Fed: What's in a name?

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Fed: What's in a name?

By Janelle Miles

BRISBANE, April 25 AAP - What's in a name?

More than 40 years after a football stand in regional Queensland was named in honourof 1920s rugby league international player ES "Nigger" Brown, debate is raging again overwhether the sign should be pulled down.

Several Australian courts have ruled the name could stay, but this week the UnitedNations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recommended it should go.

"The committee considers that ... use and maintenance of the offending term can atthe present time be considered offensive and insulting," it said.

But indications are politicians and sports officials are planning to snub the UN committee'srecommendation.

The sign at the Toowoomba sports ground, west of Brisbane, honours the late EdwardStanley Brown, who is understood to have been given the nickname "Nigger" because of hisfair complexion and his fondness for "Nigger Brown" shoe polish.

Toowoomba Sports Ground Trust chairman John McDonald, who knew Mr Brown, said the nicknamewas even inscribed on the footballer's gravestone.

While the trust board will meet next Thursday to consider the report, Mr McDonald saidhe did not want to dishonour Mr Brown by removing his name from the stand.

His stance appears to have backing from Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, whose governmentowns the sports ground.

A spokeswoman for Mr Beattie said while the premier conceded the name would be inappropriatein this day and age, it had to be taken in the context of history.

Aboriginal activist Stephen Hagan, who still has a $70,000 legal bill to pay aftercosts were awarded against him in the Australian courts, believes the UN committee's decisionvindicates his four-year fight to have the name removed.

But even he admits the Aboriginal community is divided over the issue.

"I've had a lot of criticism from many quarters, including my own Aboriginal communitywho said that it's only a nickname," Mr Hagan said this week.

Nevertheless, he has backing from fellow Aboriginal activist Bob Weatherall and Queensland'snew anti-discrimination commissioner Susan Booth over his crusade to have the word "Nigger"

expunged from the sign.

"The name is offensive, slanderous no matter what context it is in," Mr Weatherall said.

"We have lived with this all our lives as a reminder of the way we are treated andhave been forced to live our lives.

"It's not just an American thing and it's not just a word or a nickname, it's aboutcontrol and power. It all has the same result of belittling another human being."

Ms Booth said she had heard many complaints about the sign.

"Personally I don't like the name one bit - it's inappropriate in 2003," she said.

The state government has been accused of hypocrisy over not stepping in to have the sign removed.

Natural Resources Minister Stephen Robertson recently approved name changes to Niggerand North Nigger creeks near the north Queensland town of Herberton, citing clear evidencethe names were racist.

But Herberton Shire Council objected to the changes on grounds the creek names referredto a 19th century mining industry term for debris cleared out of a hole after blasting.

Nevertheless, Mr Robertson ruled in favour of the Girringun Aboriginal Corporationwhich asked for the names to be changed on behalf of the Jiddabul people.

The creeks have been renamed Wondecla and North Wondecla creeks.

AAP jhm/kim/br

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