On June 19, the Western Advocate reported the Geographical Names Board was considering a proposal for the dual naming of the Wambuul/Macquarie River.
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There is evidence from past times of a ready acceptance of the river sharing two names, as shown below.
Writing on April 3, 1835, during a Bathurst stopover, Surveyor-General Mitchell refers to the "Wambool", explaining in a footnote it was the "native name for the River Macquarie".
Knowing the "native name" enabled him the following year to confirm with local Wiradjuri that the Macquarie was part of the Darling's tributary system. (Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, 1839.)
Bailliere's NSW Gazetteer and Road Guide (1874) offers an example of dual naming, with the entry, p.328: "MACQUARIE (or WAMBOOL) RIVER ... is a magnificent stream ...."
OTHER RECENT LETTERS:
"Wambool" is likewise recognised as "the native name of the Macquarie River" in the colonial government's Geographical Encyclopaedia of NSW (1892), p.436.
Ida Lee (1865-1943), Kelso-born historical geographer, readily acknowledged the earlier name of "the Macquarie of the whiteman", writing, "in past ages the black natives called it the Wambool, or Wandering River, because of its winding course ...." ("Outposts of Empire", Bathurst Times, November 6, 1909.)
These published examples of past unofficial dual naming suggest it is not so much a question as to whether an official dual name ought to be adopted, but rather why it has taken so long.
There is shared history in the naming of our river deserving formal recognition with official dual naming.