. It is said to mean ‘meeting place’.
• Nipaluna (Hobart): Nipaluna is the name given to Hobart in the revived Tasmanian Aboriginal language Palawa Kani.