The White Hat Guide to Government Names honouring Australian People

Federal Government Electorates

The Federal Government has developed a set of guidelines for the naming of electorates and many of these electorate names honour people regarded as significant to the area. The guidelines only allow people who are no longer alive to be recognised in this way. Below is a list of the electorates named after people.

• Aston - Tilly Aston was a blind writer and one of the founders of the Victorian Braille Library.
• Banks - Sir Joseph Banks botanist on Captain Cook's exploration voyage.
• Barker - Captain Collet Barker, explorer.
• Barton - Sir Edmund Barton, Australia's first Prime Minister
• Bass - Dr George Bass, explorer
• Batman - John Batman, co-founder of Melbourne
• Bennelong - Bennelong, an Aboriginal man who had important contact with the first European setllement of Sydney.
• Blair - Harold Blair, Aboriginal tenor and social achiever.
• Blaxland - Gregory Blaxland, explorer.
• Bonner - Neville Thomas Bonner, Aboriginal senator.
• Boothby - William Boothby, first Returning Officer for the Commonwealth of Australia.
• Bowman - David Bowman, a Queensland Parliamentarian.
• Braddon - Sir Edward Braddon, Tasmanian Premier.
• Bradfield - John Bradfield, engineer
• Brand - Sir David Brand, Premier of Western Australia.
• Bruce - Lord Stanley Bruce, Prime Minister.
• Calwell - Arthur Calwell, Leader of the Australian Labor Party.
• Canning - Alfred Canning, surveyor.
• Casey - Lord Richard Casey, Governor-General.
• Charlton - Matthew Charlton, Leader of the Australian Labor Party.
• Chifley - Joseph Benedict Chifley, Prime Minister.
• Chisholm - Caroline Chisholm, social achiever.
• Cook - Captain James Cook, English navigator.
• Cowan - Edith Cowan, first female member of an Australian parliament.
• Cowper - Sir Charles Cowper, Premier of New South Wales.
• Cunningham - Allan Cunningham, explorer.
• Curtin - John Curtin, Prime Minister.
• Dawson - Andrew (Anderson) Dawson, Queensland Premier.
• Deakin - Sir Alfred Deakin, Prime Minister.
• Denison - Sir William Denison, Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania and Governor of New South Wales.
• Dickson - Sir James Dickson, Queensland Premier.
• Dobell - Sir William Dobell, artist.
• Dunkley - Louisa Dunkley, social achiever.
• Fadden - Sir Arthur Fadden, Prime Minister.
• Fairfax - Ruth Fairfax, a founder of the Country Women's Association.
• Farrer - William Farrer, agriculturalist.
• Fisher - Andrew Fisher, Prime Minister.
• Flinders - Matthew Flinders, navigator and explorer.
• Flynn - John Flynn ('Flynn of the Inland'), Founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
• Forde - Francis Michael Forde, Prime Minister.
• Forrest - Sir John (later Lord) Forrest, Premier of Western Australia.
• Fowler - Lilian Fowler, first woman mayor in Australia.
• Franklin - Sir John Franklin, Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania.
• Fraser - James Fraser, MHR for the Australian Capital Territory.
• Gellibrand - Joseph Gellibrand, lawyer and explorer
• Gilmore - Dame Mary Gilmore, poet and writer.
• Goldstein - Vida Goldstein, feminist.
• Gorton - Sir John Gorton, Prime Minister.
• Grayndler - Edward Grayndler, New South Wales parliamentarian and General Secretary of the Australian Workers' Union.
• Greenway - Francis Greenway, architect.
• Grey - Sir George Grey, Governor of South Australia.
• Griffith - Sir Samuel Griffith, Premier of Queensland and Chief Justice of the High Court.
• Groom - Sir Littleton Groom 1867-1936, parliamentarian and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
• Hasluck - Sir Paul Hasluck, Governor General, and his wife Dame Alexandra Hasluck author and National President of the Girl Guides Association and the Australian Red Cross.
• Herbert - Sir Robert Herbert, Premier of Queensland.
• Higgins - Henry Higgins, Justice of the High Court and President of the new Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Court.
• Hindmarsh - Sir John Hindmarsh, Governor of South Australia.
• Hinkler - Bert Hinkler, aviator.
• Holt - Harold Edward Holt, Prime Minister.
• Hotham - Sir Charles Hotham, Governor of Victoria.
• Hughes - William Morris Hughes, Prime Minister.
• Hume - Hamilton Hume, explorer.
• Hunter - John Hunter, Governor of New South Wales.
• Isaacs - Sir Isaac Isaacs, Chief Justice of the High Court 1930 and Governor-General of Australia.
• Jagajaga - the name for three Aboriginal elders involved in the Batman Treaty.
• Kennedy - Edmund Kennedy, explorer.
• Kingsford Smith - Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, aviator.
• Kingston - Charles Kingston, Premier of South Australia.
• Lalor - Peter Lalor, a leader of the Eureka Stockade rebellion and parliamentarian.
• La Trobe - Charles La Trobe, Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria.
• Leichhardt - Friedrich Leichhardt, explorer and scientist.
  Lilley - Sir Charles Lilley, former Premier of Queensland and Chief Justice of Queensland.
• Lindsay - Norman Lindsay, writer and artist.
• Lingiari - Vincent Lingiari, Aboriginal social achiever.
• Longman - Irene Longman, first female member of the Queensland Parliament.
• Lowe - Robert Lowe (later Viscount Sherbrooke),social achiever.
• Lyne - Sir William Lyne, Premier of New South Wales.
• Lyons - Joseph Lyons (Prime Minister) and Dame Enid Lyons (first woman elected to the House of Representatives).
• Macarthur - Captain John Macarthur agriculturalist and his wife Elizabeth Macarthur social achiever.
• Mackellar - Dorothea Mackellar, poet and writer.
• Macquarie - Governor Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of New South Wales.
• Makin - Norman Makin, MHR and Speaker of the House.
• Mayo - Helen Mayo, co-founder of the Mothers' and Babies' Health Association.
• McEwen - Sir John McEwen caretaker Prime Minister.
• McMillan - Angus McMillan, explorer.
• Menzies - Sir Robert Menzies, Prime Minister.
• Mitchell - Sir Thomas Mitchell, explorer.
• Moncrieff - Gladys Moncrieff, singer.
• Moore - George Fletcher Moore, first Advocate-General in Western Australia.
• O'Connor - Charles O'Connor, engineer.
• Oxley - John Oxley, explorer.
• Page - Sir Earle Page, caretaker Prime Minister.
• Parkes - Sir Henry Parkes, Premier of New South Wales.
• Paterson - Andrew ('Banjo') Paterson, writer (although there is conjecture that it may have been originally named after Colonel William Paterson, Western Australian Senator ).
• Petrie - Andrew Petrie, engineer and explorer.
• Rankin - Dame Annabelle Rankin, first Queensland woman elected to the Senate.
• Reid - Sir George Reid, Prime Minister.
• Robertson - Sir John Robertson, Premier of New South Wales.
• Ryan - Thomas Ryan, Premier of Queensland.
• Scullin - James Scullin, Prime Minister.
• Shortland - Naval Lieutenant John Shortland, discoverer of coal near Newcastle.
• Solomon - Vaiben Louis Solomon from the Northern Territory and one of the 'fathers of federation'.
• Stirling - Sir James Stirling, Governor of Western Australia.
• Sturt - Captain Charles Sturt, explorer.
• Tangney - Dame Dorothy Tangney, first woman member of the Australian Senate.
• Throsby - Dr Charles Throsby, pioneer and explorer.
• Wakefield - Edward Gibbon Wakefield, writer whose views on colonisation were significant in the formation of settlements in Western Australia and South Australia.
• Watson - John Watson, Prime Minister.
• Wentworth - William Charles Wentworth, explorer and statesman.
• Wills - William Wills, explorer.

In addition, the following electorates are named after localities which in turn are named after people.

• Brisbane - named after the City of Brisbane which in turn was named after Sir Thomas MacDougall Brisbane, Governor of New South Wales.
• Fremantle - named after the city of Fremantle which in turn was named after Captain Charles Fremantle who established that port.
• Gippsland - named after the region of Victoria which in turn was named after Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales.
• Melbourne - named after the city of Melbourne which was in turn was named after Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister of Britain.
• Moreton - named after the Moreton Bay which in turn is named after the Earl of Morton.
• Murray - named after The Murray River which in turn was named after Sir George Murray, Colonial Secretary.
• Sydney - named after the city of Sydney, which in turn was named after Viscount Sydney, British Home Secretary.

Related information

• 200 Significant Australians
• Australian inventors, inventions and innovations
• Australian place names

See also:

• 200 Significant Australians
• Significant Melbourne People
• Significant People from Country Victoria
• Australian inventors, inventions and innovations