Place Names Register Extract
Gunn
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Print Extract | Search Again| Name | Gunn |
|---|---|
| Type Designation | Suburb |
| Place Id | 2042 |
| Place Type | Administrative Area |
| Status | Registered |
| Date Registered | 17 October 1984 |
| Location (Datum GDA94) | |
| Latitude: -12° 29' S (Decimal degrees -12.4867) | |
| Longitude: 130° 59' E (Decimal degrees 130.9938) | |
| View Map | View in NT Atlas | View in Google Earth | |
| Locality / Suburb | |
| (None Found) | |
| Local Government Area | |
| Palmerston City Council | |
| History/Origin | The suburb of Gunn is named in honour of Jeannie Gunn, author and educator, best known for her influential novel We of the Never Never which recounts her experiences in the Northern Territory. Jeannie Gunn (née Taylor) was born in Carlton, Melbourne, in June 1870. Educated in literature and history alongside her sisters, the three Taylor sisters later established a private school, Rolyat (Taylor spelled backwards), in Hawthorn in 1889. In the 1890s, Jeannie met Aeneas Gunn, a librarian in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran. They married in December 1901 and, shortly after, travelled to the Northern Territory, arriving in Port Darwin aboard the SS Guthrie in early 1902. The couple took up residence at Elsey Station, located on the Roper River, where Aeneas Gunn had pastoral interests. He had previously visited the Territory in 1890 with his cousin, Captain Joseph Bradshaw. Tragically, Aeneas Gunn died in March 1903, less than two years after their arrival. Jeannie Gunn subsequently returned to Melbourne, where she wrote We of the Never Never (1908), a fictionalised memoir that brought national attention to the lives of settlers in the Northern Territory and contributed to shaping popular perceptions of the Australian outback. For her contribution to Australian literature and community service, Jeannie Gunn was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1939 by King George VI. She passed away in Melbourne in June 1961. |
Register & Gazettal information
| Date | Gazettal | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 17/10/1984 | NTG G41 | |
| 05/12/2001 | NTG G48 | Revocation of 17/10/1984 gazettal and renaming of suburb due to changes to boundaries from originally gazetted |