A certain Nelligen butcher apparently did away with his wife and threw the body in the river. From time to time the body would float to the surface prompting locals to exclaim, “Here comes Nell again".
Mystery still surrounds the origins of the town’s name. Colonial government policy at the time was to adopt aboriginal place names where possible. With no indigenous written language, however, European translation of aboriginal locality references was approximate at best.
“Nelligen” may be a corruption of an aboriginal term relating to its locality description, its function, a person, or perhaps of a dreamtime event. In the early years the town and its fresh water creek were spelt at different times: Nellican and Nellikeng. 
