It has come to attention of the 2013 Editorial Board that Woroni has been lying to our members. Whether by negligence or intentional deception, we have misled the ANU student body for years. The ramifications of this admission will be wide-reaching; however we know that there is just one correct action. To quote the good book (which we often do in Woroni HQ), we believe that only the “truth will set [us] free”. So, you heard it from us first:
Our masthead is wrong. Oops.
From 1988 to the very last edition of 2012, the top of Woroni has read “The Australian National University Student Paper since 1948”. This is not true. In 1948 we were not Woroni, we were not ANU’s student paper, and there was barely an ANU at all.
We started our life as Canberra University College Students’ Notes in 1947. Before you get your pitchforks and burning torches, we’d like you to know that Canberra University College (CUC) is not the same as University of Canberra. Reliable sources inform me that Canberra University College was established in 1930 as the first tertiary education institution in Canberra by the University of Melbourne, and was the precursor to ANU (thrust upon Canberra by parliamentary decree in 1946). CUC was absorbed by ANU in 1960 when our dear university started to offer education for undergraduate students, a commitment they seem to be regretting lately.
Meanwhile, CUC Students’ Notes had become Woroni in 1950 that, according to our own Wikipedia article, “derives from an Indigenous Australian word meaning mouthpiece”. We did some research on this and found that – aside from an 8-page rambling letter from a ANU PhD candidate in Volume 57, Issue 1 of Woroni (2005 for the punters) that claims that our name was taken from the third vice-chancellor which has etymological links to a Latin word which means “for lack of a better word, ‘squid’ dressed up in a girl’s skirt” – there is absolutely no proof of this. But we like the sound of this, so we’re sticking with it.
So if CUC Students’ Notes was established in 1947, and if we became Woroni in 1950, and CUC was amalgamated in 1960; what should we put on our masthead? Well, logically, we actually became ANU’s very own student publication in 1960.
But we like the sound of 1950 better. And since we write the history books anyway, that’s what we’re sticking with.
“Woroni – The Australian National University Newspaper Since Whenever We Say”
We acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, who are the Traditional Custodians of the land on which Woroni, Woroni Radio and Woroni TV are created, edited, published, printed and distributed. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. We acknowledge that the name Woroni was taken from the Wadi Wadi Nation without permission, and we are striving to do better for future reconciliation.