A Far North Queensland mayor has suffered vile abuse after her council refused to change the name of a local landmark that some say is a reference to the rape of Indigenous women.
Burdekin County councillors, including Mayor Pierina Dalle Cort, have rejected a request from the state government to change the name of Yellow Gin Creek as part of a “program of reviewing place names that may cause offence or harm”.
In a 6-1 vote on July 9, the council approved a motion to “provide feedback to the Department of Resources” on why it would not change the name “due to the local historical significance of the creek to the region.”
The state government has focused its program on changing offensive place names containing the word “Gin” as the word had in the past been used to describe Aboriginal women, particularly those who had been sexually abused by white men.
Queensland councils that are home to 16 Letters have been sent to Black Gin Creek and 14 other streams that have the word Gin in their name requesting that their names be changed.
This included Burdekin’s letter about Yellow Gin Creek, which some locals believe refers to a woman of mixed Aboriginal and white ancestry.
“I’m not racist,” Ms Dalle Cort told the Daily Mail Australia on Friday.‘I love the black community we have here.’
He said a poll had shown that 92 percent of people agreed with not changing the name.
Burdekin County councillors have rejected a request from the state government to change the name of Yellow Gin Creek (pictured) as part of a “program of reviewing place names that may cause offence or harm”
The mayor also said that since the vote, a local Indigenous woman has contacted her and told her that “the Jura elders want to keep (the) Yellow Gin Creek (name)” because it is named after one of their ancestors.
Ms Dalle Cort said she was aware of sensitivities around race in Queensland and elsewhere.
“I know it’s a problem everywhere… I’ve gotten some hate mail (about the Yellow Gin Creek issue), but that’s part of the job.”
She said she herself had experienced racism when she was younger.
‘My origin is Italian and Sicilian, and growing up I was called “wog…”
“We cannot change history, but what we do in the future is also what counts,” said the mayor.
Ms Dalle Cort also said the place’s name could refer to a drink called yellow gin, “which was distilled by early pioneers as a form of cheap alcohol”.
Ultimately, despite the state government’s fears, there is no historical documentation to indicate why the name was chosen, “so it’s not clear which is right and which is wrong.”
On July 9, in a 6-1 vote, the council approved a motion to “provide feedback to the Department of Resources” on why it would not change the name “due to the local historical significance of the creek to the region.” Councillors are pictured, with Mayor Pierina Dalle Cort in front.
Queensland’s Place Names Act 1994 was updated in April 2024 to make it easier to change the name of places deemed racist or offensive, but the state government still requires local councils to make many of the changes.
The state can rename roads or bridges with problematic names, but not streams.
In 2016, the Queensland Department of Transport renamed the Yellow Gin Creek Bridge the Youngoorah Bridge, after the Juru word meaning “women”.
Ms Dalle Cort said she was told local Aboriginal elders were “happy to talk” to her about the issue of naming Yellow Gin Creek.
