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It would be wonderful if 2021 is the year @BirdlifeOz takes a stand and starts using only the name Pink Cockatoo for this beautiful bird... as we do. Removing Major Thomas Mitchell's name and its dark colonial associations from this iconic species is long overdue (Thread) https://twitter.com/BirdlifeOz/status/1344920802580451329
Indigenous Australians had known the pink cockatoo by local names in many languages for millennia. But Major Thomas Mitchell, colonial surveyor and explorer for the British Crown, neither "discovered" the pink cockatoo nor described it for European science.
A specimen of the pink cockatoo had been formally exhibited and given a scientific binomial (Plyctolophus leadbeateri) by Nicholas Aylmer Vigors, Secretary of the Zoological Society of London, in April 1831... BEFORE Mitchell ever left Sydney to explore the colony's interior.
Vigors obtained the pink cockatoo from Benjamin Leadbeater of Piccadilly, London, a merchant with agents across the Empire who procured rare specimens for wealthy private collectors and museums. These were often damaged in transit, leading to some surprising misinterpretations...
This image shows Leadbeater's cockatoo, as the pink cockatoo was initially known, as illustrated by young ornithological artist and future poet Edward Lear ("The Owl and the Pussycat") in 1832. It was also referred to as the "tricolour-crested cockatoo". (Pic via @BioDivLibrary)
In 1836, the exploration party led by Major Thomas Mitchell opened fire on a group of Indigenous people near the present-day site of the town of Euston on the Murray River. At least seven were killed, according to accounts of those present. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-03/mount-dispersion-government-recognises-bloody-vicious-massacre/12316254
Mitchell gave the name Mount Dispersion to what he called “the little hill which witnessed this overthrow of our enemies”. But he didn’t name the cockatoo - so how did his name come to be associated with this iconic bird?
In his 1848 Birds of Australia, John Gould captioned the plate illustrating two pink cockatoos as "Leadbeater's cockatoo" (no mention of Thomas Mitchell). He did, however, quote Mitchell's descriptions of wild pink cockatoos extensively in his notes (pics via @BioDivLibrary)
It seems Mitchell's name became associated with the pink cockatoo primarily because of the descriptions Gould quoted and helped to popularise. The earliest published references to "Major Mitchell's cockatoo" date from the 1860s, but these remained an exception, not the rule.
Bird guides and other publications continued to refer to "pink cockatoo" and/or "Leadbeater's cockatoo" well into the twentieth century. "Major Mitchell's cockatoo" became the approved (IOC) common name quite recently, for reasons that aren't scientifically or historically valid.
In light of the growing consciousness and recognition of the impact of European colonialism on the First Nations People of Australia, it seems deeply inappropriate and offensive to continue to associate the name Major Mitchell with this gently beautiful bird #ownpic
