Talk:Tempe Downs Station
Latest comment: 2 hours ago by Mitch Ames in topic Capitalisation of the term Traditional Owners
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Capitalisation of the term Traditional Owners
editHello,
According to the following guide, and a number of other guides that I am happy to share, it is most appropriate and correct to refer to the Traditional Owners of Country using proper nouns:
There is more detailed information about this in the Australian Government Style Manual.
Aliceinthealice (talk) 05:41, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
- "Traditional owners" is not a proper noun.
- First Nations Vocabulary – using culturally appropriate language and terminology - Australian Public Service Commission does not say it is a proper noun - it says "it's a noun".
- Australian Government Style Manual does not capitalise "traditional owners".
- Mitch Ames (talk) 12:28, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
- Hi Mitch,
- In the text box in the link it does say that it is a noun but it also says specifically that the term Traditional Owner should be capitalised and apologies that the Australian Government Style Manual doesn't also say this; but it should.
- The capitisalisation issue is, however, also specifically addressed by:
- Reconcilliation Australia: in this guide
- The Queensland Government: in this guide (page 19 of the PDF)
- (The Queensland Government in particular sums up the issue quite perfectly: "A great deal of respect is afforded to Traditional Owners and as such, the words must be capitalised."
- I understand that this may not match the English Wikipedia MOS but, in our Australian context I do think it is incredibly important to be as respectful as possible when referring to First Nations communities and their rights/roles and responsibilities as they relate to land.
- Aliceinthealice (talk) 01:42, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
- MOS:SIGNIFCAPS is quite clear in its mention of not using "... over-capitalization for signification, i.e. to try to impress upon the reader the importance or specialness of something in a particular context" - where "importance or specialness" here is equivalent to "respect". We can be respectful without having discard basic rules of English writing (capitalisation is for new sentences and proper nouns) and our own style guide. Mitch Ames (talk) 12:02, 12 September 2024 (UTC)