Table Top Mountain: Western Wakka Wakka elder backs calls to rename iconic

Indigenous groups have revealed the key reason they want Table Top Mountain renamed – and the origins behind it date back thousands of years.

Tracey McLeod of the Western Wakka Wakka People wants to see Tabletop Mountain returned to its traditional name, Meewah. Picture: Nev Madsen.

The daughter of Margaret McLeod the last surviving Western Wakka Wakka elder has thrown her family’s support behind the drive to return Table Top Mountain to his traditional name of Meewah.

Tracey McLeod said the stories about Meewah were held by the woman in her family for hundreds of years and she fondly remembers her grandmother Phyllis Hall talking about the landmark.

“I have always known it as Meewah,” she said.

“Our stories are all in that range, in those hunting grounds, and they are shared stories.”

Ms McLeod was given permission to speak about the mountain’s history by her mother, who is the endorsed party for the Western Wakka Wakka native title claim that stretches from Gatton to the base of the Bunya Mountains.

She said First Nations people used Meewah to communicate with other mobs in the area via fires and smoke signals.

The signals were used to make the start of important meetings and festivals that would draw in people from across southern Queensland.

Tracey McLeod of the Western Wakka Wakka People pictured with Meewah in the background. Picture: Nev Madsen.

An ethnographic study prepared by Ray Kirkoff during that claim found the name Meewah was recorded as early as 1842 by German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, two years before his famous trek from Jimbour Homestead near Dalby to Darwin.

A Dreamtime story recorded in the Brisbane Telegraph in December 1949 tells of a quarrel between Meewah and Wandoyawah, a peaked hill near Helidon

“At that time Meewah was cone-shaped like the peaked hill, and underneath Meewah was a lake fed by an underground stream,” the story said.

“Wandoyawah threw a great boomerang at Meewah and cut his head off.

“Meewah being dead, the lake overflowed and ran down a fissure of the earth to Helidon, where it was stopped by Bangbeergobah (another mountain facing Helidon).

“Bangbeergobah drove a huge rock into the earth where the spring rose, and the water broke through to become available for the Helidon tribes, the friends of Bangbeergobah.”

Another story recorded in the Western Champion in 1913 tells of a similar fight between Meewah and Wandoyawah.

A sketch of Meewah (Me-e-ba) from Ludwig Leichhardt's 1942 notes.

It claims the fight started over a woman named Lali who was the daughter of a Toowoomba tribe that would often sit on the escarpment and admire both mountains.

The mountains competed for her love by collecting water from the rain clouds with Meewah winning after intervention for his foster mother, the moon, who gave him a magic gourd.

In a fit of jealousy Wandoyawah threw a boomerang at Meewah and cut off his head.

Ms McLeod said there was broad support within the Indigenous community to rename the mountain.

“Our names have become so important because it brings us back to our roots,” she said.

“It is about time that aboriginal society is being recognised in country.

“Only bigger things can happen now.”

Uncle Wayne Fossey at the 179th Anniversary of the Battle of Meewah. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Historian and University of Southern Queensland elder in residence Uncle Wayne Fossey has called on the Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley Regional Council to back his campaign to rename the mountain.

Both councils will work through that process in the coming months with both calling for a broad education campaign.

From there the proposal moves to the Queensland Department of Resources for the final tick.

If it gets across the line then Ms Cloud hopes to see the mountain’s walking tracks lined with signs telling the stories of the mountain.

“That can be the history from our side and the European side,” she said.

“We have been working with Toowoomba Regional Council to put our stories along the tracks at Picnic Point and it would be a great thing to have them at Table Top also.”

The Chronicle is running a survey to gauge community support for the change.

Have your say here.