Property, Titles and Maps

Office of Geographic Names

The Office of Geographic Names is located within the Office of the Surveyor General Victoria, a business unit of Land Victoria. The office is headed by the Registrar of Geographic Names, who is appointed by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, under section 7 of the Geographic Place Names Act 1998.

The key responsibility of the registrar is to maintain the Victorian Register of Geographic Names. For more on the registrar's responsibilities see About the registrar.

Within the office, the Project Officer is responsible for overseeing current key projects and the Administration Officer processes naming proposals for features, roads and localities.

The office liaises with naming authorities such as municipal councils and government departments to ensure the register is regularly updated. Ongoing communication occurs between the office and service providers such as the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA), Australia Post and other organisations to ensure the naming of Victorian features is consistent with the Guidelines for Geographic Names and reflects current best practice standards to minimise service delivery, locational and mapping issues.

The office can assist with enquiries or requests in:

• registering names for local roads, parks, reserves or other features
• current locality names and boundaries or proposed changes to locality boundaries
• providing details on processes, principles or policies outlined in the Guidelines for Geographic Names
• the role of government departments in naming public infrastructure such as schools, train stations, state forests or national parks
• process involved in convening a Geographic Place Names Advisory Committee to consider a naming proposal of regional, state or national significance
• how the public can submit or search for information on the histories of Victoria's place names.

For a summary on the role of the Office of Geographic Names in naming places in Victoria, download the brochure: Naming Places in Victoria (PDF - 840 KB)