Residents of Queensland’s Isis district have vowed not to change the area’s name and reiterated that there are no links between the fertile region known for its macadamia and avocado crops and the terrorist organisation of the same name.
The Isis district, south of Bundaberg and west of Hervey Bay, encompasses a total area of just over 1,700 sq km, with the town of Childers at its centre, and is home to about 7,000 people.
A Bundaberg regional councillor, Tony Ricciardi, a former deputy mayor of the Isis shire council, appeared on the Seven Network’s Sunrise programme last week to defend the region’s name from links to Islamic State, also known as Isis.
Mr Ricciardi said there had been no calls for a change since his appearance on the programme. “In fact, I’ve had a lot of people congratulating me for taking the stance that I did. I knew that would be the case in that part of the world. The Isis has always been that, back to the 1870s.”
He said that it was named by settlers after the Isis river in England .
“The Isis district’s been known that way for all these years,” he said. “The Isis highway is a state road - they’re not going to change that, for sure. A lot of businesses use the name Isis. We’ve got South Isis, North Isis, all the little towns in between, the Isis junction.”
God of fertility
It was not named after the Egyptian god of fertility - which featured in the Isis shire council’s logo before it amalgamated with the city of Bundaberg and shires of Burnett and Kolan to form the Bundaberg region in 2008 - although Mr Ricciardi said the land was very fertile.
He reiterated there were "no links at all" between the Queensland region and the terrorist organisation of the same name.
“I don’t associate the Isis district with what’s happening overseas and the terrorist group,” said Mr Ricciardi. “It’s totally different and totally divorced from what we’re doing. They’re on a religious basis. We’re just a district that was named for its rich, fertile soil.
“That’s what we relate the Isis district to. And it is fertile soil. Now we have one of the biggest macadamia and avocado orchards in the Bundaberg region.”
But Mr Ricciardi acknowledged the name could cause confusion outside the area.
“I wouldn’t want to go overseas with my Isis football jumper on,” he said.
On a trip to Paris for his 60th birthday, he wore a jacket with the Isis logo on it: “It didn’t click with me. I’m glad it didn’t happen then. But we can laugh about it as long as they don’t come over here.”
Of the terrorist group, he said: “They’re crazy. They’re nuts.”
No changing name
An Isis district rugby league football club spokesman, Kevin Grant, said there were no plans to change the name of the local team from the Isis Devils.
“We’ve had this name for a long time and other places can do what they like, really. We’ve been Isis for a long time. Newcomers come along and adopt our name. We’re not going to change.
“In the next six months they might not exist, with a bit of luck.”
The team had been under pressure to rebrand before the Bundaberg rugby league grand final against the Western Suburbs Panthers last year, which was broadcast by ABC Grandstand.
“The league was trying to get us to change our name then and we really dug our heels in,” said Mr Grant. “We said, ‘Nah, we’re quite happy to wear this.’ ”
At the time, the Isis district RLFC president and former Isis shire mayor, Bill Trevor, told the ABC the connection to the terrorist group had caused “a bit of mirth in the club”.
“They say intelligence agencies listen in to keywords on telephone conversations - well, if they’ve been tapping conversations with some of ours, it would be pretty boring lately, talking about football.”