OSG Place Names
OFFICE OF THE SURVEYOR-GENERAL
Place Names
The Geographical Names Act 1991 defines a place as any area, region, locality, city, suburb, town, township, or settlement, or any geographical or topographical feature, and includes any railway station, hospital, school and any other place or building that is, or is likely to be, of public or historical interest. Naming of places in South Australia is regulated by the Geographical Names Act 1991 and managed by the Geographical Names Unit.
The Geographical Names Unit:
- receives proposals to name or alter the boundary of a place
- carries out public consultation on naming proposals
- ensures place names are assigned in accordance with the Act, national standards, and naming principles
- is committed to using Indigenous names
- maintains an accurate register of official place names, known as the State Gazetteer.
Resources
Approval process for Indigenous naming proposals
Download PDF |
233 KB
Frequently asked questions for Indigenous place naming
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256 KB
Indigenous place naming information fact sheet
Download PDF |
275 KB
More information
- Place Names FAQs
- Guidelines for naming places
- Current naming proposals
- Principles for the Consistent Use of Place Names
- South Australian Property and Planning Atlas (SAPPA)
- State Gazetteer (Place names)
We acknowledge and respect Aboriginal peoples as the state's first peoples and nations, and recognise them as traditional owners and occupants of land and waters in South Australia. Further, we acknowledge that the spiritual, social, cultural and economic practices of Aboriginal peoples come from their traditional lands and waters, that they maintain their cultural and heritage beliefs, languages and laws which are of ongoing importance, and that they have made and continue to make a unique and irreplaceable contribution to the state. We acknowledge that Aboriginal peoples have endured past injustice and dispossession of their traditional lands and waters.