Place naming glossary | NSW Government

About this glossary

The purpose of this glossary is to help you understand the place naming terminology used on our website and in our policies. It contains definitions of 3 types of terms. They are:

status values used in the Geographical Names Register
designation values used in the Geographical Names Register
common terms used in Geographical Names Board (GNB) information.

You can search the glossary for individual terms, or filter by one of these 3 types.

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Term	Type	Explanation
Abandoned	Status values	Name approved by the Geographical Names Board (GNB) but withdrawn due to objections received during public consultation.
Aboriginal Reserve	Designation values	Aboriginal reserves were parcels of land set aside for Aboriginal people to live on; these were not managed by the government or its officials. From 1883 onwards, the Aboriginal people who were living on unmanaged reserves received rations and blankets from the Aborigines Protection Board (APB), but remained responsible for their own housing.
Act	Common terms	Geographical Names Act 1966 No 13.
Advertised	Status values	Proposed place name advertised for public comment.
Aerodrome	Designation values	All licensed aerodromes and government aerodromes maintained by the Federal Airports Corporation, other than those designated ‘airports’.
Airfield	Designation values	A landing or taking–off area for aircraft.
Airport	Designation values	An aerodrome that handles regular schedules of passengers and freight.
Amphitheatre	Designation values	Basin shaped hollow, particularly one having steep sides. Considerable variation in size.
Anabranch	Designation values	A distributary of an anastomosing river which links up with other distributaries and sometimes with the parent stream.
Applicant to review comments	Status values	Proponent reviewing submissions made on a proposed place name at the end of advertising.
Arm	Designation values	A comparatively long, narrow and natural waterway extending from a larger body of water.
Artesian Bore	Designation values	A hole bored perpendicularly into strata, producing a constant supply of water at the surface without pumping.
Assigned EDU – Official	Status values	The Minister for Education has the power to name or change the name of government schools in accordance with Section 27(2) of the Education Act 1990. The Secretary has agreed to seek advice from the GNB when preparing advice for the Minister regarding school names.
Assigned NPWS – Official	Status values	Under section 30A of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974, park names are assigned by and can be changed by the Governor, with concurrence of the Geographical Names Board.
Assigned – Official	Status values	If approved by the GNB, a place name will be officially recorded in the Geographical Names Register and published in the NSW Government Gazette.
Backwater	Designation values	A body of stagnant water connected to a river.
Basin	Designation values	1. The tract of country drained by a river and its tributaries, or which drains into a particular lake or area. 2. A circumscribed formation in which the strata dip inward from all sides to the centre; the stratified deposit, especially of coal, lying in such a depression. 3. An area of water limited in extent and nearly enclosed by structures alongside which vessels can lie. A non-tidal basin is one closed by caisson of gates to shut off from open water, so that a constant level of water can be maintained in it. Also called a ‘wet dock’. A tidal basin is one without gates in which the level of the water rises and falls with the tide. Sometimes called an ‘Open Basin’.
Bay	Designation values	A well–marked indentation made by the sea or a lake into a coastline, whose penetration is in such proportion to the width of its mouth as to contain land locked waters and constitutes more than a mere curvature of the coast.
Beach	Designation values	The sloping shore along a body of water that is periodically washed by waves or tides and is usually covered with sand or gravel.
Bight	Designation values	A crescent–shaped indentation in the coastline usually of large extent and not more than a 90 degree sector of a circle. See ‘Bay’ and ‘Gulf’.
Billabong	Designation values	An efflux from a stream, usually an old bend in the stream, which has been cut off by erosion and deposition. When the fall of a stream is only a few centimetres per kilometre, the channel is usually incapable of clearing flood waters, which overflow into this efflux. As the water recedes the efflux or billabong becomes a pool or a series of pools, which in dry periods may completely dry up.
Bluff	Designation values	A spur or ridge terminating in a steep, rocky face.
Board (see also GNB)	Common terms	Geographical Names Board as constituted under the Act.
Board to consider	Status values	Place name proposal to be considered by the Board.
Board to reconsider	Status values	Place name proposal is to be reconsidered by the Board if objections received after advertising.

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