Minister Bob Debus

Mr Bob Debus, MP Attorney General, Minister for Environment Level 36, Governor Macquarie Tower 1 Farrer Place, SYDNEY NSW 2000

Dear Minister Debus,

We refer to Mr Stuart Cohen's statement in "Kosciuszko Today" - winter 2005 issue - NPWS. We are of the understanding that Mr Cohen is a senior public affairs officer in your Department and, as such, represents the views of the Department.

First, we need to emphasise that by downgrading Sir Paul Edmund Strzelecki's achievement Mr Cohen is implying that Strzelecki's contribution to Australian science is nothing more than a walk from the chairlift to the summit. This implication is neither true nor fair.

Sir Paul Strzelecki established that Mt Kosciuszko was the highest mountain of the Australian continent at a time when the indigenous people of Australia were unaware of such a notion. As a professional scientist, Strzelecki assembled all the available information regarding the toponomy of the Main Range of the Snowy Mountains. His two Aboriginal guides assisted him in this task. The only Aboriginal name which Strzelecki discovered was “Munyang”, a reference to the Snowy Mountains. This discovery is consistent with other explorers' research.

The indigenous people have never claimed that an Aboriginal name for Mt Kosciuszko had existed in the past. Apparently, there was no need to have a reference point for a mountain with very limited food (the Bogong Moth) supplies and the appearance of a hill. This is even more so given that there was abundant food on the nearby imposing and eye-catching peaks like Mt Townsend and Ramshead, which were mountains favoured by Aborigines.

Strzelecki "marked" the mountain according to the principles afforded to any other explorer of his time - the right to choose a name for his efforts and discovery. Strzelecki’s christening of Mt Kosciuszko is an event that pre-dates the origin of many historical buildings in Australia which are accorded heritage status. And conservationists do not "enhance" historical artefacts by adding an "improvement" that belongs to another epoch. Moreover, the issue has been tried already, to some extent, in the media. The Perth daily newspaper conducted a survey, the results of which show that 93% of the public support the existing name of Mt Kosciuszko.

It is quite odd that all the remaining nine of the highest Australian peaks have English names and I am not aware of any proposals to give them dual names. Why is this so? We have seen the outcome of the bi-naming of Ayers Rock / Uluru (AND WHAT IS THE OUTCOME???). We have carefully observed the process and development of events surrounding the "Kosciuszko National Park Draft Management Plan". As such we have reason to believe that it is proposed to rename Mt Kosciuszko by stealth and without consultation with relevant parties, including the Polish Community of Australia.

Thus far, the process of renaming Mt Kosciuszko has been a negative and hurtful experience for the Poles of Australia. In 2000, the person, who initiated the name change, publicly referred to Sir Paul Strzelecki as a “conman”. Such comments are deeply insulting to the whole Polish community in Australia and indeed, the 40 million or so Poles throughout the world. What made the comment more nonsensical is that the author had little knowledge of Kosciuszko’s history, nor any kind of well-thought out idea of what an appropriate “proper” name for Mt Kosciuszko might be. He, and other government officials, seem oblivious to the fact that Tadeusz Kosciuszko is not solely a Polish hero. Tadeusz Kosciuszko fought in the War of Independence of America and was, in fact, a General and a friend of George Washington. Kosciuszko is reverred as a hero in the United States, Switzerland and Poland.

Mr Cohen pointed out that “indigenous people had lived for millennia across the lands now known as the Kosciuszko National Park.” The observation is rather trivial, given that the same can be said about indigenous people living within other areas of Australia, including within the current boundaries of Sydney and, in fact, all State capital cities.

In order to remain consistent with Mr Cohen’s view, proposals should currently be under way to rename, amongst others, Sydney and Melbourne. Of course, there are no such proposals. Which leads us to the “why” behind the proposal to rename Mt Kosciuszko.

Does Mr Cohen deem Sydney or Melbourne more worthy to retain their names because their names are English rather than Mt Kosciuszko? Such suggestions smack of discrimination and waspishness.

The Poles of Australia have suffered discrimination in the past and are now facing it in the present. We can well understand the suffering of Aborigines as a consequence of Australia’s colonial past. We do not wish to take anything from the indigenous people of Australia and, in fact, we are not. Mt Kosciuszko has not been stripped of its Aboriginal name because it did not have such a name. Re-naming Mt Kosciuszko for the purposes of reconciliation with the indigenous inhabitants of Australia is not just and not sensible. Far more substantive measures could be taken, rather than this token gesture that has little relevance to the Aborigines of the past, and even less to those of our time.

Your sincerely

Janusz Rygielski, President
Polish Community Council
of Australia and New Zealand

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The Hon. (Bob) Robert John DEBUS, MP Contact Details
Electorate Office:
Address: Shop 3, 107-109 Macquarie Street, SPRINGWOOD NSW 2777
Phone: (02) 4751 3298
Fax: (02) 4751 1245
Email: bluemountains@parliament.nsw.gov.au

Ministerial Office:
Address: Level 36 Governor Macquarie Tower 1 Farrer Place SYDNEY NSW 2000
Postal: PO Box A290
SYDNEY SOUTH NSW 1232
Phone: (02) 9228 3071
Fax: (02) 9228 3166

Email: bob.debus@debus.minister.nsw.gov.au

Personal Profile

Born Ryde, 1943. Interests include third world issues, reading, theatre and bushwalking.

Graduated in Law and Arts from Sydney University in 1967. Worked as a publisher and lawyer. ABC broadcaster, was Executive Producer of the ABCs Department of Radio Talks and Documentaries 1970, Executive Director of Australian Freedom from Hunger Campaign and Community Aid Abroad 1988-94. Advisor to Federal Minister for Administrative Services 1994-95.

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