Claim that airports have renamed Brisbane as Meeanjin is missing flight data

^{By Quynh-Ly Duong}

Photographs of flight information displays at Mackay and Cairns airports showing the names of destinations in the local Aboriginal languages have sparked discussion on social media about the renaming of places in Australia.

Images of the flight arrival and departure boards, showing Brisbane as Meeanjin and Townsville as Gurambilbarra, have been shared across platforms and have attracted the attention of a Sky News commentator. 

Meeanjin, the traditional name for Brisbane given by the Turrbal people, means the place of blue water lilies, according to the Turrbal tribe website.

Gurambilbarra is the traditional name given to Townsville by the Wulgurukaba people who, along with the Bindal people, were the traditional owners of the region.

One social media post claims in the text accompanying the photo: “So Townsville and Brisbane are on a journey to have name changes!”. Another post accuses Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk of changing Brisbane airport’s name without consultation: “This is ridiculous and has to stop. She has to go.”

On Sky News, commentator Rita Panahi said: “How are travellers supposed to know where they are going?” and “I don’t remember voting on this”.

But are the posts that are circulating the images giving the full picture?

Richard Barker, the CEO of North Queensland Airports group which owns both Mackay and Cairns airports, told FactLab by email that the airports’ flight information boards had displayed the destinations names in both English and the local Indigenous language since August last year and that the move had been well received.

Video footage provided to FactLab by Cairns Airport shows the digital departures and arrivals board displaying the destination names in both languages, alternating between them every two seconds.

Mr Baker told FactLab: “Flight Information Displays (FIDs) were enhanced at Cairns Airport and Mackay Airport in August 2022, following 12 months of planning which began in July 2021. The screens have been programmed to display traditional names for some Australian destinations, in addition to the common English city name.”

“The names alternate automatically every two seconds, so both names are shown,” he said. “These changes were made following stakeholder and community consultation, including with Aboriginal Land Councils across Australia.”

He added: “Cairns Airport is located at the gateway to Cape York and the Torres Strait, and both the Cairns and Mackay regions have large Indigenous populations. The airlines we service fly regularly to remote Indigenous communities. We believe cultural connection is integral to operations at our airports.”

Queensland has been at the centre of debate about the use of traditional Indigenous names after the original name for Fraser Island, K’gari, was officially restored in June this year.

In a statement provided to the Courier Mail, archived here, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk rejected as “absolute nonsense” reports that Queensland was in talks to rename Brisbane as Meeanjin ahead of the 2032 Olympics.

In 2021, Perth airport became the first in Australia to use traditional Indigenous names for destinations alongside the English language names on flight information boards.