As a foreigner living in the suburbs of Melbourne, it is practically a day-to-day thing to use the train to go or return from the city, to go to work or simply to have fun. I have been through almost half of the stations but I always wondered why the names of these. I did not want to stay with this question so do a little research that I will leave you in various publications.
I live on the Pakenham line, so I will start on this line starting from the city and I will not mention the city loop since their names are very obvious.
Flinders Street: originally called Melbourne Terminus. The name was changed in honor of Matthew Flinders, English navigator who charted much of the Australian coast.
Richmond: It was named arbitrarily and because of Richmond in London. The aboriginal name was Quo-Yung and it means dead trees.
South Yarra: called for being south of the yarra river. The name Yarra is said to mean "ever flowing river"
Hawksburn: It was named after Hawksburn House (situated near where the railway station was later built), which was so named when its owner saw a hawk near a stream which he likened to a Scottish burn.
Toorak: The word may have been derived from Aboriginal words of similar pronunciation meaning reedy swamp or black crow.
Armadale: Armadale is named after Armadale, Sutherland in Scotland. This was because one of Armadale notable residents, James Munro, 15th Premier of Victoria, was born in Armadale, Sutherland.
Malvern: it was named after John Gardiner one of its first European settlers.
Caulfield: The origin of the name of Caulfield is not known for certain, but the name seemed to be linked with Baron Caulfield of Ireland, perhaps through John Caulfield, a pioneer of the colony. The name Caulfield was in use by 1853, and the early maps always place it somewhere around the racecourse.
Carnegie: Originally called Rosstown, after developer William Murray Ross one of the early pioneers of the area. The original name lives on in the name of the local hotel, and Rosstown Road. Leila Road is named after Mr Ross's wife, and Grange Road is named after Ross's estate, The Grange, which has since been subdivided and is now suburban housing estates.
In 1909 Carnegie was chosen as a new name in what was believed to be an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to secure funds for a library from the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
Murrumbeena: The Boon Wurrung, the Indigenous Australians of the Kulin Nation, are recognised as the traditional owners of the land now known as Murrumbeena.
Hughsdale: Originally Hughsdale was part of Oakleigh and was named for James Vincent Hughes, Major of City of Oakleigh from 1924 to 1925.
Oakleigh: was named after the Scottish settlers in the area in and near the run.
Huntingdale: The land that is now Huntingdale was originally inhabited by the Wurundjeri and Boon wurrung people of the Kulin nation. Huntingdale was first built up in the early 20th century as part of the expansion of Oakleigh. Huntingdale was earlier known as Oakleigh East or East Oakleigh. Oakleigh East and Huntingdale became separate suburbs in 1955. the origin of the name is not known exactly.
Clayton: The area was first occupied for farming in the 1850s and was originally named after a property, "Clayton Vale", owned by lawyer John Hughes Clayton in the 1860s.
Westall: The suburb sometimes goes by the name Westall, due to the name of the main road and the railway station that serve the area. Westall is not, however, an official name, and all post addressed to the area is addressed to Clayton South. Early Origins of the Westall family
Springvale: The area contained natural springs which were a permanent water source for stock.
Sandown Park: In 1891, the racecourse was sold to the Victorian Trotting Club and was renamed Sandown Park Racecourse, after the famous track in England. Racing was held at the track until 1931, when the Victorian government decided to reduce the number of metropolitan racecourses, closing Sandown Park amongst others.
Noble Park: The history of Noble Park as a suburb in Melbourne began in 1909. Allan Buckley nicknamed the land subdivision Nobel Park after the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. Buckley had used the estate to demonstrate Nobel's explosives but the name was soon transformed to Noble Park by common usage.
Yarraman: Mid 19th century probably from an Aboriginal language. The word was taken into the early Australian pidgin used by white settlers and Aborigines to communicate with each other; each believed that yarraman was the word for ‘horse’ in the other's language.
Dandenong: The name is generally thought to be derived from the Woiwurrung word "Tanjenong" meaning "lofty mountains" possibly referring to the nearby Dandenong ranges.
Another popular theory is that the name comes from 'bad flour', or 'no good damper'. A local tale revolves around local aboriginals obtaining a bag of lime and mistakenly using it to make damper. An old local hotel was the 'No Good Damper Inn'.
A third version has the name Dandenong coming from 'a burning' and 'the past' reflecting bushfires on the Dandenongs.
Hallam: thought to honour Hallam Tennyson (1852-1928), author and governor-general.
Narre Warren: The name Narre Warren is of Aboriginal origin, one of the various interpretations being small hills. Gradually New Narre Warren claimed the name, and the original Narre Warren became Narre Warren North.
Berwick: The area was part of Cardinia Creek run and was named by an early leaseholder, Robert Gardiner, after his birthplace, Berwick-on-Tweed.
Beaconsfield: In 1881 a railway station was opened on the Gippsland line and named Beaconsfield after the prominent statesman Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield.
Officer Station: The railway station was originally known as Officer’s Wood Siding, named after the pastoralist Robert Officer.
Cardinia Road: From the Aboriginal expression karr-din-yarr, meaning look towards the rising sun, the area was known as South Pakenham until at least 1879.
Pakenham: The township was known as Pakenham since survey in the 1850s, thought to honour General Pakenham who served in the Crimean War.
