New Name for South Australia?

I think the point is that SA is confused wtih South Africa - and "South Australia" can be confused with the whole of southern Australia.

I've seen international reporting refer to Melbourne as being "the largest city in southern Australia" - which has a tendency to confuse.

I don't think naming the state something else is an option. I just think they need to be clever in their branding, avoid using "SA" if its that much an issue and perhaps be explicit in the use of "STATE of South Australia".

There is always going to be conflict with names. Western Australia has issues of its own, with regards to Washington State in the US - both are "WA". But that even leads to another example: South Australia's issues are minor compared to somewhere like Washington State, in the shadow if the national capital, Washington DC on the other side of the country. You get the drift.

DML2 said:

'South Australia' and 'the south of Australia' are clearly distinct, so dw about it

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Not for many people outside our region.

I know someone from Victoria, Canada who said people there tend to find it annoying while looking up public services on the internet, due to higher volumes searching with reference to the Australian state they are often misdirected. It might be urban myth but I vaguely remember hearing of a Malaysian (NST?)newspaper reporting that the 1994 Commonwealth Games were being staged in the Australian state of Victoria.

swifty78 said:

Never gotten why it was called South Australia when Victoria and Tasmania are more southern. Only Name I can think of is Flinders.

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I've sometimes thought Central Australia might have been a better name, because when NT was apart of SA it was, geographically, Central Australia.

But then Central Australia - CA. Clashes with California. lol. Leave it as SA.

Alphaville said:

I've sometimes thought Central Australia might have been a better name, because when NT was apart of SA it was, geographically, Central Australia.

But then Central Australia - CA. Clashes with California. lol. Leave it as SA.

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At least Central Australia identifies the region, more so than SA currently does.
The confusion with CA being California would only be in google searches.

I don't think the abbreviation is really the problem, the name of the state is so obscure.. it would be difficult as a state to get any traction overseas when people would commonly think you are referring to a geographical region. Same with WA. But seems like one of those things that'll never change.

If the abbreviation was an issue in terms of states in the US though, they could just be lengthened to 3 letters like VIC, NSW, TAS etc.

There is nothing wrong with the name 'South Australia', all the other potential names sound ridiculous especially renaming the whole state 'Adelaide'. What is wrong is our marketing. For years the state slogan was 'Discover the secrets of SA', and that's the problem most of SA is still just a secret. Even current tourist brochures showcasing Adelaide and SA are woeful.

Many people believe the term 'City of Churches' is due to the city being the number of churches or conservatism, when in actually fact it's due to Adelaide being more open-minded to different cultures at the time. Ofcourse the city of Adelaide has gained a bad reputation in past due to many factors, but cities like Brisbane, Melbourne etc have bounced back so there is no reason why Adelaide can't aswell.

What I hope this achieves, is a simple yet bold new brand for South Australia. Aswell an improved marketing approach to promoting the entire state to the rest of Australia and beyond.

Thankfully we finally have a State Government and City Council that is committed to putting Adelaide back on the radar, with the billions worth of development, lifting of city and inner-city height restrictions and minor things like laneway activation that will help make Adelaide a much more exciting and attractive city to live or visit. Aswell as improving Adelaide and SA's image.

While outside of Adelaide, a multi-million dollar tourism campaign has been launched for Kangaroo Island.

Skyline Art said:

lol... i was just about to post this story..

Um,

why not rename Western Australia and Northern Territory while we are at it... why not rename New South Wales also... these are all old names...

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You've missed the point, Western Australia is just Western Australia, same with the Northern Territory. While South Australia can get confused with NSW, Victoria and Tasmania.

If the Northern Territory become a state, they could also have the same trouble with being confused with northern WA and Queensland.