Thousands of Queenslanders have already signed a new petition calling for a review into the renaming of world heritage site Fraser Island.
Respected historian Anthony Clift launched the petition last week arguing that the public were never consulted before the previous Labor state government suddenly renamed the tourist destination “K’gari” in 2023.
Then-premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who led the state’s tyrannical human rights-violating Covid response, said at the time that the renaming of Fraser Island to the supposed local aboriginal word for “paradise” was an “opportunity to put the centuries of wrong right”.
But Mr Clift told The Courier Mail that claims made by indigenous activists and academics that the island was named after Eliza Fraser, who they dislike, was false.
“Basic research reveals that Fraser Island was in fact named not after her but after her husband, Captain James Fraser, who died while in their custody, after being shipwrecked and landing there with his wife and some of the Stirling Castle crew in 1836,” he said.
Mr Clift is calling for the island to instead be given dual names in order to limit the economic damage done by removing the word “Fraser”, which features in advertisements, local place and business names, and tourism campaigns and is well-known around Australia.
“There was never an option given to the public of the island having dual names. Locally there is a very strong connection with the previous name of Fraser Island. Many businesses and even the area’s local government uses Fraser in their titles, and the area is known as the Fraser Coast,” the petition states.
“This omission needs to be addressed.
“Your Petitioners, therefore, request the House to do all within its power to make correct this oversight and name the island both K’gari and Fraser Island.”
But “indigenous elder” Glen Miller said on Tuesday those unhappy with the new name should “get over it” and called the renaming the “right thing to do”.
“I accept that there are people out there who will never call it K’gari or Uluru,” he told the Fraser Coast Chronicle.
“I really don’t give a shit about them. We’ve taken the right steps to restore the original name. If people want to call it Fraser Island, that’s up to them.
“They’re the people who tell us to get over it. My advice to them is get over it. It has no direct effect on their daily life, it doesn’t affect their health or their income.”
At the time of writing the petition has 4,811 signatures, and closes on December 10.
Header image: Fraser Island (Lucas·G, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
