The Committee for Geographical Names in Australia (CGNA) was formed in Perth, Western Australia in 1984 following the International Cartographic Association Conference. The committee was created from that meeting of the various Australian and New Zealand geographical names committees and authorities attending the conference.
The Committee (CGNA) was then integrated within the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) in 1993. It is also associated with the Geospatial and Earth Monitoring Division of Geoscience Australia.
Annual meetings followed at:-
Bathurst (NSW) - 1985
Adelaide - 1986
Darwin - 1987
Brisbane - 1988
The authorities that work on geographic names and are members of the committee, and the enabling legislation, are as follows:
Australian Capital Territory - National Memorials Committee - National Memorials Ordinance 1928
New South Wales - Geographical Names Board of New South Wales - Geographical Names Act 1966
New Zealand Geographic Board Ng Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa
Northern Territory - Place Names Committee for the Northern Territory - Place Names Act 1978
Queensland - The Department of Geographic information - Queensland Place Names Act 1988
South Australia - Geographical Names Board of South Australia - Geographical Names Act 1969
Tasmania - Nomenclature Board of Tasmania - Survey Co-ordination Act 1944 amendments of 1955 and 1964
Victoria - Place Names Committee - Survey Co-ordination (Place Names) Act 1965, updated to Geographic Place Names Act 1998
Western Australia - Geographic Names Committee - Land Administration Act 1997 (was originally the Nomenclature Advisory Committee, appointed in 1936 ); Western Australian Place Names and Addressing
Antarctic Names Committee of Australia
Australian Surveying and Land Information Group
Department of Defence - Army
Department of Defence - Navy
