Correspondence Between Sydney May And F.J Watson Concerning Aboriginal Place Names (ITM489477)

20th November, 1942.

F.J. Watson, Esq.,

TOOWONG. S.W.1.

Dear Sir,

Following on our conversation the other day, would you give me what information you can regarding - (a) Mt. Beppo. (b) Tin Can Bay.

You have already given me the corruption of the aboriginal word, and its meaning. Now I would like to get some account of its history, and the origin of the name.

The Surveyor General has asked me to treat this matter as urgent.

Yours faithfully,

Hon. Secretary.

20th November, 1942.

Mrs. L. Curry Bundarra, VIA NAMBOUR.

Dear Madam,

I am trying to obtain information regarding Tin Can Bay and how it came by its quaint name. I thought you might be able to help me in some way. Perhaps you could get some information from Mr. Lowe or Mr. Carrell on the matter.

Thanking you.

Yours faithfully,

Hon. Secretary.

"Nyleta" Union street, Toowong, S.W.1. May, 17th, 1943.

Mr. Sydney May, Hon. Secretary, Q.P,N. Committee, University of Queensland,

Dear Sir,

In reply to your letter of 4th April, 1843, relative to the place name Toowong, I have made inquiries of many old residents of the locality and in other directions with the following results. I have no doubt that the name is derived from Toowong, the aboriginal onomatopoetic name of the Koel Cuckoo, (Endynamys orientalis), sometimes called rainbird.

This bird is not named a cuckoo by reason of its called, but from the fact that it has the cuckoo habit of laying its eggs in another birds nest. Tom Petrie, ---vide "Tom Petrie's Reminiscences"-- stated that this name applied to a bend in the river below the Indooroopilly bridge,. This will be the place known as Long Pocket. But it seems to have no connection with the naming of Toowong township. Petrie also stated that the site of the Regatta Hotel was known as Jo-ai Jo-ai and that a place near the Toowong Railway station was Bunaraba. No translation of either word is given but the latter would seem to be derived from Bunar-a-ba, place of bloodwood trees.

It may have been the site of an ancient blacks' camp which, I am told, once existed on the rise on the Brisbane side of Toowong Railway station. By the way, Patterson's sawmill was first situated near the railway bridge opposite to the Toowong Sports Ground.

On the evidence of Mr. Patterson of Patterson's Sawmill, and of Mr.W.B.Pears, and old resident, the name of the site of the present township was,in early days, known as Noana. No translation of this name is given, but I have little doubt that it is a white man's, and , indeed, the latter day aboriginals' pronounciation of Ngoa-nga, the natives' name of the Moreton Bay fig tree, with the gutteral forming g's cut out.

I am enclosing some Courier-Mail excerpts on the name Toowong by a Mr. H.C.Perry and myself. Mr. Perry has evidently confounded the names of R.L.Drew and A.L.G. Drew. It was A.L.G. Drew, and not R.L.Drew who had land on the Milton,--or Toowong-Reach. A.L.G.Drew's daughter, Mrs. O'Neil Brenan and her son are still living there, near the Regatta Hotel, but neither can give any information about the naming of Toowong.

Coming to the statement given on the authority of Mr. J.B.Fewings, I find that R.L.Drew once owned land on both sides of Toowong Creek, then known as Sandy Creek, which included the present Toowong Sports Ground, and that he lived on the present site of Mr.--Henderson's residence. This land was subquently held bt W.J.Scott, an official of the Land's Department. I have no doubt that R.L.Drew was the originator of the place name Toowong in this neighbourhood. He appears to have taken a prominent part in local public and social matters, and he made a gift of the site of the first Church of England at Toowong which was erected on the hill on the opposite side of the railway line to the Brisbane Boys' College playground and overlooking his property. He had cut up his property into small lots. As to the board mentioned by Mr. Fewings as bearing the inscription "This is the Village of Toowong" and placed at the termination of High Street, it may be inferred that it was intended to indicate the position of R.L Drew'shis property ,which the position of the board pverlooked, and not the present township. The name was evidently adopted by the Lands Department whan the Toowong Shire was proclaimed before the Railway station was established.

[pencil note] 1879

Yours Faithfully, FJWatson (F.J.Watson)

[left clipping] ING INVESTOR," Rockhampton.

[pencil note] C-M 2/7/41

Origin Of "Toowong"

In my paper to the Historical Society, after quoting Mr. J. B. Fewings as my autority for the aboriginal meaning of Toowong as "Rich Place," I also quoted the late J. O'Neil Brenan as having said that it was named from the call of, or the aboriginal word for, the male Flinders cuckoo. Mr. Fewings was a close friend of Mr. R. L. Drew, the real founder of the village.-Harry C. Perry, Toowong.

Sociological Literature

Professor Murdoch stated in this article (C.-M., 28/6/41), that except for Mr. Eggleston's "Search for a Social Philosophy," there has been, for 40 years, no sociological work worthy of mention. I wish to draw attention to

[left margin] e ly ed le 98 es ss e e n

[right clipping] A settlement was reched last at the Ipswich railway workshop. W in the moulding ship to-day.

Toowong-"Rich Place" To Blacks

Toowong, prosperous Brisbane suburb, was "born" one day in 1862 when the late Mr. Richard Drew bought land on the Milton Reach of the river and named it "Too-wong," aboriginal term for "rich place".

Mr. H. C. Perry referred to this in a lecture to the Historical Society last night. It was not until 1879 that the district received official recognition and was appointed a shire, he said, but in 1872 a "bus" service-a waggonette-was introdurced.

[red ink] Courier Mail 25/6/41

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Nyleta, Union Street, Toowong, June 25th, 1941.

For publication ( as "Letter to the Editor)- S.V.P. -----------------------------

Sir,

Mr. H.C.Perry's statement ( Courier--Mail, 25/6/41) to the Historical Society solves the question as to how the present site of Toowong received its name, for the well-known pioneer, Tom Petrie said that it was the aborigines' name for the bend of the Brisbane River below the Indooroopilly Bridge, i.e. at the point of the peninsula now know as Long Pocket. I cannot, however, agree with Mr. Perry as to the meaning of the name , which he has given as "rich place". Petrie stated that Toowong was the aborigines' name for the black goat sucker, by which, I think, is meant what is now commonly known as the Koel cuckoo, a bird whose call is still frequently heard about the bird sanctuary at Toowong,and which, no doubt, suggestedgave rise to its onomatopoetic name.

(F.J.Watson)

To/ The Editor Courier--Mail, Queen Street, Brisbane.