Toowoomba racists' last stand

About time.

Indigenous activist Stephen Hagan has been fighting for several years to have the word "Nigger" removed from the ES "Nigger" Brown pavilion at Toowoomba Sports Ground.

Edward Stanley Brown, nicknamed "Nigger" because of his fair complexion, played rugby league for Australia while still living on the Downs, and later became a local councillor in Toowoomba.

Mr Hagan went as far as the UN in his quest to change the name, and it seemed as though a compromise had been reached when the Queensland Government undertook to demolish the pavilion as part of the ground's re-development.

But it was always intended that a memorial to Brown remain at the ground, and Toowoomba Sports Ground Trust chairman John McDonald - who is also chairman of the Australian Rugby League - was adamant even yesterday that the memorial would give Brown's nickname.

But Queensland's Sports Minister Judy Spence released a statement last night in which she said "it is not appropriate that the racist term 'nigger' be used in any way at the sports grounds, stadium, venue or stand".

I bet if Brown's nickname had been 'cunt' (for whatever very good reason I'm sure people in Toowoomba would have been able to dredge up) it never would have made it onto a sign in the first place. As it was, it supposedly only offended black people and no-one really cared to do anything about it for that reason. The Howard government even stepped in at the UN in favour of the sign, probably because they thought it would score them points in the post-Hanson 2001 election, when the Australian electorate was still fairly awash with racist fervour. Toowoomba was just perpetuating its reputation as a horrid racist backwater that I'd never want to visit. Frankly, from what I've heard, it still is. But the action to remove the offensive word from the stadium is a step forward, even if it took Queensland's police minister to finally step in and resolve the matter.