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COPY:

Unofficial.

Dear Mr. May,

While having little doubt that the name Tin Can was
derived from tintchin, I have always had some doubt as to
whether it was a word of the local abriginal language, for,
according to some reliable authorities it was a Brisbane
aboriginal's word. One of the mangroves in the Wide Bay
District was locally called "pirri", the name being inspired
from the fact that the aerial root of the tree looks something
like fingers.

Of course, it may be an alternative name. Many trees in
the Wide Bay district have the same names as they are known by
the Brisbane aborigines, and again, there are more than one
species of mangrove. No one seems to know who named the bay.
It would be interesting to know if Andrew Petrie named it when
on the Mary River expedition in 1842. He then had a couple of
Brisbane natives with him, who apparently gave him the native
names for some of the places he named at the time, as, for
instance, Marouchidore (Muru-uchi-dya) after the Brisbane name
of the black swan, for which the local word was kuluin. It is
to be regretted that he left no diary regarding his expedition.

Yours faithfully
(signed) F. J. Watson