What’s in a name?
As an avid consumer of email newsletters, the Committee for Perth caught The Note’s attention earlier this week when it asked an intriguing question in its November bulletin about the issue of indigenous names for places.
By way of background, the issue isn’t new, as the committee acknowledges. But it has had some recent focus. Last month, for instance, there was speculation about Rottnest officially taking the dual name of Wadjemup, a moniker already used for the biggest lighthouse on the holiday island.
And of course there’s Mooro Katta or Kaarta Gar-up, two of the names for Mount Eliza, the highest point of Kings Park.
But what was the Committee for Perth suggesting when it headlined its discussion with the title ‘Dual naming for WA’.
The Note wonders if that means the whole state should have an Aboriginal name?
Double ruling
A Note operative was intrigued to receive a business card from Southern Cross Goldfields chief Glenn Jardine that was 9cm in width.
We know that because the actual distance was measured off on the back of the card. Intrigued as to whether this is how the company measured its nuggets, we asked Mr Jardine for the reason.
“It does open up the possibilities for speculation doesn’t it,” he said.
“In the office environment you could use it to measure the thickness of reports to determine if you got value for money from your consultant,” the gold exec joked.
Apparently the handy, forget-me-not ruler is used by geologists in the field for scale purposes when taking photographs.
However, as Mr Jardine conceded, it does beg the question as to who needs a business card in the outback in the first place?