The Wire

The fight to see the name changed of the controversial E.S “Nigger Brown” stand at Berghofer Stadium may well be over if redevelopments are approved by the Queensland Government. The sports stadium is located in Toowoomba, 90 minutes inland from Brisbane – and has been the focus for Aboriginal academic, author, publisher and activist Stephen Hagan for nearly seven years. In 1999, he tried negotiation with the Toowoomba Sports Ground Trust to have the offensive word removed, however was unsuccessful. Since then, he has taken the matter to the Federal and High Courts of Australia – which ruled against him. And in 2003 Mr Hagan approached the United Nations who ruled in his favour but its recommendations were ignored by the Commonwealth – so ultimately the name stayed. Just this week however, the Courier Mail and the Toowoomba Chronicle have both reported that now, the name may be changed. Stephen Hagan describes how he felt when he read about the possibility of the name change…