Most town names in the world are ego driven. People either used their own names, or of someone they wanted to impress. Occasionally they copied the name of a someone or some place that they missed or of a place the setting reminded them of. Every so often people ran out of creativeness and decided on the obvious. Welcome to Penguin, Tasmania.
The area was first settled in 1861 by Edward Joseph Beecroft, but the person responsible was the Botanist Ronald C Gunn who named the town after the fairy penguins that made little homes along the coastline. To be politically correct, you are not allowed to call them fairy penguins anymore, they are called the little blue penguin. They are actually the smallest penguin on the planet only growing to an average height of 33cm. Sooo cute!
I do love visiting places with funny names the marketing and novelty potential is unlimited! If you do visit Tasmania make sure you travel along the northern coastline and drop in to Penguin.
The girls would love this place!