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Australians have a fantastic, cheeky sense of humour, even the local councils – which is easily apparent if you check out our road signs.
East to west, north to south, pretty much anywhere you go you can find a street name that will make you chuckle.
Which is why Australian-owned international freight forwarder International Cargo Express (ICE) decided to carry out a study using social media platform X to uncover Australia's funniest street names.
The research used keyword categorisation to find out which places tickled Aussies the most, with the top seven ranked based on how often people are posting about them being funny – with the results offering some unique insights into local humour and cultural ties.
Four of the most humorous names ranked by ICE are in New South Wales, two in South Australia, one in Western Australia and one in Queensland.
| State | Street name |
| SA | Nowhere Else Road |
| QLD | Bald Knob Road |
| NSW | Bucketts Way |
| NSW | Mockridge Avenue |
| WA | Useless Loop Road |
| NSW | Come By Chance Road |
| SA | Haystack Lane |
| NSW | Odd Street |
According to ICE, Nowhere Else Road in SA is number one, and you can even buy your very own replica road sign.
It branches off Flinders Highway, connecting the two towns of Sheringa and Tooligie located in the Eyre Peninsula in the Southern Australian outback.
It’s believed the road got its name in the 1880s when two shepherds struggled to find the shepherd's hut they had been searching for. One turned to the other and said, ‘If it’s not here, then it’s nowhere else’.
There are, however, in fact, four Nowhere Else Roads in Australia, three in SA and one in Tasmania, as well as a Nowhere Else Track in Victoria.
Other popular amusing road names revealed from the study were Useless Loop Road in Tamala, WA – a 100km dirt track road – and Come by Chance Road in Walgett, NSW.
The name ‘Useless Loop’ is said to have originated from a French explorer during an expedition to Australia who believed the road to be completely blocked off by a sandbar.
“Whilst humorous, many of these interesting street names actually have deep ties to the land and the people who settled," said Managing Director of ICE, Ronald Spahr.
"Australians have always had a knack for turning the mundane into something humorous. It's a way of keeping things light-hearted, even in the midst of hard work, like building a home in the outback or establishing a small community.
“So, next time you find yourself bored on a road trip through the outback or country lanes, just look around at the street signs and you’ll soon find yourself amused.”
Though ICE’s findings didn’t show any of the funniest street names as being located in Victoria, site Only in Melbourne has identified a host of its own amusing ones.
On its list are the likes of Batman Avenue – sadly not named after the superhero but John Batman, one of Melbourne’s first residents.
Then there is also Bionic Ear Lane – which in isolation sounds funny, but the reason behind it is more inspirational than comical. Located at the Eye & Ear Hospital, it commemorates the pioneering work of Australian medical scientist Professor Graeme Clark, who developed the multi-channel cochlear implant.
Fear Street in the inner-city suburb of Richmond also made the cut, as well as Lois Lane (of which there are three – in Yarraville, Elsternwick and Dandenong), and Nice Place in Point Cook in Melbourne’s south-west.
For the little ones too (presumably) there are no less than three Sesame Streets, which can be found in Mount Waverley, Fraser Rise and Mickleham.
And, as reported by Nine, there’s also a Glenn Close in Cranbourne West in the city’s south-east, and Tennis Court in the seaside town of Mornington.
There are also five Bogan Streets, one in VIC and another four in NSW.
According to Reddit too there are some doozies that didn’t make the study’s best names list, Krakatinni Close in Cedar Creek and Easy Street in Loganholme, QLD (though there’s also one in Diggers Rest, VIC), and Morning Glory Avenue in O’Halloran Hill, SA.
The majority of street names are decided at local council level, so all we can say is there are some council workers having a lot of fun with their day job out there.
Have we missed any corkers? Let us know any names that make you giggle in the comments.
A born-and-bred newshound, Kathryn has worked her way up through the ranks reporting for, and later editing, two renowned UK regional newspapers and websites, before moving on to join the digital newsdesk of one of the world’s most popular newspapers – The Sun. More recently, she’s done a short stint in PR in the not-for-profit sector, and led the news team at Wheels Media.
