Humans use language in many ways but the main purpose is communication.
K’Gari (pronounced Gary) is now identified as the name of Fraser Island.
This certainly doesn’t aid communication as it is the language of the Butchella/Butchulla people who were there originally.
The language is not now in common usage and throughout the world everyone will have to learn of the old name , now new, – K’Gari. It is certainly a set back to the tourism industry and all the names associated with “Fraser” – like the Fraser Coast council.
There seems to be two main reasons for the change.
“K’Gari” was the original name.
But every place would have had an aboriginal name.
Do we rename Gympie, Murgon, Brisbane, Long Flat or (gasp) Dagun?
Do we need to research the different languages that covered an area and have a variety of names for each place?
It is obviously impractical.
The other reason is that Fraser island was named after Eliza Fraser who was a survivor, with others, on a ship that wrecked.
She was on the island and a rescue expedition found her and brought her back to Brisbane.
She said that she had been held as a slave and made a lot of money retelling her trials.
It is more likely that the local people saved her.
So the descendants wanted a name change instead of honoring her.
The problem in renaming is that there is no end to it as we find that historical figures do not match up to our present ideas.
“Boolooma”, “dingo”, “dwer-da”, “joogong”, “kal”, “kurpang”, “maliki”, “mirigong”, “papa-mura”, “wantibirri” and “wongari” are some of the many aboriginal words for what is generally known as a dingo.
If you are going to communicate about the danger of interaction with dingoes it is ridiculous to use any other word than “dingo”.
Yet Assistant Principal Ranger on K’gari, Danielle Mansfield, did this in an article “K’Gari wongari warning”.
Where there is a particular reason for a place name change, we can weigh up the advantages and disadvantages and make a decision.
“Dingo” is already an aboriginal name of the Dharug people.
It is the common name and it is ridiculous to posture by using another name intermittently when trying to communicate a danger to both humans and the dingo population.
– Reg Lawler
Dagun
