Gladstone council says Coon Street name will stay

Despite popular cheese brand Coon dumping its name, a Queensland council has said it won’t change an identically-named street for this interesting reason.

A Queensland council has said it has no plans to change the controversial name of a prominent Gladstone street because it’s derived from an Indigenous word, after a well-known Australian cheese brand with the same name unveiled its new branding.

After almost 90 years being sold as ‘Coon,’ owners of the cheese brand officially changed its name to Cheer in reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement and concerns over its racist connotations.

A record from the early 20th century listing Coon Street in Gladstone. Picture: Gladstone Regional Council.

But the sudden change of names hasn’t reached Gladstone, with the regional Queensland city’s council saying it’s not rushing to rename a local thoroughfare that’s been called Coon Street since 1899.

“Gladstone Regional Council has no plans to rename Coon Street, South Gladstone,” acting mayor Kahn Goodluck said.

“The word ‘Coon’ is said to be an Aboriginal word for dragonfly,” Mr Goodluck said.

A page referring to Coon Street in the book The Student's Friend: The Gladstone Story. Picture: Gladstone Regional Council

Media representatives from Gladstone Regional Council also provided pictures of historical records and a page from historical book ‘The Students Friend: The Gladstone Story,’ which refers to Coon Street as “bearing on aboriginal for “dragonfly”.”

“Gung/kung which sounds like Coon means water in the traditional languages of Gladstone,” the acting mayor said.

Mr Goodluck said a number of streets throughout Gladstone were similarly named after local indigenous words.

The cheese brand, owned by dairy company Saputo, will be rebadged as Cheer in coming months after six months of deliberations.