A viral TikTok video posted by user @coreyyy.exe has revealed a geographic quirk in Western Australia: an entire town where most of the streets have Spanish names.
“I don’t know if all Spaniards know this about Australia, but I’m Australian and I didn’t know it,” declares the user at the beginning of the clip. The author explains that, driving north of Perth, is the town of Cervantes.
Although the name of the town already suggested a Hispanic connection, when exploring the area on Google Maps, one comes across a street map dominated by place names from the country.
From “Catalonia Park” to “Barcelona Dr”.
The user’s surprise was compounded when he discovered not only a park with the name “Catalonia Park”, but also a street map reflecting a map of Spain, with a notable concentration of Catalan names.
In the video, the tiktoker lists several of these streets, starting with the most obvious ones: Catalonia Street (Catalonia Street), Barcelona Dr (Barcelona Avenue), Tarragona Loop and Gerona Place (Gerona Square). “But who lives here?” the user wonders in the clip.
The list of Spanish names in the town of Cervantes does not end there. The video also shows the existence of Seville St (Seville Street), Valencia Road (Valencia Road), Madrid Street (Madrid Street), Malaga Court, Almeria Street (Almeria Street), Andalucia Street (Andalucia Street), Santander Way, Cordoba Way, Pamplona Crescent, Cadiz Street (Cadiz Street), Aragon Street (Aragon Street) and Biscay Street (Vizcaya Street).
The tiktoker even mentions a “Corruna Road”, pointing out the local pronunciation for La Coruña.
The viral video has highlighted this geographical curiosity that unexpectedly connects Australia with Catalonia, and where El Quixote is possibly compulsory reading in schools.