I'll go with Minne Ha Ha Falls. Cazzie suggested it might be interesting to look at. While I think I have been there, I was struggling to find it on a map until I worked out that the falls were at a place called Hiawatha!
What is with these American Indian names? Surely when these places were named, average Australiaman/woman would not know about Indians. And why use Indian names?
Minne Ha Ha is not exactly Niagara Falls, but let us just say it a sweet little waterfall full of crystal clear water from Victoria's Strzelecki Rangers. Well, crystal clear if it is not polluted by a certain species of eucalypt favoured for plantation timber. I understand the same species is grown in the Strzeleckis.
Photo by tristinkee at Panoramio. Map below.

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Hi Andrew?
ReplyDeleteWhy would average Austaliaman/woman know about Hiawatha and Minnehaha?
I'm guessing Longfellow's 1855 poem, The Song of Hiawatha might have something to do with it.
xxx
Prof Pants
Yep.
ReplyDeleteSays so HERE Hiawatha was originally named Fairview, then adopted the name Hiawatha from a nearby property which was named after Longfellow's poem.
Prof Pants, why a question mark after my name? It is really me.
ReplyDeleteNow you mention it, I do recall the poem, or the title at least. Funny, I never knew Longfellow was American. Now, which poem did I have to study? Paul Revere's Ride? And I did not know he was American. So long ago.
Jayne, reckon I spent half an hour looking for the origin of name. I did even look at Yarram's hysterical society. Well done.
Wow, thanks Andrewm, now I know where it is. Off the Sth Gippy Highway... well, I wonder if my Pathfinder can get to it. Might have to go for a trek with the kids and hubby :)
ReplyDeleteCazzie
I have been to most of these places. Does your country not have place names based an native people's language?
ReplyDeleteAlaska - Great Country
Allegheny - Fairest River
Appalachian - Appalachee Indians
Appomattox - Tobacco Country
Canada - Collection Of Wigwams
Cashocton - Habitat Of Owls
Chattanooga - Eagles Nest
Chautauqua - Foggy Place
Chesapeake - Salty Pond
Chicago - Wild Onions
Chickamauga - River Of Death
Chillicthe - Town Or Village
Kaibab - On The Mountain
Kalamazoo - Otter's Trail
Kenosha - Long Fish, "Pike"
Keokuk - Watchful Fox
Kokomo - Black Walnut
Lackawanna - Streams That Fork
Lycoming - Sandy Stream
Mackinac - Turtle Island
Mankato - Green Earth
Merrimac - Swift Stream
Milwaukee - Rich Land
Mississinewa - Water On A Slope
Muncie - Strong Place
Muskegon - Plenty Of Fish
Muskingun - Moose-Eye River
Nantucket - Far Away
Natchez - Hurrying People
Niagara - Thundering Water
Okeechobee - Grassy Lake
Omaha - Up Stream
Oshkosh - Claws Or Scratches
Ottawa - Trade Or Exchange
Passaic - Peace Valley
Penobscot - Rocky Place
Pensacola - Hairy People
Peoria - Place Of Fat Beats
Potomac - Burning Pines
Rappahannock - Quick Rising River
Rearearge - High Place
Roanoke - Shell Or Shells
Saginaw - Pouring Out At Mouth
Saratoga - Sparkling Place
Saskatchewan - Swift River
Savannah - Grassy Plain
Schuglkill - Hidden Creek
Scioto - Hairs In River
Shawnee - Southerners
Shenanoah - Hillside Stream
Suequehanna - Pure Water
Suwannee - Echo River
Tacoma - Big Snow Mountain
Tallahassee - Old Town
Tecumseh - Shooting Star
Tippecanoe - Buffalo Fish
Topeka - Potato Country
Toronto - Meeting Place
Tucson - Black Base
Tuscaloosa - Black Warrior
Wabash - White, Flat Rocks
Walla Walla - Many Waters
Wasatch - Beautiful
Very beautiful area Cazzie. Well worth seeing and quite different to the west.
ReplyDeleteStephen, we do have lots of our own Aboriginal place names. A couple within a short distance from home, old names Toorak, Prahran and then there are more newly named places such as Wurundjeri and Birrarung Marr. (I had to cut and paste those two)
I had no idea so many American names were of Indian origin. Canada, Alaska, Chicago. Is Savannah really Indian? I always associated it with Africa.
I been there!! - was New Years Day, 3 years ago. Seemed like hundreds of people camping there, huge amounts of empty alcohol containers littered all over the place, one very small toilet block for all those people. Your photo is bucolic compared to what I saw....but it is a lovely part of the world, we were staying at a caravan park nearby, was for dogs (owners allowed to stay with them if well behaved) - was green, the whole area, think they got 3 cuts of hay that year, Tara Valley ......the rest of the state was/is blowtorched brown and dry.
ReplyDeleteMichael.
Some places can go crazy on NYE Michael. Nevertheless, pity about the rubbish. 'Tis a very damp part of Victoria but even there suffered very low rainfall.
ReplyDeleteCazzie, I live just up the road from the falls and I get there easily in my 2wd sedan, your pathfinder will be fine. And a work of warning...pick a hot day to go the water is ice cold yet very refreshing at the same time. It's well worth a visit.
ReplyDeleteHey i lived at Hiawatha for one year didn't won't to move
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