Do you know which traditional country you’re posting from? This new guide might help

Australia Post has come out in support of a campaign urging the public to use traditional place names when addressing mail  

Australians can now access official information on how to include traditional place names when posting their parcels, thanks to updated address guidelines by Australia Post.   

The decision to update the information follows a lengthy campaign by Gameroi woman, Rachael McPhail, to make First Nations place names an official part of address information. 

McPhail started a Change.org petition to support the campaign, which has attracted nearly 15,000 signatures. 

“Every area on this continent now known as Australia has an original place name,” McPhail said in a Change.org post.  

“I am calling for place names to be made part of the official address information in Australia, the same as postcodes and street names.”

On Thursday, Australia Post published new guidelines on how and where people should acknowledge traditional custodians on their parcels and letters. 

Information on how the public can check and find traditional place names was also included.   

McPhail said the support from Australia Post during NAIDOC Week was “heartening”. 

“This is an important first step towards decolonisation in Australia,” McPhail said.  

But she said the fight wasn’t over, urging supporters to keep pushing the postal group to create a national database of traditional place names in consultation with Indigenous Elders and Nations. 

“If there is any organisation that has the capacity to undertake this project, it is Australia Post,” she said. 

Check out the new guide here.