In what many would consider a decision that is long, long overdue, the Queensland government is removing a number of racist place names from the map.  It may come as a surprise to some that the "N-word" appeared on the Australian map at all in 2017.

Fairfax Media reports that community members brought their concerns about places such as "N-----s Bounce" in north Queensland to the Natural Resources and Mines Department.  A subsequent investigation revealed nine more places using the N-word - including "Mount N-----, N----- Head, and seven instances of "N----- Creek". 

The department discontinued the use of these offensive terms on 14 August and the details will be published in the Queensland Government Gazette in late September.

"We welcome the removal of those names, since the N-word is an unmistakably racial slur, and a potent symbol of slavery, white supremacy and violence," said Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich to Fairfax.  "It is rooted in hate, and has often been employed to dehumanise and to perpetuate demeaning stereotypes.

"This decision recognises that this insulting word of contempt can't be sanitised, excused or cleansed, and the relegation of these names to the dustbin will hopefully teach present and future generations that it is never acceptable, in any context, to use these phrases."

This comes at a time when anglophone countries are being forced to reexamine their racist and genocidal pasts, largely because of the way White House infestation Donald Trump has empowered foul, racist nazi scum and hate groups in America.  The backlash to Trump's louder, prouder racist right has been more and more municipalities taking down statues of Confederate Civil War figures.  Indigenous North American groups are now using the momentum to pressure towns to remove memorials to Christopher Columbus, the European explorer falsely credited with "discovering America" who in fact committed atrocities against the indigenous inhabitants of the islands he accidently bumped into in his failed quest to find a passage to India.

In Australia, it's fueling debates over removing statues of Captain James Cook, Lachlan Macquarie, and others because of the truth of their histories.

"The broader community needs to learn more about our true history - not the 'whitewashed versions'," said University of Queensland research fellow Jonathan Richards.  "Because as long as memorials to frontier 'heroes' remain place and uncorrected, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are constantly reminded of the cruel and violent racism of Australia's past."