Laura Kostanski

Dr Laura Kostanski is the CEO and Director of Geonaming Solutions Pty Ltd. Her professional and research interests centre on developing robust geospatial, addressing and geographic naming policies and systems for government and private clients at national and international levels. She is a Churchill Fellow, an Adjunct Research Fellow at Federation University Australia, a Member of the Open Geospatial Consortium, a Director of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences, has been an Australian representative to the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographic Names and recently was successful in collaborating to receive an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant. Laura has been Research Manager and Gazetteer Expert for the CSIRO Spatial Identifier Reference Framework (SIRF) program which examined methods for reengineering gazetteer development, maintenance and output processes with a key focus on Indonesia. In her previous role as Project Manager at the Office of Geographic Names Victoria (OGN Vic) she was involved in policy development, governance and stakeholder engagement in the spatial science domain and was involved in the development of the new Guidelines for Geographic Names Victoria. Laura is currently working on geonaming policy projects for the State Government of New South Wales and the Government of Abu Dhabi.

Indigenous and Minority Placenames »

Australian and International Perspectives

Edited by: Ian D. Clark, Luise Hercus, Laura Kostanski

Publication date: August 2014

This book showcases current research into Indigenous and minority placenames in Australia and internationally. Many of the chapters in this volume originated as papers at a Trends in Toponymy conference hosted by the University of Ballarat in 2007 that featured Australian and international speakers. The chapters in this volume provide insight into the quality of toponymic research that is being undertaken in Australia and in countries such as Canada, Finland, South Africa, New Zealand, and Norway. The research presented here draws on the disciplines of linguistics, geography, history, and anthropology. The book includes meticulous studies of placenames in central NSW and the Upper Hunter region; Gundungurra cave names; western Arnhem Land; Northern Cape York Peninsula and Mount Wheeler in Queensland; saltwater placenames around Mer in the Torres Strait; and the Kaurna in South Australia. For more information on Aboriginal History Inc. please visit aboriginalhistory.org.au.

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