News Archives
News - 2008
24 November 2008 - Place Names Register changes
A number of changes to the Place Names Register took effect over the weekend.
- Basic Search - the "search all names" box is now ticked, you have to untick the box if you want to search Registered place names only.
- Advanced Search - selection fields have been re-arranged and a "Do not include historical names in search" tick box added.
- Local Governments and Localities have been added to most records based on latitude and longitude of each record.
- Latitude and longitude for Parks and Cemeteries are now shown, together with links to Google Earth and NT Atlas.
- A link to the NT Atlas has been added to each current Road entry.
19 August 2008
Minister for Planning and Lands, Delia Lawrie, appoints a new Place Names Committee for the next three years.
June 2008 - road naming in Aboriginal Communities
The Committee in consultation with Department of Planning and Infrastructure town planners, staff from other Government agencies and the communities is looking at the formal naming of all roads in all major Aboriginal Communities. The Committee has developed a guide for Communities to use when considering names for the roads in their community.
15 May 2008 - naming of roads in Wadeye
After comprehensive consultation with the Wadeye community all 30 roads within the community have been formally named. See Instrument and survey plan for road names.
10 May 2008 - Applications called for new Committee Chairman
Following the resignation of the Chairman, due to his moving to Victoria, and with the term of the current Committee finishing in late June 2008, the Minister has requested the position of Committee Chairperson be advertised. Application close on 23 May 2008.
2007
December 2007 - three Darwin High Schools renamed Middle Schools
On 17 December 2007, the Minister for Lands and Planning approved the altering of teh names of Dripstone, Sanderson and Nightcliff High Schools to Middle School. See instrument here.
8 March 2007 - localities and suburbs defined across the Territory
The Minister for Planning and Lands has approved a recommendation of the Place Names Committee for the balance of the Northern Territory not already divided into localities and suburbs to be divided into localities, suburbs and/or communities.
The recommendation also included amending the boundary of a number of Darwin Municipality suburbs and Litchfield Shire localities.
A copy of the approved instrument and schedules can be viewed (pdf 372kb).
Localities are defined over pastoral and rural living areas whilst suburbs are defined over the four urban municipalities. Boundaries have also been defined around the larger Aboriginal communities.
It is envisaged in time that businesses and government organisations will use these defined locality, suburb or community names, in lieu of "via Allice Springs / Tennant Creek / Katherine etc".
The allocation of localities, suburbs and communities across the Northern Territory will help with delivery of services, emergency response, census collection, town planning and map and atlas production.
2006
November 2006 - Lyons suburb road names
The Place Names Committee following discussions with the Darwin City Council, the developer of the suburb, Canberra Investments Corporation, and the Larrakia Development Corporation representing the Larrakia people agree to name roads after the Larrakia name for various animals, birds, reptiles and insects.
As the subdivision proceeds and road names are required, names will be chosen by the Committee from the list of names supplied by the Larrakia Development Corporation.
2005
24 October 2005 - amendment to road naming guidelines to allow duplication of names.
At its 24 October 2005 meeting, the Place Names Committee changed its Guidelines on duplication of road names.
As most development within the Northern Territory is presently occurring within the Greater Darwin Area, and with the increasing requests the Committee is receiving to commemorate several different people with the same surname, it was finding it increasingly difficult to strictly follow its policy of not duplicating road names within this Area.
The Committee has therefore amended its policy on duplication of road names to permit more flexibility in this regard.
The Committee when deciding on a road name will now consider the following:.
- Subject to paragraph 3 below, the Committee will support the duplication of names provided that the duplication is not within the same Municipality or Local Government Area.
- Wherever possible a different qualifier, such as road/street/close/drive, will be used to differentiate between duplicated names. This will reduce confusion for emergency services and service vehicles
- Duplicate names will not be supported if they are proposed in an area close to an adjoining Municipality in which the same name is in use, for example Berrimah/Pinelands and Gunn/Virginia. This policy is intended to prevent confusion for emergency services.
- Duplication of names within the Greater Darwin Area will only be permitted in order to commemorate a person from a different family to that previously commemorated.
7 September 2005 - commencement of Place Names Amendment Act 2004
On 7 September 2005, the Place Names Amendment Act 2004 commenced. The Amendment Act changes the definition of what a place is, defines the establishment of a publicly accessible register and allows the Minister for Planning and Lands to delegate the naming of some places. The Amendment Act makes the gazettal of place names optional. Amendments have been incorporated into the Place Names Act which can be viewed online.
Although the Amendment Act was passed by the Legislative Assembly in 2004, the commencement of the Act was held back until an internet searchable version of the Register had been established.
