Dual names on the map as Aboriginal names recognised for six sites, with more on way

MAPS, signs and tourism brochures are set to be rewritten after  official endorsements of the original Aboriginal names of six  locations.

Mt Wellington

TASMANIAN maps, signs and tourism brochures are set to be rewritten following official endorsements of the original Aboriginal names of six significant locations around the state.

The sites -- including Mt Wellington -- will now have dual Aboriginal and European names, after agreement from the Nomenclature Board and approval by the State Government.

The places given dual names using the palawa kani language are: kanamaluka (river) -- Tamar River; kunanyi (mountain) -- Mt Wellington; larapuna -- vicinity of Bay of Fires; putalina -- vicinity of Oyster Cove; takayna -- the Tarkine; truwana -- Cape Barren Island.

The Tasmanian Aboriginal community has been lobbying for dual naming for decades, and the six names were put forward by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre last year. The six dual names are the first stage of the State Government's Dual Naming policy, with more Aboriginal place names to be considered in the future.

Aboriginal leader Michael Mansell welcomed the change and urged the Department of Education to circulate maps with Aboriginal place names throughout Tasmanian schools.

He said it was important children learned about the heritage of the original Tasmanians, and such geographical knowledge would be a first step towards teaching other aspects of Aboriginal language and culture.

"In Europe everybody grows up with two or three languages," he said. "Here in Tasmania there is a cultural cringe about our past ... but there is nothing to fear."

He said younger generations of Tasmanian Aboriginal children had reclaimed their language and were using it.

Mr Mansell said he hoped new signage with the dual names would be prompt, since the recognition was long overdue.

He said the recent adoption of the dual names had been ushered in without any major announcement or fanfare, in a sign the Government wanted to "stay at arm's length".

Greens MP and former Aboriginal Affairs minister Cassy O'Connor said the dual names recognised the connection of Tasmania's first people to the landscape.

'It recognises the fact that for tens of thousands of years before the arrival of the first Europeans, this island -- lutruwita -- was home to a proud people."

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