What are place names?

Place names and street addresses are the primary means by which people, services and features are located.

In the Northern Territory the method of officially naming a place and the definition of what a place is, is set out in the Place Names Act.

In the Northern Territory places for which names are allocated are grouped into seven categories as follows:

Features	geographic or topographic features (whether or not covered by water);
Administration Areas:	administrative areas (ie. county, hundred, town, suburb or locality within a town or a site for a town);
Aboriginal Communities:	Aboriginal Communities & family homeland centres (including town camps)
Roads:	highways, roads, streets, lanes, trails or thoroughfares that are open to or used by the public;
Parks & Cemeteries:	urban parks, gardens, reserves, recreation or sporting grounds that are open to or used by the public and public cemeteries within the meaning of the Cemeteries Act;
Infrastructure:	public infrastructure associated with transport facilities, educational institutions, medical institutions or nursing homes;
Points of Interest:	places, structures or buildings that are or may be of public or historic interest.

A place which can be named under another Act, an Electoral division or a local government area or ward can not be named under the Place Names Act.

As Aboriginal culture and languages are an inportant part of day to day living in the Northern Territory, a place may have more than one name - the official name which may be either of Aboriginal or non Aboriginal origin and a variant name or names.

In publications a variant name is usually shown in brackets after the official name whereas on maps it is shown below the official name.

Several places in the Northern Territory have been given dual names, whereby both Aboriginal and non Aboriginal names make up the offical name and are accorded the same status. As such they should both be used in offical publications, but either may be used in other forms of media. The Place Names Committee will consider all applications for dual naming status.