The materials contained in this item fall into two sections.

The first section includes 24 folders with alphabet headings, holding photocopies of index slips for place names, both Aboriginal and colonial. Generally there are two slips per A4 page, with a total of 627 A4 pages (handwritten and typed). Many of the slips are printed forms with the following categories: derivation; discoverer; nomenclator; date discov; reference; position; native nomen; other notes. Many of the slips do not have pre-printed categories, and simply contain handwritten data. These papers apparently predated the Geographical Names Board's place names project (see AA 338/7/1), and entries may have been made as early as the 1940s. A small number of words relate to places outside the borders of South Australia.

The second section includes one folder of photocopied archival documents, entitled: '888/1899 South Australian Chief Sec. Office: Aboriginal Names'. There are 42 pp. of photocopied pages (mostly A3) + 2pp. of summary notes by Tindale. These documents relate to a project by the Anthropological Society of Australiasia to compile records of Aboriginal names of places in diverse regions of Australia. Apparently 150 circulars were produced to be sent to 'Inspectors of Police, District Surveyors and the Telegraph Masters on the Overland line'. Tindale writes: 'it seems as if the project died & no data was ever forwarded to the Anthropological Society of Australasia. The latest date evident in the docket is 28 Aug 1901'. Tindale notes receiving the data in 1974. Of interest are short vocabularies sent in by some correspondents. These relate to areas in the far north east, the mid north and the south east of the state.