Friday, Aug 24, 2012 at 00:22
The WA Government Landgate website is a good source to find the old townsites:
http://www.landgate.wa.gov.au/corporate.nsf/web/History+of+Country+Town+Names
This is an example:
"ROTHSAY" Latitude 29° 17' S Longitude 116° 53' E
The abandoned goldfields townsite of Rothsay is located 427 km north north east of
Perth and about 70 km east north east of Perenjori. Gold was discovered in this area by George Woodley in 1894, and the area was at first known as "Woodley's Find". Woodley sold his claim to a Scottish company in 1895, and the name of the townsite most likely came from this company. Following a request fro a townsite from the local Progress Association in 1897, lots were surveyed and the townsite gazetted in 1898.
This townsite is almost certainly named after the Scottish town of Rothesay on the island of Bute off the Scottish west coast. There has been some doubt about the spelling of the name. The Progress Association used the spelling Rothesay in May 1897, and this spelling was used consistently for 18 months until just before the townsite was gazetted, when the Minister for Lands approved the spelling as Rothsay. This was most likely an error. It was gazetted as Rothsay, and has retained this spelling ever since.
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