52

Union Street,
[Toowong], S.W.1.
Dec. 28th, 1940.

[Mr. Sydney May],
University of Queensland,

Dear Sir,

I have your letter of 23rd to hand, With regard to the
list of place names enclosed therewith I fear that I can give
little information. I can only suggest that the name [Cooloola]
may have been derived from koólooloi, the cypress pine and
[Coroibah] from kurúiba (kuroó-ee-ba) meaning place of grey forest
opossums. [Goondoo] may be from gunda (goonda), the cabbage-palm.

As I am not personally acquinted with the localities I cannot
say whether this is correct. Although all the places
mentioned are within the Kabi territory I cannot recognise
any of the other names as being of that language. Unfortunately
many place names are so ancient that the blacks themselves have
lost their meanings as well as their proper pronunciation, and
white people have so progressively mis-spelled and mispronounced
them that they are now entirely unintelligible.

The name [Teitsel] contains the letter S , showing that it
is not an aboriginal word. The alteration of one letter, viz.
S to Z makes a fairly common German surname.

I may mention that the fact,that some years ago, I
had an inquiry of an old resident of the locality of the lakes
as to the meaning of their names, shows that , locally , they are
not known.

Your faithfully,
[FJWatson]