Why is K’gari the new name for Fraser Island in Australia?
Fraser Island in Queensland, Australia, has reverted back to its original Indigenous name – K’gari. The move comes after campaigning from the local Butchulla people.
K’gari is the new name for Fraser Island in Queensland, Australia. Or, more accurately, it’s the old name for Fraser Island in Queensland.
Pick the best K’gari/ Fraser Island tour for you
- HIGHLIGHTS PACKAGE: One day coach tour from Hervey Bay.
- FROM THE SOUTH: One day 4WD tour from Rainbow Beach.
- PACK MORE IN: Two day tour, staying at K’gari Beach Resort.
- BEACHY: Boat cruise with west coast beach stops.
- BACKPACKERS: Three day, drive-yourself camping adventure from Hervey Bay. Or similar from Rainbow Beach.
- MORE LUXURIOUS: Three day adventure, staying at the Kingfisher Bay Resort.
Renaming Fraser Island as K’gari
The world’s largest sand island was always known to the local, Indigenous Butchulla people as K’gari. The Butchulla inhabited the island for thousands of years before Scottish woman Eliza Fraser was shipwrecked there in the 19th century. The colonial authorities named the island in Fraser’s honour. But Fraser’s accounts of being mistreated by the local Aboriginal people are a long-standing bone of contention.
According to representatives of the Butchulla people, Fraser’s claims led to massacres, ill-treatment and dispossession of the Butchulla. Giving the island her name, therefore, seems to be an insult that rubs salt into the wounds.
Fraser Island has been officially known as Fraser Island/ K’gari for a few years now. And the national park covering the island was renamed as the K’gari (Fraser Island) section of the Great Sandy National Park in 2017. As of September 2021, however, the whole island is now K’gari.
Other renamed places in Queensland
It is the latest in a series of moves to restore the original Aboriginal name to key sites across Queensland. The national park on North Stradbroke Island is now Minjerribah National Park. Meanwhile, on Moreton Island it’s Gheebulum Coonungai National Park.
Mount Jim Crow and Mount Wheeler near Rockhampton are now Baga and Gai-i respectively. The names were changed after a successful campaign by the local Darumbal people.
Aboriginal names elsewhere in Australia
But do these name changes work, or do people stick to the name they know best? The evidence from the Northern Territory suggests that reverting to Aboriginal names does work over time. Most people now refer to Uluru and Kata-Tjuta rather than Ayers Rock and the Olgas.
The best place to learn about the Butchulla culture on K’gari is the K’gari World Heritage Discovery Centre at the Kingfisher Bay Resort. The resort also hosts native bush food walks.
Other attractions on K’gari include Eli Creek, walks from Central Station, Lake McKenzie and the Maheno shipwreck. Camping on Fraser Island is one of the staples of the East Coast backpacker route.
More coastal Queensland
Take in Surfers Paradise from the Skypoint observation deck at Q1, Australia’s tallest building.
Catch the Stradbroke ferry to North Stradbroke Island.
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Go kayaking amongst the sandbars of the Pumicestone Passage from Golden Beach in Caloundra.
Dive at Wonder Reef, the Gold Coast’s new artificial reef.