We’re staying in Balmain in Sydney for a couple of days with friends that we met on our big trip from the Caribbean to Australia in 2009. We had bought a boat in St Maarten and were sailing her back to Australia. Lynn and Paul had bought their boat in La Rochelle in France and we’re taking two years off work to take theirs back. We met in Panama and bumped into each other all the way back and have stayed good friends. They have since got married and acquired a son and a dog which, luckily for my A-Z Challenge, is a Wheaton Terrier called Bosun
Australia is full of places named after towns in the UK or Europe. It’s always odd to see road signs for Brighton or Tenerife or Swansea. I looked up how Balmain got its name. Apparently the area was part of a 550 acres area given to colonial surgeon Dr William Balmain in 1800 by Governor John Hunter. Balmain gave it away a year later to settle a debt and returned home to Scotland.
Prior to European settlement the area was inhabited by indigenous aboriginal people from the Gadigal and Wangal people. They hunted kangaroo there. I’m thinking that they won’t be getting it back any time soon.
The Olive Press 
I’m in Western Australia and we have heaps of places named after towns and cities in the UK. I guess Captain Cook made his mark big time when he settled the country. There is strong push to return to some of the original Aboriginal place names and a lot of the towns ending in “up” come from the Aboriginal term for being near water.
Leanne | http://www.crestingthehill.com.au
C for Consider Every Angle
LikeLike