Isle of Girls

An exotic name that started with a mistake by a French cartographer

Eleanor Smith’s 1953 book title Isle of Girls was referencing a once common nick name for Rottnest Island. Some like me, had thought that it might have come from the many geographical locations on the island named after girls (who by the way were almost always named for the wives and daughters of the early superintendents of the island).

However, it originally came from an error when French cartographers were translating early Dutch maps. The first Dutch to see the island had named it Isle of Mists perhaps for the misty haze from the eucalypts in the heat. The word for mists is very close to the word for miss or girls so the French cartographers mistakenly translated the name of the island to L’lle des Filles. The English translated the French maps and followed suit and the name stuck. It’s a pity that the Dutch subsequently named it Rottnest as Isle of Girls is so much more fun and appropriate!

The author Eleanor Smith researched the early diaries, ship pilot’s logs and the notes of John Watson, an early settler and superintendent. She used these, and what was known the people on the island at the time, to write this historical fiction. There is also a useful glossary of people and places and a list of the early Rottnest boat pilots and their crews.

If you are wondering about the girls who became immortalised on Rottnest they were: Catherine, Marjorie, Mabel, Nancy, Fay, Henrietta, Mary and Vera.   

The fabulous cover design is sadly uncredited and the book was published by Paterson Brokensha Pty Ltd, 65 Murray Street Perth.

Eleanor Lenegan Smith 1904-2002 was educated at Perth Girls’ School and worked as a nurse and writer. She wrote three other books about Western Australia and her poetry, short stories and articles appeared in a number of Australian literary magazines.