CANAIPA NAME
KIM RICHARDS SUBMITS ‘OFFICIAL APPLICATION’ FOR NAME CHANGE OF RUSSELL ISLAND TO CANAIPA ISLAND
Member for Redlands, Kim Richards, has submitted a formal application to the Queensland Government to change the name of Russell Island to Canaipa Island.
The formal submission has been made to the Queensland Minister for Resources, the Hon Scott Stewart.
The build up and process to the formal submission has been a long process.
It started with community suggestions for the name change, followed by a long period of community of survey that came out strongly in support of the name change.
The Russell Island name has been contentious for some years.
In early colonial times, the island was known as Canaipa/Kanaipa, the aboriginal name for ‘Hardened Spear’.
It is believed the name was changed in 1839 by surveyor Robert Dixon who named the island after John Russell the Secretary of State for the Colonies at that time.
This was prior to its ’settlement’ in 1866.
In the 1970’s the island received bad publicity due to some erroneous land sales, that still haunt the island to this day.
In recent times, many islands have undergone name change, most recently Fraser Island to K’gari Island.
Many islanders and businesses have already ‘adopted’ the Canaipa name, which has added to the push for Russell Island’s name to be changed.
Following the extensive online survey Kim Richards has conducted in recent months which came out strongly in favour of the name change, the MP invited the Queensland Minister for Resources Scott Stewart to visit the island in recent days.
The Minister undertook a comprehensive tour of the island, and was the person who authorised the re-naming to K’gari.
Just prior to going to press, Kim Richards submitted the following official letter to Minister Stewart.
“Dear Minister Stewart,
Thank you for visiting Russell Island with me last week. I am grateful for your time in visiting our beautiful island. As you are aware, Russell Island is located on Quandamooka Country, home to three tribes, the Nunukul, the Goenpul and the Ngugi First Nations Peoples. They are the traditional owners of the land, the sand, and the waters of Moreton Bay.
“The first name of Russell Island was “Kanaipa” or “Canaipa” which means “Hardened spear” in the Quandamooka language. The north-eastern point of the island juts out in a long skinny spear-shaped peninsula towards the coast of Minjerribah. A basic survey of the island was conducted by Robert Dixon in 1839. He renamed the island – Russell Island after Lord John Russell the Secretary of State for the Colonies in the 1840s.
“Earlier this year, Fraser Island officially returned to its first name - K’gari.
“This prompted interest from a number of locals to consider the naming of Russell Island and it’s first name. As such my office, with the assistance of The Friendly Bay Islander local magazine, conducted an online survey to gauge community sentiment on returning to Russell Island’s first name.
“The survey was conducted over March and April this year with 484 survey responses received. There was a strong signal that returning to the island’s first name would be supported by the community with 66.7% (323) respondents supportive.
“Given the response to our initial survey, I would request your assistance in having the Department undertake a formal process to consider the name change of Russell Island to its traditional first name.
“Thank you again for visiting with me last week, I look forward to working with you and the Department.
Warm regards,
Kim Richards MP Member for Redlands
• Km Richards with Minister Scott Stewart