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Because so many names in W.A. come from Aboriginal origins, there can be some unintended misinterpretations. I.e.
Q. Where do you live?
A. In a loo (Innaloo is a suburb of Perth. The first name proposed for the suburb was Njookenbooroo which not surprisingly
was rejected by locals. Innaloo is an Aboriginal word meaning woman.)
Following are a selection of some of the odd names that have been given to places in W.A.
Benjabbering - Renamed to Benjaberring (What was the point of that??)
Bobalong - North of Tambellup.
Broke Inlet - South coast.
Cheapside - 1897.
Cockburn Sound - Strangely pronounced coh-burn.
Cockman - Renamed to Banksia Grove. I wonder why?
Cowcowing - Railway siding 1917.
Damboring (East) - Located a little north of Ballidu.
Dog Swamp - Located in the suburb of Yokine. Yokine being the Aboriginal name for dingo.
Geekabee Hill - It might look like geek-a-bee but is really supposed to be pronounced Gee-Kay-Bee after the initials of George Kershaw Brown.
It was given this name in 1949.
Ghooli - Railway siding 1897 - 1971.
Golden Pig - Railway siding.
Hangover Bay - South of Cervantes.
Hopeless Reach - Shark Bay area.
Inkpen - West of York.
I.O.U. (Bulong) - Mining centre. 1893.
Jarring. - 1918 - 1928
Jigalong - 1949 - 1969
Koolyanobbing - Shire of Yilgarn. The name means 'Place of large rocks'.
Mandogalup - Originally called 'Balmanup' it was renamed to its present form in 1946.
Manmanning - Surely soon to be renamed Personpersoning?
Misery Beach - Albany
Mistaken Island - Albany
Mount Meharry - Mount me who??
Mount Misery - East Kimberley - Now renamed Bilbiljim.
Mount Nameless - Tom Price. Must have taken a lot of thought to come up with that name.
Mullalyup - Located between Kirup and Balingup on the South Western Highway, 231 kilometres south of Perth.
Niagara - 12 kilometres south east of Kookynie. Named after a world famous waterfall presumably because the water here was so minimal.
There is currently a dam and recreation area but the old town was abandoned.
Nigger Hill - Not surprisingly in these PC times renamed to Sheba Hill.
North Pole - Possibly so named because it was so hot. It was a mining camp in the Pilbara region.
Onteru - Townsite 1913.
Pettits - Rail siding 1922.
Runnymeade - 1900-1909.
Sore Foot Rush - 1892-1897.
Uduc - Railway siding. 1913 to 1922.
Useless Loop - Located in Shark Bay this inlet was originally named 'Havre Inutile' (unsuitable harbour) by French explorer
Freycinet but was translated to 'Useless Inlet (or loop)' possibly by Capt. Denham.
Whackitup - Just a district hall these days. Its between Boyup Brook , Kojonup and Frankland, roundabout.
Correction - this one should apparently be spelled Wahkinup which I guess isn't quite as funny....
White feather - became known as Kanowna.
Woop Woop - Yes there really was a Woop Woop. Named after the sound made by local frogs.
Xantippe - Between Dalwalinu and Kalannie. The only place in Australia starting with an X.
Youanmi - 1909 to 1940. A gold mining area that once had quite a large town. Mining stopped in 1942 ad re-commenced in 1986.
(Thanks to Keith for a couple of extra names.)
Of all the names calculated to make school boys giggle and snigger it is probably Intercourse Island that provokes the biggest reaction.
That is of course until someone looks it up in a dictionary and finds that without the preface 'sexual', intercourse means nothing more than interaction.
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