General News
18 October, 2026
What's in a name: New book updates street name origins
Firebrace Street, Wilson Street, Darlot Street: these names are synonymous with the CBD of Horsham, where we work, shop, and socialise. But the fluorescent signage serves far more of a purpose than wayfinding; they are a tribute to Horsham’s pioneers and settlement history, dating back nearly two centuries.
Firebrace Street, Wilson Street, Darlot Street: these names are synonymous with the CBD of Horsham, where we work, shop, and socialise.
But the fluorescent signage serves far more of a purpose than wayfinding; they are a tribute to Horsham’s pioneers and settlement history, dating back nearly two centuries.
The history and meaning behind 300 street names from Horsham's establishment in 1849 to 1998 is outlined in the book Naming Horsham Streets, written by Vivian Reynolds and published by the Horsham Historical Society in 2003.
Now, members of the historical society are researching and compiling the history of over 120 new street names from the 28-year hiatus, and updating information from the original 2003 edition in a second book.
Elwyn Davies and Wendy Donald have devoted many hours to researching, writing, and compiling information into the modernised book, which has been an ongoing project since the start of the year.
“I came in here one day, and Stuart came up and said, ‘We’ve got this book. We’d like a volunteer. There's about 100 hours’,” Mr Davies said.
“A hundred hours, my foot. A thousand hours later,” he joked.
Mr Davies then met Wendy Donald, who had already begun working on the project, and together they started developing the new book.
“Since this has been done,” Mr Davies said, referring to the original book published in 2003, “with the invention of the internet and AI and everything else, I’m able to put a lot more information on the old streets,” he said.
“Over the years there's been lots and lots of mayors who have had their streets named after them.
“There's been quite a number of military personnel, those from the First World War and Second World War, and one young chap from the Vietnam War.”
Mr Davies said several streets had been named after property developers' families as well as Indigenous geographical features.
“The old streets tend to be named after mainly royalty and military, but in the newer streets, it tends to be after family names, people who are associated with Horsham,” he said.
Mr Davies moved to Horsham two and a half years ago and has since been involved in the society.
Mrs Donald said being a local all her life has given her an invaluable advantage when researching new streets, as she is familiar with local family names.
“What I’ve been doing is going out and trying to find the families that are connected and interviewing them, and a lot of the families that the streets are named after are helping me with the stories,” she said.
“Not just Horsham necessarily, the district too; some of them are named after families that started farming in this area.”
Mrs Donald said some street names have an interesting backstory.
“Some people have given me stories that go back to when they came out from Ireland,” she said.
“We just can't fit all that story in, but we try to condense them so that they’ve still got a good interest in them.
“I found the Thornley (Street) one very interesting; that was the soft drink factory here, as far as we know.
“We have certain streets here that we have no idea who they’re named after.
“We know that name is similar, but we don't know whether it's the exact family, and they don't know whether it's their family or someone else's family,” she said.
Horsham Historical Society president Stuart Hall said they are setting their sights on having the book ready before the historical society’s 70th anniversary next May.
“We’ve had a lot of help from community people and people here on the historical society; it's not just Elwyn and I, it's the whole community,” said Mrs Donald.
The Horsham Historical Society would appreciate assistance if anyone in the community could contact Wendy Donald at wendydonald333@gmail.com if they have information on the names of the following in Horsham: Edmonds, Rahley, MacDonald and Mayfield courts, plus Treacey Street and Victoria Boulevard.