Dreaming?

It's a pity that the new Ettalong welcome signs have been misspelt.

I take it they should read "Wales' Dreaming Country".

Otherwise they could only be construed as an ill-informed attempt at drumming up a fictional past for the sake of tourism.

The traditional owners of the land, the Guringai, feasted on beached whales.

There is both written and pictorial evidence as well as traditional lore to testify to this, and a small amount of time spent on research would have revealed as much: Aboriginal groups did not eat their totems.

The Guringai totem was the butterfly stingray.

One wonders how there could have been so little proper research done and such disrespect displayed towards traditional owners as to further perpetuate this "whale dreaming" fiction for commercial benefit.

Despite its claims of widespread consultation, it seems the Chamber of Commerce and "Heritage Committee" has overlooked consultation with the traditional owners about their heritage.

Kay Williams Pearl Beach