The Name 'Gove'.
Western Front Association Central Victoria BranchGOVE
The name Gove was first applied to a wartime airstrip in 1943. The airstrip was named after Pilot Officer William Julius Henderson Gove (Service Number 401636) RAAF, No.2 Squadron.
Gove was born on 22 April 1921 in Toorak, Melbourne. He was the son of Squadron Leader Robert Gove and his wife Vera. A university student when he enlisted, Gove’s wife Patricia gave birth to their son William Robert Gove, three months after Gove's death in a flight accident on 20 April 1943.
The accident occurred during a reconnaissance when it appears two planes collided shortly after take-off from Millingimbi, killing the crew of both planes. Gove's plane crashed on Rabuma Island, near Milingimbi Island off the Arnhem Land coast, where all were buried together. They were later reburied at the Adelaide River War Cemetery.
The town name Gove was gazetted on 21 August 1968. However, that same year, Prime Minister John Gorton announced during his visit to Gove that the town would be known as Nhulunbuy. Gorton's trip coincided with the Gove land rights case Millirrpum v Nabalco. His decision to rename the town followed a Yolngu delegation from Yirrkala who believed that Nhulunbuy was the name given the area by the Dreaming ancestor Wuyal. The name 'Nhulun' is the traditional name for Mount Saunders and 'buy' is a suffix that refers to the adjoining or associated area to the name. The town was officially renamed Nhulunbuy in 2007.
Refer to Place ID 16222 - Nhulunbuy (Town)
- https://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=13240 https://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=13240
