From AAP:
‘Nigger’ stand set for demolition
August 29, 2006An Aboriginal activist crusading to remove the word “nigger” from a Queensland sports ground grandstand may finally get his way, with the stand set to be demolished.
Stephen Hagan, a lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland, has waged a long campaign to change the name of the ES Nigger Brown stand at the Toowoomba Sports Ground, west of Brisbane.
The offending grandstand was named in 1960 after Edward Stanley “Nigger” Brown, Toowoomba’s first rugby league international.While Mr Hagan lost his seven-year legal battle to change the name, he could be a winner from a state government plan to provide $2 million to build a new stand.
He said any new stand should be named to honour soon to retire Brisbane Broncos rugby league star Shane Webcke, who comes from the Darling Downs region.
Toowoomba Sports Ground Trust chairman John McDonald said the ES Brown Stand was to be bulldozed under the redevelopment plan but no consideration had been given to renaming it.
“When we get the thing built we’ll worry about that,” Mr McDonald, the chairman of the Queensland Rugby League and a former Test centre said.
“Certainly there’s lots of people that would be considered.
“Shane’s a good friend of mine and he’s a terrific player and I respect him because he’s just been so great for the game.
“But we’d just have to look at who we’d consider for that position for the naming rights.”
Mr Brown, who died in 1972 aged 74, was Caucasian and was believed to have earned the nickname because of his extremely fair complexion or because he had a penchant for using “Nigger Brown” shoe polish.
The trust insists the name is not racist and Mr Hagan has unsuccessfully argued before the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission, the Federal Court and the Full Federal Court to have it removed.
Deputy Premier Anna Bligh, who announced the redevelopment funding during September 9 election campaigning today, said any decision on a name for the new stand was up to the trust.
