The names of Milford Sound

Names are funny things. Streets, regions, cities all have names and there is nearly always a story behind them.
And sometimes the story behind the names seems obvious at first glance but in fact there is much more to it.
Take Elizabeth Island in Milford Sound. The largest island in inner Doubtful Sound.
We automatically think of things named Elizabeth are named after our late Queen. Or the first Queen Elizabeth but in reality it was neither.
Elizabeth Island is one of the many places in the Fiordland National Park named by settler, sailor, ship builder, ship captain, sealer, whaler and farmer John Grono.
And it was after his ship the Elizabeth - itself named after his wife Elizabeth Bristowe.
He also named Bligh Sound, again named for one of his ships which was named for infamous Captain William Bligh who was Governor of New South Wales.
Milford Sound was named by Grono after a place in his birthplace.
Grono was born in 1763 in Newport, Wales. Not much is known about his early life but he went into the Navy, aboard the Royal William as an able seaman and in 1798 he went to Australia aboard the HMS Buffalo and transferred to the first Australian ship.
He left that life in 1801 and went into business going into farming and growing wheat.
After losing money he took up sailing again - seal fur hunting in New Zealand.
He gathered several ships and organised the trips, even turning to ship building.
In 1809, his ship the Governor Bligh struck a rock in Foveaux Strait. The ship was able to be saved and he made it back to Sydney with over 10,000 seal skins.
It was the first time the name of the strait had been in print.
Later that year he returned and entered Doubtful Sound where he set up a base on the south coast of Secretary Island which is still called Grono Bay. The highest peak on the island is named Mount Grono.
He also named Milford Sound after Milford Haven in Wales. Nancy Sound and Caswell Sound, and Milford Sound's Cleddau River have also been traced back to him.
Later he made two more trips to New Zealand aboard the Elizabeth before handing his ships over to his son-in-law Alexander Brooks.
Permanently back on dry land he concentrated on ship building.
Grono died on 4 May 1847. Elisabeth had died fourteen months later at age 77. They are buried at the entrance to Ebenezer Church, New South Wales.
Photo over Doubtful Sound near Elizabeth Island from Te Papa’s collection​