Evandale naturally grew on land suitable for permanent habitation on a plateau above the banks of the South Esk River. The area was originally named Honeysuckle Banks after the camp made by Macquarie in his traverse of Tasmania in 1811 and thereafter the emerging town was named New River (eponymously from the early name for the Esk) and then known as Collin's Hill in the 1820s. The town (and region) was officially known as Morvern, after the original surveyed site for a town some 3 km south of the current town - a site unsuitable due to lack of permanent water.