Published in the KHA Newsletter No. 101 Spring 1998
Kosciuszko
At the Annual General Meeting in May there was discussion about changing the name of KHA to include the
‘z’ in Kosciusko. The meeting agreed to give members the opportunity to first air their views in the newsletter, before reconsidering the issue at next year’s AGM. Pauline Downing wrote to the Geographic Names Board for some background on the change from Kosciusko to Kosciuszko. Part of the GNB’s response is reproduced below, with a further piece to follow in the next newsletter.Historic Name Change
The New South Wales Geographical Names Board has today recommended a change to the spelling of "Kosciusko".
The Board has recommended to the Minister for Land and Water Conservation, the Hon. Kim Yeadon, that the name be spelt "Kosciuszko". By adding the 'z’ and an acute accent over the first ‘s’, the change reflects the correct spelling of General Tadeusz Kosciuszko after whom the mountain was named.
General Kosciuszko was a great Polish patriot who fought for freedom in both Poland and America. Memorials to him are located in Krakow, Poland and in Washington DC.
Australia’s highest mountain was named after General Kosciuszko in 1840 by the explorer Paul Edmund Strzelecki. The Board has established that Strzelecki spelt the name Kosciuszko correctly but that others subsequently changed this spelling.
The Geographical Names Board is the body responsible for place names in NSW. The Board advertised a proposal last November to alter the spelling of the mountain’s name. More than 200 submissions, most supporting the change, were received by the Board.
Board Chairman, Surveyor General Don Grant, said the Board was unanimous in its decision about the spelling change. "The Board had before it compelling evidence on the spelling of the mountain’s name by Strzelecki
." Mr Grant said. "The spelling of other place names in NSW has also been amended to reflect correctly the name of an individual. Steele Point and Clark Island in Sydney Harbour are two examples of recent spelling changes to correct historical errors."In Western Australia, a similar correction was made by its Geographical Names Committee which added an ‘h’ to Vlaming Head to commemorate accurately the Dutch navigator Willem de Vlamingh.
"The decision to change the spelling to Kosciuszko reflects a new maturity in dealing with the cultural and linguistic diversity of Australian society," Mr Grant said. "It is fitting that the Board has recognised Strzelecki’s spelling this year which marks the 200th anniversary of Strzelecki’s birth."
The Board noted the Polish pronunciation
— "Kosk-chooshko"- and the colloquial pronunciation "Kozi-os-ko".