The names of trees
William Pettigrew (1825-1906) migrated from Scotland in the ship Fortitude, and arrived in Moreton Bay in 1849. He established the first sawmill in Brisbane in 1853, and was active in community and political affairs.
I have only recently discovered that he also recorded the names used by Yuggera, Gubbi Gubbi and Badtjala people for some of the trees in their country. This reflects the connections he developed with the traditional custodians of the land.
Pettigrew presented a paper—The habitat and peculiarities of some of our timbers—to the Queensland Philosophical Society in 1877. Here are snippets from his paper that include the names of the trees told to him by the Aboriginal people he worked with in the Brisbane and Wide Bay districts:
- “Moreton Bay pine (Araucaria cunninghamii)
- native names: Brisbane—cumburtu; Wide Bay—coonam
Cypress pine (Callitris columnaris)- native names: Brisbane—pooragri; Wide Bay—coolooli
She pine (Podocarpus elata)- native name—kidneywallum
Red cedar (Cedrela toona)- native names: Brisbane—mamin and mugurpul; Wide Bay—woota
Silky oak (Grevillia robusta)- native name—tuggan tuggan
Beech (Gmelina leichhardtii)- native name—cullouen
Blackbutt (Eucalpytus pilularis)- native name—toi
Syconcarpa lauriafolia- native name—peebeen
Swamp mahogany (Angophora species)- native name—boolerchu
Ironbark (Eucalyptus siderophloia)- There are two sorts of this timber, one gray coloured, native name—tanderoo; the other dark-red, native name—biggera
Bloodwood (Eucalyptus corymbosa)- native name—boona
Spotted gum (Eucalyptus maculata)- native name—urara
Blue gum (Eucalyptus botryoides)- native name—mungur
Bastard box (Tristania conferta)- native name—weerabi
Flooded gum (Eucalyptus grandis)- native name—toolur”
In his paper Pettigrew makes many practical observations about these trees (and about others for which he does not give Aboriginal names), and the suitability of their timber for different uses—evidence of this interesting man’s enquiring mind.
All of this reminds me of a remarkable piece of furniture connected with William Pettigrew: a davenport desk that he commissioned to be made in Brisbane by the cabinetmaker John Wilson Carey and the wood carver Matthew Fern. The desk was a show piece for thirty-seven species of local timber.
