The Canadian dairy company Saputo Inc. which is the parent company which owns the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter company, has decided that it is going to change the name of Coon cheese.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the wingnuts and the racists have come out from under their rocks and have made their feelings known across the media, as though changing the name of cheese was a violation of their heritage.
The only things which have ever existed since the beginning of time, are the stuff in the world and the people who care about that stuff. As for the people who care about that stuff, those same people overlay stories about the stuff in the world and the people in the world over the stuff in the world and the people in the world. The reminder here is that stories are important.
The relevant story here is that Coon cheese was named after E. W. Coon of Philadelphia who invented the process "for ripening cheese, consisting of supplying, through suitable means, humidified air"; which itself has become known as 'cooning'. While that might be a perfectly rational explanation of why the name is what it is, the amount of triumphalism which has followed is pathological.
The outrage behind changing the name of a brand of cheese seems strange to me. I can understand why perhaps we might want to celebrate an Australian cheese pioneer but an American one? Is there something I am missing here? Of all of the metaphorical hills to choose to die on, people choose this one?
Imagine my surprise when I was listening to the radio this week and this discussion turned towards changing the name of the place where I live, from Blacktown to something else because it is also seen as racist.
What makes this particular iteration of this grand discussion interesting is that now that all of the local newspapers have been shut down, epicenter of the media in Sydney has shifted even further to the east. I have serious doubts whether anyone working for either the Daily Telegraph or the Sydney Morning Herald lives to the west of the A3, or whether any of the people who have voices on the radio or the television as presenters do either. Certainly, all of the callers on this radio program, were all from the east of the city. I wonder how many of them had actually been to Blacktown in the past five years.
Before I proceed any further, I have to declare that I actually do live in the local government area of Blacktown City Council; which has the seat of government in the eponymous name of Blacktown. I see the name far more often than people whose most likely connection is to see it on indicator boards at railway stations.
To be fair, a very good argument can be mounted for why the name Blacktown should also be removed because it is also very obviously racist but the reason why I think that it should stay, is more important I think.
Geographical place names in Australia mostly come from three sources: a physical description, colonial triumphalism, and from first peoples' languages.
The first of the three needs no explanation; nor any apologies.
The second of the three would be harder to dislodge because of sheer weight of usage. The names of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, etc. are all colonial triumphalism which were given to bear allegiance to colonial masters who were ten thousand miles away. I don't know if they are likely to be changed in a hurry.
The third of the three sources of names, gives rise to names like Parramatta, Toongabbie, Marayong etc. Those three names mean 'the place where the eels lie down', 'the home of the Tugugal' (who were a local clan), and 'the plain of emus'.
The name Blacktown comes from none of these sources and bears witness to an ugly history.
In 1823, Governor Major General Sir Thomas Brisbane (and for whom the city of Brisbane was named after) had the Native Institution (a 'school' for Aboriginal children) moved from Parramatta to to the site where Richmond Road meets Rooty Hill Road North (which is currently where the flyover of the M7 is). It became known as the Black Town Native Institute or simply the "The Blacks Town" and later on "Blacktown".
Put simply, the 'education' and institutionalisation of Aboriginal children at Blacktown should be seen as the starting point of one of the ugliest stains in the history of Australia because it marks the beginning of government policies which involve the forced Aboriginal child removal and what has now become known as the "Stolen Generations".
There have been attempts in the past to change the name of Blacktown, however,. think that in this case the name should be retained precisely because of the past. Unlike the names which wave colonial triumphalism around, or the names which acknowledge country, the name Blacktown serves the purpose of acknowledging hurt. The name Blacktown is a visible scar.
One of the principles alluded to in the Uluru Statement From The Heart was the principle of Makarrata or 'truth telling'. My argument is that the name Blacktown should be retained because it subtly forces people to confront the past and consider the hurt.
The name Blacktown is almost unique in Australia because it is a white fella name, which acknowledges what white people have done and continues to speak truth into the future. An acknowledgement of Makarrata is deeper than a mere acknowledgement of country and does a better job than a first peoples' name or a name based in colonial triumphalism. In doing Makarrata, it is a reminder that this is a sad place.
The stories that we tell about the stuff in the world and the people who care about that stuff, are pretty much all that we have and describes all that has ever existed. I think that the stories which acknowledge the past and tell the truth about it, are also more useful than the stories which are used to cover over it. I also think that the names of places in our country which tell our own stories, are more important than the mere branding of products for sale.
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