Editing Mount Kosciuszko (section)

==Etymology and charting==
The mountain was named by the [[Poland|Polish]] explorer [[Paweł Strzelecki|Paweł (Paul) Edmund Strzelecki]] in 1840, in honour of [[Tadeusz Kościuszko]], general and hero of the [[Kościuszko Uprising]] and [[American Revolutionary War]], because of its perceived resemblance to the [[Kościuszko Mound]] in [[Kraków]], Poland.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wikiski.com/wiki/index.php/Australian_Geographical_Name_Derivations |title=Australian Geographical Name Derivations |publisher=Wikiski.com |date=8 April 2011 |access-date=18 June 2012 |archive-date=2 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102140157/http://www.wikiski.com/wiki/index.php/Australian_Geographical_Name_Derivations |url-status=dead }}</ref>

An exploration party led by Strzelecki and [[James Macarthur (politician)|James Macarthur]] beside him with Indigenous guides Charlie Tarra and Jackey set off on what is called Strzelecki’s Southern expedition. Macarthur was seeking new pastures. Strzelecki wanted to investigate the [[climate]], [[geology]], [[paleontology]] and geography of NSW and to publish his findings.<ref>Strzelecki, Paul Edmund de. ''Physical description of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land'' (1845). Adelaide: Libraries Board of South Australia, 1967 (Reprint)</ref> This included identifying Australia’s highest summit, which Strzelecki reached on 12 March 1840.<ref name=Andrews>{{cite book |last1=Andrews |first1=Alan E. J. |title=Kosciusko: The Mountain in History |date=1991 |publisher=Tabletop Press |location=O'Connor ACT |isbn=0-9590841-2-6 |page=50 |ref=Andrews}}</ref><ref>Paszkowski, L. ''Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki: reflections on his life''. Arcadia, Australian Scholarly Publishing. Melbourne [Vic.] 1997. {{ISBN|1-875606-39-4}}.</ref>
[[File:Eugène von Guérard - Mount Kosciusko, seen from the Victorian border (Mount Hope Ranges) - Google Art Project.jpg|left|thumb|''Mount Kosciusko, seen from the Victorian border (Mount Hope Ranges) -'' the mountain range as depicted by [[Eugene von Guerard]], 1866]]
[[File:Guerard Mount Townsend 1863.jpg|left|thumb|''North-east view from the northern top of Mount Kosciusko -'' [[Eugene von Guerard]], 1863]]
The approach was made from Geehi Valley. After climbing Hannel’s Spur, the peak now named [[Mount Townsend (Snowy Mountains)|Mount Townsend]] was reached. Here Strzelecki used his instruments to make observations.  Mt Townsend is Australia's second highest mountain, adjacent to and almost the same height as Mt Kosciuszko, and Strzelecki saw that the neighbouring peak was slightly higher. In the presence of Macarthur he named the higher summit Mount Kosciusko after the famous Polish-Lithuanian military leader who died in 1817. As it was late, Macarthur decided to return to camp and Strzelecki alone climbed the Kosciuszko summit.

Based on Strzelecki’s records, Australia’s highest summit was mapped. A cartographical mistake made in an edition of Victorian maps transposed Mount Kosciusko to the position of the present Mount Townsend. Later editions of the map continued to show the original location.<ref>{{Cite web|title=RAHS Publications - The Cartography of Mount Kosciusko|url=http://mtkosciuszko.org.au/english/cartography-of-mount-kosciusko.htm|access-date=2021-06-03|website=mtkosciuszko.org.au|language=en|archive-date=3 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603112412/http://mtkosciuszko.org.au/english/cartography-of-mount-kosciusko.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> NSW maps did not make this mistake.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

The Victorian error created confusion. In 1885, Austrian explorer [[Robert J. Lendlmayer von Lendenfeld|Robert von Lendenfeld]], guided by James M. Spencer,<ref name=Spencer>[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13579769 "  Jas. M. Spencer ''The Highest Point in Australia'' The Sydney Morning Herald, February 18, 1885"].</ref> a local pastoralist, aided by a map containing the transposition error, reached Mount Townsend believing it was Mount Kosciusko. According to Spencer, the local Aboriginals called Mount Kosciusko ''Tar-gan-gil''. Like Strzelecki, Lendenfeld also observed that the neighbouring peak was higher. He named it Mount Townsend to honour the surveyor who in 1846 traversed the peak.

Lendenfeld claimed he had identified and reached the highest peak of the continent. The NSW Department of Mines discovered Lendenfeld's mistake and assigned the name Mount Townsend to the second-highest mountain of the range. Lendenfeld's announcement created further confusion. When Lendenfeld's mistake was corrected, a popular legend was created that the established names of the two mountains were swapped rather than re-educate the populace of the name of the highest mountain.<ref>{{cite book|last=Slattery|first=Deirdre|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/910161107|title=Australian Alps : Kosciuszko, Alpine and Namadgi National Parks|date=2015|isbn=978-1-4863-0171-3|edition=Second|location=Clayton, Vic|oclc=910161107|access-date=3 June 2021|archive-date=5 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241005163111/https://search.worldcat.org/title/910161107|url-status=live}}</ref>

The confusion was straightened out in 1940 by B. T. Dowd,<ref>Dowd, B. T. "The Cartography of Mount Kosciusko". Royal Australian Historical Society. ''Journal & Proceedings'', vol. 26, part I, pp. 97–107.</ref> a cartographer and historian of the NSW Lands Department. His study reaffirmed that the mountain named by Strzelecki as Mount Kosciuszko was indeed, as the NSW maps had always shown, Australia’s highest summit. When Macarthur’s field book of the historical journey was published in 1941 by C. Daley,<ref>Daley, C. "Count Paul Strzelecki’s Ascent of Mt Kosciusko and Journey through Gippsland" The ''Victorian Historical Magazine'', vol. 19, no 2, pp. 41–53, 1941.</ref> it further confirmed Dowd’s clarification. This means that Targangil, mentioned in Spencer’s 1885 article,<ref name=Spencer/> was the indigenous name of Mount Townsend, not of Mount Kosciusko. According to A. E. J. Andrews, Mount Kosciuszko had no indigenous name.<ref name=Andrews2>Andrews, Alan E. J. FRAHS. ''Mount Kosciusko, Our Highest Mountain'', Letters to the Editor, Published in the Kosciuszko Hut Association Newsletter No: 108 Winter 2000.</ref> Detailed analysis of the mountain history can be found in books by H. P. G. Clews<ref>Clews, H. P. G. ''Strzelecki’s Ascent of Mount Kosciuszko 1840'' Australia Felix Literary Club, Melbourne 1973.</ref> and in the cited A.E.J. Andrews' book ''Kosciusko: The Mountain in History''.<ref name=Andrews/>

The name of the mountain was previously spelled "Mount Kosciusko", an Anglicisation, but the spelling "Mount Kosciuszko" was officially adopted in 1997 by the [[Geographical Names Board of New South Wales]].<ref name=gnbmount/> The traditional English pronunciation of Kosciuszko is {{IPAc-en|ˌ|k|ɒ|z|i|ˈ|ʌ|s|k|oʊ}} {{respell|KOZ|ee|US|koh}}, but the pronunciation {{IPAc-en|k|ɒ|ˈ|ʃ|ʊ|ʃ|k|oʊ}} {{respell|kosh|UUSH|koh}} is now sometimes used,<ref>{{cite dictionary|editor-last=Yallop|editor-first=Colin|entry=Kosciusko|encyclopedia=[[Macquarie Dictionary]]|edition=4th|year=2005|location=Melbourne|publisher=The Macquarie Library|isbn=1-876429-14-3}}</ref> which is substantially closer to the Polish pronunciation {{IPA|pl|kɔɕˈt͡ɕuʂkɔ||Pl-Tadeusz_Kościuszko.ogg}} {{respell|kosh|CHYUUSH|koh}}.

===Aboriginal names===
There are several native Aboriginal ([[Ngarigo language|Ngarigo]]) names associated with Mount Townsend, where J. Macarthur recorded in 1840 some campings of the natives. There is some confusion as to the exact sounds. These are ''Jagungal, Jar-gan-gil, Tar-gan-gil, Tackingal''; however, all of them mean [[Bogong Moth]], which [[aestivate]] on the mountain.<ref name=Andrews2/>

In 2019, "Kunama Namadgi" was submitted to the [[Geographical Names Board of New South Wales]] as a proposed [[Dual naming|dual name]] for Mount Kosciuszko. The proposal was submitted by the Toomaroombah Kunama Namadgi Indigenous Corporation, which states that the proposed name means "snow" and "mountain". According to Uncle John Casey, the mountain's [[Ngarigo]] name has "been Kunama Namadgi for 4,000 years, since we've been on country, until the white man came in the early 1800s and that's when they changed it". However, Iris White, the chairperson of the Southern Kosciuszko Executive Advisory Committee, disputed that account, stating "that name is not from our language. It's offensive because in some of our languages 'Kunama' actually means faeces". White said that a new name should not be given "just for the sake of it sounding Aboriginal or sounding good".<ref name="dual name ABC 2019" />