I WAS bemused to read Mark Gattenhof's letter regarding the proposed name change of Coon Island (Letters, 25/2). I'm most certainly surprised and somewhat disappointed that attitudes of this nature still exists in modern Australia.
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Mr Gattenhof suggests that the inhabitant the island was named after could just as easily have been nicknamed Lefty, Shorty or Dusty, and he's right. But he wasn't; he was nicknamed Coon.
This word disparages, insults, belittles and disgusts an entire race of people with whom we share our planet. It's a word that evokes a not-so distant past where people of dark skin were second class and not even citizens in their own country. It's a word that conjures images of colonial oppression and murder. It's a word that speaks of apartheid, of frontier wars, of slavery, of the Stolen Generaton and the dreaded Dutch East India company. It's a word that belongs in the past.
Let's call it Empathy Island as a gesture that says to all people that contemporary Australia recognises only one race: the human race. I may be a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you will join us, and the world will live as one.
John Lawton, Belmont
History doesn't demand nickname
I BELIEVE that perhaps Mark Gattenhoff (Letters, 25/2) does not realise how offensive to Aboriginal people the word "coon" is. It is believed to be derived from the Portugese word "barracoon", a cage to hold slaves or convicts, although some suggest it may have links to the North American raccoon, with the black rings around its eyes and its tendency to steal.
Whatever its origin, when I grew up it was often used as a pejorative to basically dismiss Indigenous people as worthless. As for Coon Island, the only link is that apparently a man who lived there was nicknamed "Coon" because of his face blackened from his work. There is no historical link to the name of the island, just an offensive term describing Aboriginal people given to an inhabitant as a nickname.
The Coon cheese name is a bit more interesting. Yes, Edward Coon was the name of the American who in 1926 patented a process to manufacture cheese, so perhaps there is some reason to maintain that name (perhaps with a clear statement on each package: "Named for Edward Coon, inventor of the cheese manufacturing process in 1926" or something similar) but it is interesting that Australia is the only country where Coon Cheese is sold.
So, with such a tenuous link to Edward Coon, is it really worth sustaining an extremely offensive word just to make a point?
John Ure, Mount Hutton
I SYMPATHISE somewhat with what Robyn Hristov has said (Letters, 20/2). Whilst I don't agree with her assertion that police acted unnecessarily in regard to her speeding offence, I have for sometime now strongly disagreed with some of the ridiculously low posted speed limits in this region.
Northcott Drive, the subject of her complaint, is a major multi-lane divided road sign-posted at 50km/h in this area. Fullerton Road at Stockton is similarly 50km/h, and the entire length of the major road system from Hamilton west to the Newcastle Link Road at Wallsend is 60km/h.
These are but a few, and now with the RMS mobile speed camera cars being totally covert, I believe reasonable and normally law-abiding drivers are going to be caught up at some stage in the future. Police can't be blamed for enforcing what is sign-posted, so the heart of it just gets back to sensible speed limits being implemented.
I have respect for road authorities, having liaised with them over many years, but in my opinion there is something seriously lacking in their Hunter speed zoning determinations in recent years.
Garry Scow, Warners Bay
Rise won't stop slip through cracks
IS the permanent increase to the JobSeeker unemployment benefit enough ('Seeking an answer: Will the rate be raised?', Herald 23/2)?. We now know the answer to this question, that is, an increase of around $4 per day. Less than the cost of a good coffee.
This lifts the rate to around $600 per fortnight. Even this modest increase was apparently opposed by some in the federal government as "too generous".
According to the Australian Council of Social Services, the 2020 poverty line is $914 per fortnight. Even allowing for other applicable allowances many welfare recipients will remain below the poverty line. Against this increase there will be a tightening of rules, these must be met to remain eligible for JobSeeker.
The government should be given credit for initially doubling the JobSeeker allowance to $1100 per week in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to ANU Professor Peter Whiteford, Australia had the lowest replacement rate in the OECD (before the pandemic). We are now second last, ahead of only Greece.
Many job seekers will now struggle to find enough money to cover the cost of food and rent, let alone the additional monies required to attend interviews suitably clothed and prepared.
In my opinion the federal government has missed a golden opportunity to recast welfare in Australia for the better. Instead, it is hard not to believe that at this government's core beats a cold heart.
Ian Thomas, The Hill
Service needs a second look
BILL Snow (Letters, 25/2) gets my full support in pointing out a massive anomaly with the in general excellent service from Service NSW. The organisation seems to be staffed with excellent people, but the crazy situation regarding obtaining a birth certificate is just plain ridiculous.
The cost and delay can only be seen as rorting. There is no way this fee is in line with the cost of supplying the service. Plus, the inability to produce a certificate from a printer except in Parramatta is bureaucracy at its most extreme. I have seen passports produced in four hours with less additional fees. This would be a very quick fix for an interested minister.
Greg Blue, Warners Bay
It's an art to make spaces work
ONCE more Newcastle Art Gallery pops it head for another chapter sponsored by Newcastle council ('Council lifts art gallery cut to $16m', Herald 24/1).
How long will it take to realise the number of people who visit art galleries are in the minority? Thus, I believe, only minority funding should be available.
Newcastle already has an excellent art gallery and if space is the only problem check out the National Gallery in Canberra when large exhibitions are on display. They don't expand the building; they condense it by forming smaller rooms with four sides to hang the extra paintings. It works rather well. Newcastle Art Gallery has open spaces that could easily be converted to smaller rooms using portable partitions. Wanting the grand entry and spaciousness desired, it's not going to happen.
I reckon Newcastle council's jewel in the crown is already on display, being their luxurious new premises. If money is to spare, try spending it where most people go. A new entertainment centre comes to mind.
Carl Stevenson, Dora Creek
SHORT TAKES
MARK Gattenhof (Letters, 25/2): Coon Island was named after a local bloke who was a miner who often had his face covered in black coal dust. His mates thought that he looked like an Aboriginal man due to this and gave him a nickname. But the island is not known as Aboriginal Island, is it? Can you now see the great offence here?
John Arnold, Anna Bay
COON Cheese has been on the supermarket shelves for as long as I can remember, yet I have never been inclined to purchase it. Im quite sure it was the name that turned me off. I doubt Ive been alone in my subliminal rejection of this product name.
Margaret Badger, Nelsons Plains
PEOPLE are not making love in parliament, Richard Ryan, (Short Takes, 25/2). There are however, many predators and opportunists stalking the corridors wanting self gratification and an alleged rapist.
Julie Robinson, Cardiff
CRAIG Kelly has resigned from the Liberal Party because he did not support some of their policies and he wanted to be free to speak his mind. I wonder if Joel Fitzgibbon is brave enough to follow suit?
Stan Keifer, Arakoon
IT was with joy this afternoon I saw corona finally leaving our shores: the ship Corona Ace. She was pushed out to sea by two tugboats. A symbol of hope for all.
John Neil, Kahibah
SOME more sense at last about the obvious bias of our taxpayer funded ABC from Peter Devey (Letters, 23/2). Wayne Grant (Short Takes, 23/2) I didn't blast Michael Rowland for asking a question, I blasted him for hilariously taking offence to the suggestion he was left-leaning, again obvious. For Michael Hinchey (Letters, 22/2) who likes to quote only the surveys he likes, you missed this one from the Institute of Public Affairs in 2020: " only 32 per cent of Australians believe the ABC represents the views of ordinary Australians".
Greg Hunt, Newcastle West
I SERIOUSLY cannot see why the people think that the ABC leans left. The ABC is in the centre, both the right and left are reported on unbiasedly. Maybe if those who believe that the ABC is biased stopped getting news from the very right wing biased Murdoch media empire. The Morrison government are sycophants to Murdoch. And really, there are a lot bigger issues going on. This federal government has so much to answer for, but will it? I think not. They'll just cover it up just like Morrison and his cronies always do.
Ryan Adamson, Hamilton South
STEVE Barnett (Short Takes, 24/2), those who don't support the ABC likely pay very little in taxation and certainly not their full component of the GST.