What’s in a name? The renaming of the pink cockatoo is no small thing in Australia’s violent history | Andrew Stafford

This beautiful bird's former name represented colonial dominance - and told us nothing about the species

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The pink cockatoo has had a few names over the years. The father of Australian ornithology, John Gould, knew it as Leadbeater's cockatoo, following the scientific name given to it in 1831, Cacatua leadbeateri. This was named after Benjamin Leadbeater, the London naturalist and taxidermist.

Sir Thomas Mitchell, the surveyor general of New South Wales from 1828 to 1855, called it the red-top cockatoo. He was awestruck by its beauty. Few birds more enliven the monotonous hues of the Australian forest than this beautiful species whose pink-coloured wings and flowing crest might have embellished the air of a more voluptuous region," he gushed.

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This article was amended on 16 September 2023 to remove a reference to the Leadbeater's possum being named after Benjamin Leadbeater. The possum was named after another taxidermist, John Leadbeater