Place names
Many family history records link events to a place name and determining exactly where a location is can add interesting detail to a family history and help solve some mysteries.
The E R Pretyman Index to Tasmanian Place Names is an extensive card index compiled over many years. It has been digitised to allow online access. The creator, Ernest Roy Pretyman, had a strong research interest in the origins of Tasmanian place names, and was a member of the Nomenclature Board, although this index was a private work and not undertaken for that body. It comprises entries derived from Nomenclature Board decisions gazetted in the Tasmanian Government Gazette and documents the early usage of place names in records such as the correspondence of the Lands and Surveys Department (series LSD1), early maps, the papers of Leslie Norman (series NS503) and in contemporary publications, Journals of the Land Commissioners, almanacs, gazetteers and newspapers.
Wayne Smith and the late John Taylor have worked for many years on their A dictionary of Tasmanian place-names, which gives the origins of place names - geographical features, localities and in some cases even street names - throughout Tasmania. Their work remains unpublished but is available in the Hobart and Launceston libraries.
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