Story: Place names

Naming Invercargill

Naming Invercargill

At a celebratory dinner in Dunedin in 1856 in honour of the visit of Governor Thomas Gore Browne the guest of honour proposed naming the town at the Bluff after the Otago provincial superintendent, William Cargill. With the prefix ‘Inver’ – Scots for mouth of a river – Invercargill came into the world. Its previous name was Inverkelly, named for an early resident.

Using this item

National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past
Reference: Otago Witness, 19 January 1856, p. 3

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page:

Malcolm McKinnon, 'Place names - Colonial naming', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/document/19337/naming-invercargill (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Malcolm McKinnon, published 24 Nov 2008