At the risk of everyone shouting at me to get off and give someone else a go, I MUST moan about this: Please, when you are speaking or writing about Brisbane Water there is actually no final "s" on Water! Historically, Brisbane Water is the correct name of this arm of Broken Bay just above Sydney. I would be delighted and grateful to hear from anyone who knows of any record which gives the exact date of the adoption of this name. The earliest reference I have is in a Memorial to Governor Brisbane by James Webb in August 1824. Webb was already living in the district. In the Memorial he stated that he had seated himself on the west bank of the north east arm of Broken Bay 'now known by the name of Brisbane Water'.... The Brisbane Water name is certainly confusing for many people from other states who can't understand why the name is used in NSW. Naturally they think of Queensland, and in fact the use of the name at both places was in honour of Governor Brisbane (1821-1825). Qld was still part of New South Wales at that time. More and more businesses are adding an "s" to Brisbane Water in their trading name, probably without realising that that it is not historically correct - or because that's how they prefer it. Perhaps others won't agree with me, but when so many things are changing in our society I think it would be nice if, when possible, we could retain placenames with a long historical attachment. OK, my hobby horse has rushed back to its stable now. Gwen