HAVE you ever wondered who decided to build the hospital on Splatt Street?
Ever driven past Coronation Avenue without realising it commemorates the coronation of King George and Queen Elizabeth?
Did you know Butterworth Street was named for the man who ran the local brickworks almost a century ago?
“The history of Swan Hill may be told from the map index,” wrote Guardian journalist Gwen Warne in 1988, in a book entitled Swan Hill Streets: Paved In History.
Ms Warne’s research detailed the origins of the names of the street signs that dot the Swan Hill streetscape and emphasised that although they serve as navigational tools most of the time, Swan Hill’s streets tell a story.
“How providential it was that the first streets of Swan Hill were named in honour of early settlers, putting in place a tradition which, with few exceptions, has been followed,” Ms Warne penned almost 30 years ago.
She was referring to Swan Hill’s main arteries — Campbell, McCrae, Beveridge, McCallum, Curlewis.
Swan Hill streets are named for explorers, for farmers, for flora and fauna.
There are street names named for famous battles —El Alamein Avenue and Tobruk Avenue – and for famous families — Pye, Domaille, Boys to name but a few.
There are Aboriginal names like Yana which means walk, Werril which means wind and Murlong which is an Aboriginal word for cattle; not to mention Wattie Street, which was named in 1942 to honour the local Wadi Wadi people.
Nowadays, the naming of streets is a task which rarely crops up, but when it does, the Swan Hill Rural City Council (SHRCC) Asset Naming Committee steps in.
This group includes the deputy mayor, a representative from the Swan Hill Genealogical and Historical Society and the director of infrastructure.
The committee is responsible for naming all the new roads, streets, reserves and open spaces that crop up on the Swan Hill streetscape and meets to select and approve names when the occasion arises.
Jan Guse has sat on the committee for a number of years as the historical society representative and said Swan Hill residents would be surprised by the amount of guidelines governing the naming of streets within Victoria.
“There are actually a lot of rules and regulations that restrict the names that we can use,” Ms Guse explained.
“We approve the name, then it goes to council then it is advertised in The Guardian for objectors.
“Then it finally goes to Melbourne and Place Names Victoria has the final say.
“Technically a name is supposed to be easy to pronounce and spell but that doesn’t always work.”
Swan Hill’s Neville Hoare remembers when Hoare Street was named, back in the 1960s.
Mr Hoare’s father James was a sitting councillor at the time, and the family had sold a nearby parcel of land to the housing commission.
“All the streets off Yana Street were named for a particular councillor,” Mr Hoare said.
“Harrison, Storer, Freeman, Chaplin, Kurrle were all councillors back then.”
For more on this story pick up a copy of Wednesday’s Guardian (March 23, 2016).
