One place on this journey has proven to be quite illusive – Yarra Yarra. Finding Yarra Yarra has taken me to two other places previously, but I can now reveal the true Yarra Yarra.
The true Yarra Yarra is the Yarra River in Melbourne. How can I be certain? Well when meeting Geoff Mack, writer of “I’ve been everywhere” I mentioned my Yarra dilemma and he quite matter of factly said, oh, its the Yarra River.
To quote wikipedia “Originally called Birrarung by the Wurundjeri, the current name was mistranslated from another Wurundjeri term; Yarra Yarra. Upon European arrival it was given the name Yarra Yarra by John Helder Wedge of the Port Phillip Association in 1835, in the mistaken belief that this was the Aboriginal name for the river. However it is believed that Yarra means “waterfall” or “flow”, descriptive of any river or creek in the area, not just the Yarra”,