Facsimile
Transcription
Union Street, [Toowong], S.W.1.
March 27th, 1941.
[Mr. Sydney May],
Hon. Sec. Q.P.N.Committee,
University of Queensland.
Dear Sir,
Regarding northern place names;---
[Tolga], a railway station on the Cairns-Herberton Railway.
The [Athertone Scrub] at its farthest north, before its
general destructon took place, diminished to a long tapering point,
on one side of which was [Martin Town] and on the other side was
[Atherton]. In 1886, [Martin Town] was one of the only three
post-offices between [Port Douglas] and [Herberton] and was on the
pack track between these two towns. [Martin Town] was named after
a family of Martins, two of whom, [George Martin]and [Robert Martin], were still
operating a sawmill there when I last saw the place in 1911.
On the completion of the railway from [Cairns] to [Atherton], a
railway station was established about half a mile, or less, from
[Martin Town], and was named [Tolga]. In 1910,a native trooper,
loaned to me by the Police Sergeant at [Mareeba] as a guide,informed
me that the name Tolge indicated "where the scrub begins".
This nearly coincides with [Mr. O'Leary]'s definition.
Kairi and [Kureen?].
In questioning the trooper above mentioned on these names, he
laconically replied, "Kareé, Kareém ,Kareeńda; all the same, mean
"the place where you go in (i.e.the scrub)". I did not then know
that a selection near [Kairi] had been named [Corinda]. Later on,
I was given to understand that the latter name had no connection
with [Corinda] near [Brisbane]. I think that the aboriginal names
refer to the scrub pockets where the scrub pockets where the blacks camped. I have spelled the names phonetically,as
scrub
as the trooper gave them. The first vowel in each case is obscure.
Kulara .
You may remember that I pointed out that, in [Bailey]'s
"Queensland Flora", the name Kalaara is given as the nativename of
Notes and Questions
Nobody has written a note for this page yet
Please sign in to write a note for this page