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It is important to record information about why the name of a road, feature or locality was chosen. This ensures historical information is available to future generations and provides transparency in the naming process.

Members of the public are encouraged to add historical information about a road, place name or locality to the VICNAMES register.

VICNAMES is the Register of Geographic Names. It contains over 45,000 geographic places and over 200,000 roads. Each record can have historical information added to the name.

The historical information component of VICNAMES was created to help the public access and contribute information on the origins of Victorian place names. It is part of the Australian National Placenames Survey (ANPS) research project that aims to keep a national register of geographical names.

Who can add historical information to a place or road?

Anyone can add historical information to a place or road in Victoria.

How to add historical information to a place or road

You can add historical information to any place or road record in VICNAMES.

The Guide to VICNAMES (DOCX, 6.1 MB) explains how to search for the origins of a name and add historical information to any place or road.

You can make the following actions:

  • add language of origin (if known)
  • indicate if the name is an Australian Indigenous language
  • indicate if the record is an ANZAC-related name
  • indicate the date first recorded
  • add the history or origin of the name
  • indicate the type of source and add relevant information current approved sources include:
  • add contact details of the submitter
  • submit the historical entry

Supporting information, such as documents and images, can be uploaded to any record that has approved historical information. The supporting information can allow the story behind the place name to be told in greater detail.

Approved sources of information

When you submit a request to add historical information to a place or road in Victoria, the submission should relate to an approved source.

Approved sources are:

  • books
  • edited book section
  • journal
  • manuscript
  • oral history
  • maps
  • newspaper or magazine
  • artefact
  • website
  • council
  • Geographic Names Victoria (GNV)

What happens after a proposal has been submitted?

After a proposal has been submitted, it is checked and verified by a historical content administrator.

You are required to include contact details so that you can be contacted during the process. This could be for further details, or changes before your information becomes publicly available. Your contact details will remain confidential.

Supporting historical information can be submitted once a submission has been approved. This can include copies of photos as jpegs, Microsoft Word or PDF documents.

How to submit supporting information:

  • Email geo.names@transport.vic.gov.au
  • Clearly indicate the record the information relates to. You can use the place name or URL link to the record. The record will contain the ID reference.

The historical content administrator will upload this content to the record and notify GNV.

Resources and downloads

Page last updated: 05/09/24