Informal and local names

Informal and local names

Popular names of places sometimes have initial capitals:

Top End [northern part of the Northern Territory]     the Red Centre

but not always:

central Australia     the outback     the mallee region

Unofficial names usually have initial capitals:

Sapphire Coast     Gascoyne Coast     Gold Coast     Channel Country [in South Australia, near Lake Eyre]

Use lower case for names of regions that include compass directions:

southern Australia     northern Australia     far north Queensland     east coast of Australia

Use lower case for generic terms such as central business district. When greater is used with the name of a city to indicate a large area associated with the city, use an initial capital:

Greater Sydney

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