ISLAND PARADISE FINDS LOST INDIGENOUS NAME
FRASER Island has long been known as paradise, and now it’s official.
The Queensland government is backing an Indigenous push to rename Fraser Island, surrounding waters and parts of the mainland as
K’gari. The World Heritage Area – part of the Great Sandy National Park – has been the focus of a long-running campaign by the traditional owners, the Butchulla people, to officially restore the island’s Indigenous name.
K’gari is the Butchulla word for “paradise”.
The island’s former namesake, Elizabeth Fraser, was shipwrecked on the island in the 1830s.
“A word meaning paradise in Butchulla language is a much more fitting name,” Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation’s Jade Gould said.
QLD Environment Minister
Meaghan Scanlon recognised the decision in a ceremony at Kingfisher Bay Resort on the weekend.
She said the decision built on the 2017 name change of the Island’s national park to the K’gari (Fraser Island) section of the Great Sandy National Park.