Goanna in Australia likened goannas to the South American lizards.. Over time, the initial vowel sound was dropped. A similar explanation is used to link possum to the American opossum. Another possibility is that the name might have derived from the South African term for a monitor lizard, "leguaan", as the Cape of Good Hope was a popular refresher stop for immigrant ships to Australia from Britain. For a list of all monitor lizards of the genus, see Complete list of genus "Varanus". The following are found in Australia. For the most part, in common names, "goanna" and "monitor" are interchangeable.
Goanna (band) group Fairport Convention, who had returned to Australia in 1979. "Spirit of Place" reached No. 2 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart, within two weeks of its release and remained there for 10 weeks, alternating with Midnight Oil's "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" for the No. 1 & No. 2 spot. It also reached No. 179 on the US "Billboard" 200. For the album, Goanna were Rose Bygrave on keyboards, Peter Coughlan on bass guitar, Graham Davidge (ex-Little River Band) on guitar, Warrick Harwood, Shane Howard, his sister Marcia Howard on backing vocals, Mick