The origin of the name of Kingaroy is no longer a mystery. Recently, an authoritative and plausible explanation was found in a letter written in 1923 by Thomas Alford who was a former owner of Taabinga Station.
Click to select, or scroll down the page:-

Thomas Alford, who was the holder of Taabinga Station for eleven years, wrote a letter published in the Brisbane Courier on 30th July 1923. His letter was mainly about the origin of the name of Toowoomba where he had been born, but he also included an explanation of the origin of the name of Kingaroy.


According to Alford, the placename Kingaroy was originally Kingroy, information that in 1923 seems to have been overlooked. The name Kingroy probably means King's Kingdom (see below).

Alford's authoritative provenance for the name of Kingaroy ought to have been the definitive start and end of the story. But not at all, instead this was just the start of a debate that appears to have no end. The surveyor Hector Munro and a Mr R Bushnell strongly disagreed with Alford and launched a broadside against Alford's story (see below). Munro and Bushnell insisted that Kingaroy means red ants. Munro scoffed at everything stated by Alford.

There is no record of the red ant theory before 1919, when none other than the aforementioned Hector Munro included it in a letter about Aboriginal placenames (see below). The year 1919 is at least forty-seven years after the name of Kingaroy Creek was created.

Munro's arguments can be shown by careful analysis to be not in the least bit conclusive and are sometimes dreadfully flawed (see below).

There will probably be some who will always believe that the name Kingaroy always meant red ants, even though there is absolutely no evidence about red ants in relation to Kingaroy until 1919. All the evidence points to the logical conclusion that Kingaroy must have acquired its association with red ants after the town of Kingaroy was created in 1904 (see below).

If one day somebody should happen to discover some firm evidence in support of a red ant origin for the name Kingaroy, then kingaroar.com will gladly publish the details.

As far as theories about kangaroos are concerned, the discovery of Alford's story means that all theories about kangaroos in connection with Kingaroy must now be consigned to the dustbin. It will have to remain a mystery why the name of Mount Kiangarow in the nearby Bunyas is so similar to the name of Kingaroy. Similarly, all the stories about red ants that have emerged over the years must now also be relegated to the dustbin, where they can join Watson's story about Hector Munro that has previously been proved to be fiction.

Although Alford's explanation for the origin of the name Kingaroy is perfectly plausible, no tangible evidence has been found from the time when the events in Alford's story must have occurred. Therefore the case is not closed. The search for further evidence will continue. Of particular interest would be authentic records about Kingroy and Kingaroy Creek earlier than 1872, and authentic correspondence earlier than 1919 about the name Kingaroy.

Revisions to this article are occasionally made but are infrequent. Meanwhile, new information is continually becoming available on the internet. For example, ongoing scanning and digitising of old newspapers means that an internet search performed today will produce information that the same search performed a year earlier would not have produced. There is probably much relevant information yet to be found about the name of Kingaroy.

If readers know of more information from any source about the name Kingaroy then they are invited to send an email to the address at the bottom of this page. Interesting facts and plausible theories will be incorporated into this page.

name	date of creation	description
1. Kingroy	Date of creation of name was between 1842 and 1872.	According to Thomas Alford, this was the name of an area of Taabinga Station leased to a Mr King.
2. Kingaroy Creek	Date of creation of name was between 1842 and 1872.	A creek in the Wooroolin Run which was part of Taabinga station. The name was in existence by 1872 when it was mentioned in a government gazette, and the creek was also marked and named on a government map published in 1872.
3. Kingaroy Paddock	Paddock created in 1878.	The paddock was created when the Markwell brothers selected land that had been resumed from the Wooroolin Run in Taabinga Station. The selection included part of Kingaroy Creek.
4. Kingaroy	At some time between 1889 and 1900.	The name of "Kingaroy Paddock" began to be sometimes abbreviated to just "Kingaroy".
5. Kingaroy (Town)	Town created in 1904.	The town was born when a railroad was built to a new railway station at the northeastern corner of Kingaroy Paddock.

Many of today's placenames were originally Aboriginal words. There were many local dialects, with similarities between dialects within the same region and between dialects within adjoining regions. Many places in the Wide Bay Burnett region derived their names from what was associated with the place, including names of plants such as bunya pines and of creatures such as ants and dingoes.

Knowledge about the dialects of some clans has probably been irretrievably lost because of the holocaust of wars, massacres, dispossessions, habitat destruction and imported diseases that the Aboriginal peoples of southeast Queensland suffered in the second half of the nineteenth century, resulting in there being few if any survivors from some clans.

There were no towns before European settlement. Indigenous people were semi-nomadic, moving from locality to locality within a tribal region as the seasons changed and as the availability of food changed. There is evidence that sometimes one place could have different associations for different people or the meaning of a name could change. Various causes of this could include changes to dialects over time, different people with different dialects moving through an area, and different events happening at different times at a locality. Whatever the now-forgotten reasons may have been, there is little doubt that the names of some places acquired meanings that had no connection with their original meanings.

Aboriginal languages were, like most modern languages, living entities in which words and the meaning of words could change.


Wondai

The town of Wondai is an example. Wondai is located 28 kilometres north of Kingaroy on the Bunya Highway. According to various sources, such as Matthews' 1997 book and websites such as queenslandplaces and hinterlandgrapevine, a locality then known as Dingo Creek was surveyed for a town in 1903 by Henry St John Wood at a halt on a new railway line. There were many dingoes in the area. The new town was initially named Bushnell after a local resident but shortly afterwards it was renamed Wondai, which is said to be a local Aboriginal word for dingo. In the modern era, lifesize sculptures of two dingoes are prominently displayed in a water feature near the centre of Wondai. However, there are reasons why the name of Wondai might not mean dingo. On page 2 of Matthews' 1997 book, it is stated in a list of placenames published in 1927 by the "South Burnett Times" and verified by Aboriginal elders that the name Wondai means "Aboriginal man speared in back of neck". In Watson's 1942 Wakka Wakka wordlists and in Mathew's 1910 book, it is stated that the word "wandar" means the nape of the neck. In Holmer's 1983 wordlists, one meaning for the word "wanda" is neck. The words wandar and wanda are similar to the name Wondai. Nevertheless, most of the people who live in Wondai today think that the name of Wondai means dingo.


Yarraman

Taking another example, there is evidence that the town of Yarraman near Nanango was named after the local Aboriginal word for horses which are an introduced species to Australia. Yarraman used to be wellknown for being a place of wild horses. The name Yarraman is similar to the words koroman and guruman which were words for male kangaroo in some dialects.


Mondure

On the 1872 map of surveyed runs mentioned above, a point locality named Monjuir is marked. By 1894, on the map of pastoral holdings mentioned above, Monjuir had disappeared and there was now a large holding called Mondure which included the spot where Monjuir had been. Today, there is a small village called Mondure that occupies only a small part of the former large Mondure holding. Today's village of Mondure is on the other side of Barambah Creek from where Monjuir had been located.

In Watson's 1942 wordlists it is stated on page 111 "Mondure - Name of an early grazing holding. Derived from mon'dhur, a species of green-headed ants." However, the evidence from the two maps indicates that the name Mondure may have been derived from Monjuir. This opens the question of where did the name Monjuir come from. Was there an early settler with the European surname Monjure which is pronounced identically to Monjuir?

In the New South Wales Government Gazette of 25th July 1851, tenders for the runs of "Mundure" and "Mundure North", located south and north of Barambah Creek respectively, are notified as having been accepted from Richard Jones. Was the name Monjuir derived from Mundure, or was Mundure derived from Monjuir, or were Mundure, Monjuir and Mondure all derived from mon'dhur? This might be an interesting topic for further research if anyone would like to do it.


Taabinga

Taabinga is perhaps the placename with the greatest number of different meanings.

In Watson's 1942 wordlists it is stated on page 111 "Taabinga - The name of an early grazing holding, and now a railway station. The name was given by Mr. Surveyor Hector Munro. The name is derived from dha', meaning place, and be'ngga, jumper ants ...etc". Unfortunately for Watson's reputation as a historian, the surveyor Hector Munro had not yet been born when the name of Taabinga was created.

According to page 48 of Holmer's 1983 book, the word "binga" in the Wakka Wakka dialect means "hat". In Watson's 1942 word lists, the Wakka word for hat is "pinga". In the case of Mount Binga it would be logical to assume that the name might mean the shape of a hat. It can be inferred that the name Taabinga could mean something to do with a hat or the place of a hat (dha binga). The phrases "dha binga" and "dha pinga" are slightly more similar to Taabinga than the phrase "dha bengga".

In the list of Aboriginal placenames published by the South Burnett Times in 1927 and reproduced on page 2 of Tony Matthews' book, it is stated that the name Taabinga means "a plant that grows on various trees (mistletoe)". Matthews states that according to the South Burnett Times the list was checked by Aboriginal elders and confirmed as being correct.

On page 20 of Humphreys' authoritative 1992 book, it is stated that "The meaning of Taabinga, in the native tongue, is plenty of big rocks".

There are a total of four completely different Aboriginal meanings for the name Taabinga (place of jumper ants, place of a hat, mistletoe, and plenty of big rocks). In the South Burnett region, one placename can mean very different things to different people at different times.



Kingaroy Creek is mentioned in the Queensland Government Gazette in 1872, in the description of the Boonnenne Run and again in the description of the Wooroolin Run, both of which were gazetted on 20th July 1872. On the 1872 map of surveyed runs mentioned above, the name of Kingaroy Creek is marked within Wooroolin Run.

In 1852, the holder of Wooroolin Run is recorded as being Pollet Cardew who had settled there in 1846 or shortly thereafter. Wooroolin Run was transferred to the Haly brothers of Taabinga in 1854 or 1855. In 1875, the Haly family sold Taabinga Station to a consortium that included Thomas Alford, who eventually became the sole owner in 1883.

The Land Act of 1868 resulted in large resumptions from Taabinga Station. In 1878, two adjoining blocks of 3430 and 1875 acres were selected by brothers Charles and Walter Markwell from land that had been resumed from Wooroolin Run on Taabinga Station. Their selections were surveyed in 1879 by the surveyor C E Bradbury. The Markwell holdings became known as "Kingaroy Paddock". There can be little doubt that when Kingaroy Paddock was created in 1878 it simply inherited its name from the creek that runs through it.

Around the same time that Charles and Walter Markwell selected their land, another brother, James Markwell, selected Brooklands. Eventually, James Markwell became the sole owner of Kingaroy Paddock and Brooklands. In 1889, James Markwell sold Kingaroy Paddock to Arthur Youngman, who had previously purchased Taabinga Station in 1887.

Daniel Carroll built a hut for himself in 1892 on a recently-acquired selection adjoining the north side of Kingaroy Paddock. Fernando Seng built a cottage for Daniel Carroll in the same area in 1901. The state government's heritage register website contains information about Carroll's Cottage. The cottage still exists today in what is now Edward Street. A small settlement grew around it. The settlement expanded rapidly into a town after 1904 when a railway was extended through Wondai to the "56 mile peg" at Kingaroy Paddock.

Although the former paddock is today usually called "the Kingaroy Paddock", in early documents it is sometimes referred to more succinctly as "Kingaroy Paddock". On page 341 of Matthews 1997 book, there is reproduced a report dated 1900 about land sales and railways. The report mentions that "the 56 mile peg is not at Coolabunia at all, but at Kingaroy." Further on in the report is the phrase "a line to Kingaroy." This report is clear evidence that by 1900, around the time that Carroll's Cottage was being built, the word Kingaroy alone without the word paddock was being used to refer to the locality. These records indicate that the first use of the placename "Kingaroy" instead of "Kingaroy Paddock" must have occurred between 1889 and 1900.

A map from 1904 shows that Haly Street in today's Kingaroy used to be called Stuart River Road. The area south of Stuart River Road (Haly Street) is marked on the map as being the Town of Kingaroy. The old map also shows that in 1904 an area north of Stuart River Road (Haly Street) near the brand new railway station was called the Town of Carrollee, while the area adjoining Carrollee to the west of the Bunya Highway including Reen Street was called the Town of Reenlee. The Reen family were settlers in the area. The word lee or lea is an old English word for a meadow or cleared area. The Carrollee Hotel and the Kingaroy Hotel are marked on the 1904 map and are both still thriving today. Prior to 1904, the Kingaroy Hotel had originally been called the Reenlee Hotel. It was not long before the name Kingaroy was being used for the whole area that included the towns of Kingaroy, Carrollee and Reenlee.



Thomas Alford's 1923 letter states that the country leased to Mr King was called "Kingroy". The name "Kingroy" is slightly different from "Kingaroy". Either a typesetter made a mistake or the original name of Kingaroy was indeed Kingroy.

The Brisbane Courier would have employed professional proofreaders. There are several examples in newspapers of the word Kingaroy having being spelled as Kingroy, but these spelling mistakes make no difference to the meaning of the printed text. However, the subject matter of Alford's letter was specifically about the meaning of the placenames Toowoomba and Kingaroy, so it is unlikely in this particular case that a proofreader would have failed to spot such a significant error that would have changed the meaning of the text. In summary, given that the letter was about placenames, it is probable that Kingroy is the actual word that was written by Alford and was not the result of a typesetting mistake.

There is no record of anybody remarking on Alford's use of the name "Kingroy" instead of "Kingaroy". This would tend to indicate that "Kingroy" was generally accepted at face value. Or maybe everybody automatically thought that it was a typesetting error or maybe nobody even noticed. However, due to the significant effect of such an error in this particular case, it is possible that Alford himself would have asked the Brisbane Courier to issue a correction of the error if "Kingroy" was not what Alford had written. No such correction has ever been found, so it can be inferred that there probably was no error. The absence of a subsequent correction by the Brisbane Courier is evidence that Kingroy was probably the actual word written by Alford.

The following section about the meaning of the name Kingroy shows that the name Kingroy is a good fit to a specific meaning, whereas the name Kingaroy is a less good fit to a specific meaning. This is indirect evidence that the name Kingroy was the name that Alford wrote.



If Mr King's first name was Roy then the meaning of the name "Kingroy" would not require any further investigation. However, King's first name is unknown. Thomas Alford did not state what King's first name was. If King's first name had been Roy then, because of its relevance, it is highly likely that Alford would have mentioned it. Therefore it appears to be unlikely that King's first name was Roy. A deeper analysis is required to discern any meaning in the name Kingroy.

(Editor's Note: Mr King's first name was not known at the time that this article was written. Subsequent research revealed that Mr King's full name was Henry Edward King (1832-1910) who was the speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 25th July 1876 to 26th July 1883.)
(more info about King)


It turns out that not only does the name Kingroy fit well with a specific meaning, but this meaning also happens to match the meaning of the name of another run located not very far from Kingroy. This is either an extraordinary coincidence or else it is strong circumstantial evidence that Kingroy was a real placename with a real meaning.

The English suffix "-roy" is derived from French words such as "roi" (king), "royale" (royal) and "royaume" (kingdom). Roy is still used in the 21st century in the venerable French-English language of heraldry. Although heraldry is thought by many to be mainly concerned with aristocracy, heraldry actually has more to do with correct identification.

The role of officers of arms, who include the heralds, is to oversee all matters concerned with the granting of arms. Officers of arms are divided into ranks, the highest rank being "Kings of Arms". Only a king of arms has the right to grant coats-of-arms. The principal English king of arms is "Garter King of Arms". Below Garter King of Arms are two subordinate kings of arms, "Clarenceux King of Arms" and "Norroy and Ulster King of Arms". Clarenceux's title originated from the Duke of Clarence. Clarenceux King of Arms is responsible for heraldic matters in Wales and in England south of the River Trent. Norroy and Ulster King of Arms is responsible for heraldic matters in Northern Ireland and in England north of the River Trent as far as the border with Scotland.

The literal meaning of Norroy is northern king, being the northern king of arms. Norroy can also refer to the kingdom or realm of the northern king, in the same way that Ulster refers to a region.

By applying a little knowledge of heraldry to the name Kingroy, it becomes clear that the name Kingroy might well have been intended in a lighthearted way to mean literally "King's Kingdom". It may be significant that this theory would not fit quite so well if the name had been Kingaroy instead of Kingroy.

Most early settlers in the South Burnett probably had little or no knowledge of heraldry. However the pioneering founders of Taabinga Station in 1842, brothers Charles Robert Haly and William O'Grady Haly, were from an aristocratic family and they had the right to use the Haly of Ballyhaly coat-of-arms (see the article elsewhere in this website about the South Burnett's link with royalty). William O'Grady Haly died in 1861, after which Charles Robert Haly became the main owner of Taabinga Station until he sold it in 1875.

Wooroolin Run, in which Kingaroy Creek is located, was transferred to the Haly brothers in 1854 or 1855. The previous holder of Wooroolin Run, Pollet Cardew, appears to have been very close to the Haly family. For example, one of the sons of Charles Robert Haly was named William O'Grady Cardew Haly.

The name of Kingaroy Creek was in existence by 1872. It can therefore be deduced that the name Kingroy must have been created before 1872. Throughout the period from 1842 to 1872, Charles Robert Haly was either the holder or the neighbour of Wooroolin Run. Therefore Charles Robert Haly was in the right place at the the right time and had the right knowledge to have created the name Kingroy. Although this is a fact, it does not prove that Charles Robert Haly had anything to do with creating the name Kingroy. It could have been created by others or even by King himself. However, the Haly family would have been among the main users of local placenames at Taabinga. Every inhabited area on the planet acquires local placenames because placenames provide a practical way for people to communicate about different areas.

In the section about obsolete theories below, under the heading of "A Settler with the name of King", there is described the Kingsland Run which was located approximately twenty kilometres from Wooroolin Run. The name "Kingsland" has a clear English meaning that is very similar to King's kingdom or King's realm.

The first known leaseholder of Kingsland Run in 1852 was Philip Friell. Kingsland Run was probably in European hands from about 1842 or 1843, as this is when many other runs in the region were first settled. Philip Friell appears to have resided at Burrandowan Station which he acquired in 1847. It is perfectly possible that Kingsland Run could have been available to somebody looking for land to agist sheep, so it is perfectly possible that the same Mr King in Alford's story could also have been the reason for the name of Kingsland Run.


Summary

The name of "Kingroy", an area in the Wooroolin Run leased to a Mr King to agist sheep, is probably a play on words that meant King's kingdom or King's realm. The meaning of King's realm is similar to the meaning of Kingsland, the name of a nearby sheep run.

The fact that sense can be made by some people out of the name Kingroy is one of the reasons why Alford's story is convincing.




Opinions of Munro and Bushnell

After Thomas Alford's letter containing the story about Mr King was published by the Brisbane Courier on 30th July 1923, the Courier ran an article on 18th August 1923 which included responses from Hector Munro and a Mr R Bushnell who both strongly opposed Alford's story.

The article is shown here in its entirety to allow readers to form their own opinions:-


21st April 2016: Correction to Brisbane Courier article of 18th August 1923:-

The article of 18th August 1923 in the Brisbane Courier, shown above, states incorrectly that Thomas Alford was the first white person to be born at Toowoomba. In fact, Thomas Alford junior was the first white person to be born at Drayton. Today, Drayton is a suburb of Toowoomba. Thomas Alford was born on 11th October 1844. In 1844, there were not yet any Europeans residing at the locality that was later named Toowoomba.

The first white person actually born at Toowoomba was Henry King Alford, who was born on 22nd July 1852. The birth certificate of Henry King Alford states that he was born at Toowoomba, being the name of the house where he was born. He was a younger brother of Thomas Alford junior. The town of Toowoomba did not yet exist in 1852. In 1851, the Alford family had moved a few kilometres from Drayton to a place known as "The Swamp". Elizabeth Alford named their new house and store "Toowoomba", which was the name that Aboriginal people called the locality. A town called Toowoomba grew at that place.


Previous History between Munro and Alford

To put into proper perspective the views of Munro and Alford, it must be pointed out that prior to the exchange of views described above there had been some previous history. Munro and Alford were already in conflict. Dissatisfaction can be detected in Alford's letter to the Brisbane Courier published on 30th July 1923.



Previous History of Red Ants

The Brisbane Courier of 13th June 1919 published a letter from Hector Munro. Each of Munro's letters usually covered a range of issues, as did this letter which was about correct pronunciation and the meanings of some Aboriginal placenames. Included in Munro's letter is the first known reference to red ants in relation to Kingaroy. Not only was this the first reference to red ants, but the letter also contained the first known reference to hungry ants. A later famous story related by Watson also featured hungry ants, except in the later story the ants were hungry little black ants instead of hungry red ants. Watson's story has been proven to be a myth for the simple reason that the name Kingaroy is much older than the date of the survey camp at which the name of Kingaroy was said to have been created.



An article in the Brisbane Courier of 29th January 1923 titled "A Study of Place Names" touched on the meaning of the name of Kingaroy. The journalist must have considered that a satisfactory explanation for the meaning of the name of Kingaroy did not exist. The newspaper received much correspondence, not all of which was published. The journalist was presumably expressing a general opinion rather than a personal opinion. Clearly the explanation about hungry red ants that had been published in 1919 had not yet become generally accepted by the beginning of 1923.



In a letter about the origin of the name Toowoomba published by the Brisbane Courier on 18th July 1923, Hector Munro briefly revisits his 1919 reference to hungry red ants in relation to Kingaroy. In the context of the letter, Munro implies that Kingaroy is derived from the word "Kinjarroy".



The introduction to the letter of Thomas Alford published by the Brisbane Courier on 30th July 1923 shows that the newspaper regarded the Munro story about red ants as a myth. Alford's letter is mainly about Toowoomba. The portion of Alford's letter that explains the name of Kingaroy is reproduced above.


21st April 2016: Correction to Brisbane Courier article of 30th July 1923:-

The article of 30th July 1923 in the Brisbane Courier, an extract of which is shown above, states incorrectly that Thomas Alford was formerly the mayor of Toowoomba. Henry King Alford, a younger brother of Thomas Alford junior, was mayor of Toowoomba in 1911-12.




Evidence, or the lack of evidence

The crux of the problem is that there is no known record of red ants in relation to Kingaroy until 1919. The fact that in 1923 some people believed that Kingaroy meant red ants does not prove that anybody believed this before 1919.

Maybe long before 1919 some people did believe that Kingaroy meant red ants, but if so then there is the question of why in 1923 did a newspaper article indicate that for years people had been seeking in vain for an explanation of the name Kingaroy?

The name Kingaroy had been in existence since at least 1872, so if a red ant explanation was true then it is incomprehensible that such a straightforward explanation did not start to emerge until nearly fifty years later. Of course, in 1872 nobody could have guessed that one day Kingaroy would become a town. However, by 1919 Kingaroy had grown into a substantial regional centre. Even Bushnell commented that a bushman would naturally ask the Aboriginals what they called a place. Therefore everyone should have known about red ants long before 1919.

In none of his letters does Munro actually claim that any Aboriginal had ever said to him that Kingaroy means red ants. The arguments put forward by Munro seem to be based entirely on his expert knowledge about Aboriginal language. He made assertions that Kingaroy means "red ants" and "red ground ants" and "little red ant", but he supported these claims with evidence that is only circumstantial. Munro offered no actual proof. This means that the red ant story could have been a speculative invention.

Bushnell identified three informants by name, Taabinga Harry, Ginny Tin and Willie Malone. Bushnell stated that Taabinga Harry told him that Kingaroy means a small red ant. This evidence of a red ant origin for the name of Kingaroy cannot be discounted, but it is the only instance where it is claimed that an Aboriginal actually said this. For the other two people, Bushnell skated around the issue with phrases such as "He can also be referred to" instead of explicitly stating that they had told Bushnell that Kingaroy means red ants. This could be just Bushnell's own peculiar way of communicating, but it could equally be that Bushnell may not have been one hundred per cent sure of what they might have said if they had been "referred to".

Bushnell did not explore the possibility that his red ant informants might have got the story directly or indirectly from Munro, who performed surveying work throughout the South Burnett and who often employed Aboriginal assistants.

Neither Munro nor Bushnell specified the all-important dates of when they first heard from others that the name Kingaroy means red ants.


There is a lack of consistency in the various names for ants

Variants of the Name Kingaroy in Chronological Order

name	date	provenance	meaning
Kingaroy Creek	1872	Queensland Gazette	not stated
kin jerroy	13th June 1919	Hector Munro	(hungry) red ants
Kingaroy	29th January 1923	Brisbane Courier	unknown, still being sought
Kinjarroy	18th July 1923	Hector Munro	not stated
Kingroy	30th July 1923	Thomas Alford	land leased to Mr King
Kin-garoy	18th August 1923	Hector Munro	red ground ants, little red ant
Kingari	18th August 1923	R Bushnell	a small red ant
Kingaroy	1927	South Burnett Times	red ant
king dhu'roi	1942	F J Watson	hungry small black ants
kingaroori	approx 2002	tourism websites	red ants
Kingaroy	modern era	some local people	large red bull ants

The red ant story of 1919 was ignored by some, modified by others and accepted as the gospel truth by many.

The red ant theory did not appear until 1919. By 1927, some Aboriginal elders definitely believed the story to be genuine. Nevertheless, linguistic experts have steered clear of the story, except for Munro and Watson. Presumably, linguistic experts may have found the story to be unreliable. In 1942, the unfortunate Watson published a version of the story that has Hector Munro and hungry little black ants at a survey camp. It has been conclusively proved that Watson's story is fiction.

Munro changed his version of the hungry part of the name of Kingaroy from -jerroy (1919), to -jarroy (June 1923) and then to -garoy (August 1923). His changing story indicates that Munro might not have been a reliable witness.

Wakka Wakka wordlists were published in 1910 by John Mathew, in 1942 by F J Watson and in 1983 by Nils Holmer. None of these wordlists contain any of the above names for red ants. Some wordlists contain the word "king" meaning small common ant in the Kabi dialect (Mathew 1910) and small black ant in the Wakka dialect (Watson 1942).

Variants of hungry in the wordlists include "ju'roi" (Mathew 1910), "dhur'ri", "dhurri", "dhau-ri" and "dhu'roi" (Watson 1942) and "gurai", "guroi" and "gurwai" (Holmer 1983).

On page 35 of Matthews 1997 book mentioned above, there is relevant linguistic evidence in a report written by the diarist John Green in 1864 about a brutal massacre of the Dhiluni tribe in the Maryborough area which is near the South Burnett. Green wrote that the placename "Kgauin-kgauindha" was associated with a locality where "the little black ants are in profusion." Although dialects in the Maryborough area were not identical to the Wakka Wakka dialect of the South Burnett, the word "kgauin" is nevertheless similar to the Wakka Wakka word "king". The words "king" and "kgauin" appear to have exactly the same meaning. This is additional evidence that the word "king" meant small black ants.


Some of the arguments of Munro & Bushnell contain factual errors

Munro is incorrect in his assertion about early placenames never being named after a "bird of passage". The reality is that many of the oldest placenames in Australia were chosen by the earliest Europeans in an area, regardless of whether those Europeans were transients or permanent settlers. Captain Cook and La Perouse would be sure to agree. In any case, Mr King must have genuinely been of some considerable ability and importance, otherwise it is unlikely that he would later have become the speaker of the state parliament.

Munro argues that "Who names the places? The surveyor, as a rule, who makes first survey."
Undoubtedly, during Munro's time many placenames were chosen by surveyors. However, usually the first recorded landmarks in any region were not named by surveyors. They were named by the first explorers in the area, whether or not they were surveyors. For example in the South Burnett the explorer Russell, who clearly lacked surveying skills, famously named the second Boyne River by mistake. It does not seem to have occurred to Munro that the earliest placenames were of landmark features. Also, there was no surveyor involved in Alford's story so Munro's argument was not only erroneous, it was also possibly intended to mislead.

Munro states "It is considered an honour to get your name on a Government map, and names are reserved for the real pioneers ..."
Munro conveniently overlooked the many European placenames in the South Burnett, for example Gordonbrook, Kingsland, Wigton and Balleyhew which all existed before 1872, well before Munro became a surveyor. These names are not known to be connected with any famous pioneers, unless somebody called King was actually one of the real pioneers.

Another example of Munro being wrong is contained in a letter from a Mr F E Lord published in the Brisbane Courier on 28th June 1923. Mr Lord states that a place was named after a shepherd who pastured a flock of sheep there, a remarkably similar circumstance to the events in Alford's story. Incidentally, no evidence is available about whether the Mr King mentioned in Lord's letter is the same Mr King in Alford's story.
"In the early fifties, when my father, as a young lad, was gaining Colonial experience on Rochedale station, under the then owner, Mr King, the place where Taroom now stands was known as "Bonner's Knob," called after a shepherd of that name who pastured a flock of sheep there."

Munro oversteps the mark with his comment that "Others can only get on a map by a survey, mostly private, having a street called after them."
Munro would have been fully aware that there were no towns or villages in the South Burnett in the era when the name Kingaroy was created. Therefore Munro should have been fully aware that his comment about street names was completely irrelevant to any debate about the origin of the name Kingaroy, but would have been relevant to the later era in which Munro was writing. Therefore Munro was either deliberately trying to fool his audience, or he must have been confused about events and dates.

It is not clear whether either Munro or Bushnell noticed that Alford wrote the word Kingroy and not Kingaroy. Their parroting of Alford's words has the name Kingroy incorrectly replaced by Kingaroy. It is possible that they were simply firmly rejecting Alford's story by studiously ignoring what he had written, or it is possible that they did not notice that Alford's Kingroy was a different word from Kingaroy.


Munro tended to blur fact and fiction

In his letter published on 18th August 1923, Munro claimed to have been "in the Burnett some 60 years". It is well documented that Munro arrived in the South Burnett in 1870, then ten years old, and that he subsequently attended a boarding school outside the South Burnett and that he worked as a surveyor for a few years in far north Queensland before moving back to the South Burnett when he was probably in his early twenties. He could have written more accurately "some 40 years" if he was talking about his work as a surveyor in the South Burnett, or he could have written "some 50 years" if he wished to include his teenage years as well, but instead he wrote "some 60 years".

Munro states "I might be asked how could a strange surveyor come on to one of the old station holdings, and know the names of all the local Aboriginal places? Easy enough; the surveyor of 60 years ago and later always had a local blackboy, a native of the station, as a horseboy and guide. He supplied all the Aboriginal names."
It is a fact that Munro's letter of 1923 was written about 40 years after he commenced surveying in the South Burnett. Munro either skilfully or inadvertently created the impression that his experience of surveying included an earlier era that it did not include.

" ... the surveyor of 60 years ago and later ..."
For all that anybody knows, the name Kingaroy could easily date back to the earliest days of Taabinga, which in 1923 would have made the name 80 years old. The choice of words by Munro of only 60 years and not 80 years suggests that Munro might have known something that he was keeping to himself.

Munro was a prolific letter-writer to newspapers on a range of subjects. The meaning of Aboriginal placenames appears to have been one of his favourite subjects. It seems to have been very important to him to demonstrate his deep knowledge of local Aboriginal matters at every opportunity. In this he appears to have been more than successful. Even the Wikipedia page about Munro is riddled with fiction such as him being born at Boondooma and growing up there amongst Aboriginals. He did spend part of his life at Boondooma, but only a fraction of the time that is claimed by some of his admirers.

In other publications, Munro wrote ripping yarns about his interactions with Aboriginals, in a daring-do style of adventure stories of his era. A clue that some of his true stories might actually have been fiction is that Aboriginals who were leading players in his stories sometimes were not actually real enough to have names. This is a technique used by writers of fiction. By not giving names to the people in a story, nobody can challenge the veracity of the story. There would be no risk that anybody might say "wait a minute, I knew so-and-so and he wasn't there at the time". There would be no risk that somebody might say "wait a minute, I lived there at the time and I've never heard of so-and-so". All humans have names, so there is no good reason why Munro omitted the names of Aboriginals from some of his stories.

It may be significant that Munro never actually mentions the name of any Aboriginal who had told him that Kingaroy means red ants. Indeed, as has been pointed out above, Munro never actually stated that any Aboriginal had ever told him that Kingaroy means red ants.

In Munro's letter published on 18th August 1923 he created an imaginary dialogue with Alford, putting words into Alford's mouth. This imaginary dialogue is evidence that Munro liked to create fiction. It is an unsatisfactory debating technique for those who prefer real debate.


Munro scoffed at Alford's knowledge and experience

Munro's imaginary dialogue with Alford put words into Alford's mouth that conveniently gave the impression that Alford didn't have much of a clue about placenames. It also provided Munro with a convenient soapbox on which he could stand to demonstrate his opinions and knowledge.

There was disagreement between Munro and Alford. They disagreed about the origin of the name of Toowoomba and they disagreed about the origin of the name of Kingaroy. Thomas Alford was the first white person to have been born at Toowoomba, so he may genuinely have had a better appreciation of Aboriginal affairs than Munro. Alford's knowledge of the South Burnett and Toowoomba was undoubtedly exceptional. Yet Munro answers Alford's real and imagined comments as condescendingly as if Alford was a certified idiot.

Alford had an expert knowledge of Taabinga Station that he had formerly owned for eleven years, and he had also spent many other years in the South Burnett. There can be little doubt that Alford stated the facts as they were known to him. There is no evidence that Alford had a hidden agenda, whereas the same cannot be said about Munro who seemed to be able to see only what he wanted to see. Munro made no attempt to inquire into the details of Alford's story, which is not what would be expected of anybody who genuinely wished to assess the accuracy of Alford's story. Instead, Munro's overbearing attitude was that Alford was just plain wrong as usual and that Munro was the only placename expert.




Earliest Association of Red Ants with Kingaroy

The town of Kingaroy was created in 1904 and grew rapidly into a thriving regional centre.

13th June 1919 is the date of the first known reference to red ants in relation to Kingaroy, in a letter from Hector Munro published in the Brisbane Courier. It is a simple fact that, despite searching high and low for years, the earliest record of red ants in relation to Kingaroy that has so far been found is dated no earlier than 1919.

It can therefore be concluded with very little doubt that the traditional association of Kingaroy with red ants must have commenced several years after the town of Kingaroy was created in 1904, not before.

The question then is how could the various ant stories possibly have arisen if they were all fiction? Any answer can only be speculative because there are insufficient provable facts, which is also why the debate about the name of Kingaroy will probably roll on for ever.

However before indulging in speculation to find an answer, there are a few solid facts that might point the way.


Baseline Facts

First of all, it is clear from newspaper reports as late as 1923 that the meaning of the name of Kingaroy was generally considered to be unknown. Few people had the faintest idea of what the meaning of the name was, apart from it being known that the name had been derived from the name of Kingaroy Paddock.

Many people had a natural curiosity to know what the unusual name of Kingaroy meant. There was a void caused by the lack of an explanation.

There was a word "king" in local Aboriginal dialects that meant little black ants.

By 1919, the distinctive red soils of some areas of the South Burnett were becoming more noticeable as more and more land was cleared to grow crops. Resumptions and subdivisions had attracted many settlers into the region. Soldier settlement schemes after the first world war accelerated this process. Tractors were becoming more numerous, although as yet there were few of them compared with the present day.

Stringing these facts together may have resulted in creative and imaginative stories.


Speculation

The red soils of the South Burnett are to many people the most characteristic feature of the region. So, any story that incorporated the colour red into the meaning of the name of Kingaroy would probably have seemed highly plausible.

It is suspected that Hector Munro may have seen an opportunity to enhance his reputation as a local expert. He may have invented the red ant story, based on his knowledge and opinions. It cannot be proved that he invented the story. He certainly refined and propagated it.

The red ant story might have started life as a speculative theory that then took off in a big way. It was a natural fit for a gaping void in Kingaroy's history. The story was taken seriously by so many people that it soon became part of the unquestioned history of Kingaroy.

The evidence of a caustic relationship between Munro and Alford (see above) indicates that there may have been an ongoing feud between them. It appears that Munro never wasted any opportunity to pour scorn on Alford's knowledge (see above). Munro may have been trying to establish himself as being the greater expert of the two on local issues, despite Alford's credentials being at least the equal of Munro's.


Conclusion

A speculative conclusion is that the traditional link between Kingaroy and red ants may have resulted simply from the ambitions of Hector Munro to enhance his prestige.

In the court of public opinion, Hector Munro won the war of words that he waged with Thomas Alford. Today most people in the South Burnett think that the name Kingaroy means red ants. Few people have even heard of Mr King and Kingroy.



Here is a comprehensive selection of old theories about the origin of the name Kingaroy. Now that Alford's authoritative and plausible theory has been uncovered, all the old theories described here have become obsolete. Some of these theories had already been proven to be fiction.

Click to select, or scroll down the page:-
Watson's Hector Munro Kingaroy Story

Firstly, a summary of the life of Hector Munro:-



Next, all aspects of the popular survey camp story about Hector Munro:-



Proof that the survey camp story is a myth:-



It doesn't take much scrutiny to realise that there are quite a few question marks relating to the plausibility of the Hector Munro survey camp story. Here are some of the flaws in the story that had already been recognised before the story was conclusively proven to be fiction:-



Red Ant Theory #1



Red Ant Theory #2 - Kingaroori



A Settler with the Name of King



Kangaroo Theory #1



Kangaroo Theory #2



King Roy Theory



Kia Ora Theory

kingaroar.com main page

More About
How Kingaroy Got its Name

Taabinga's Link with Royalty