| Nevertheless,
ten years after the foundation of Venado Tuerto, there
was a plan to change its name. Leoncio de la Barrera,
journalist and historian, refers to this episode in
his book The True History about the Founder and the
Date of Foundation of Venado Tuerto. [3] The neighbours
wanted to use the founder’s name Eduardo Casey
instead of Venado Tuerto. They wrote: 'We countrymen
and foreigners in the name of the Provincial Constitution
(Article Seven) address Your Excellency to express the
following. The denomination Venado Tuerto has
nothing to do with the historical and geographical realities
of the Province or of the Republic. Additionally the
denomination does not refer to the fantasy or popular
feelings. It is in some way the Indian remains of some
tradition of the Indian population that inhabited the
place. Our demand is to name it The Colony and Town
Eduardo Casey, since this Argentine man was the
founder of these populations. He was driven by patriotism
and not by money interests. We owe Mr. Casey the transformation
of these areas taken away from barbarians and from the
savageness that reigned in the south of the Santa Fe
province. Presently, there exists in the town of San
Urbano a fortress in which the inhabitants of the place
observed the devastating Indian raids.’
This
petition was signed by the first inhabitants (Alejandro
Estrugamou, Ramón Urteaga, Pedro Iturbide, Ramón Mariño,
Higueras, Ponciano Belén y Francisco Echeverría), as
well as by members of the Irish community (Turner, Maxwell,
Cavanagh, Downes, and Howlin). There were a great number
of Italian and Spanish immigrants who arrived almost
at the same time and who supported the petition. After
some time these two latter groups became majority.
| 
Country party (circa 1915). Some of the families present
at these parties were Kenny, Downes, O'Farrell,
Chapman, Orr, Guerlach, and Dallegri
(José Brendan Wallace collection)
|
The
Mapuche toponym expresses the memory of the land, and
as such impressed Eduardo Casey. But a decade later
it did not show any reference to the geographical history
of the province. Concepts like ‘Indian countries’ were
closely related to the ideas and policies of the Argentine
government. Less than twenty years had passed after
the military campaign against the Indians. However,
even though a petition existed and that it was followed
by its subsequent committee debate, the decision to
change the name was not adopted. Some of the concepts
in this debate, included those by MPs Lubarry and Lucero,
expressed that ‘the denomination Venado Tuerto is
ridiculous, it does not say anything, it has no historical
tradition’ (Lubarry). Lucero said that he was 'going
to back up the resolution of the committee, [but] I
think that we must preserve those names attached to
a tradition. If they are to be changed, they should
be replaced by historical names that relate geography
with the history of the country. The name Venado
Tuerto has a tradition. This is why Eduardo Casey
did not want to change the name. The original place
names in the department of General Lopez (south of Santa
Fe province) have an important historical tradition.
It was in those places that civilisation succeeded over
barbarism. These are very simple historic references
and that is why I insist it is a duty to take them into
account when there is a need to give these lands a name'
(Lucero).
Eduardo
Casey (1847-1906)
Born 20 April 1847 in estancia El Durazno,
Lobos. Son of Lawrence Casey from Co. Westmeath,
and Mary O'Neill from Co. Wicklow. In 1878 Casey
owned a farming agent company. He was
the first exporter of bovine cattle on the hoof
to England, and one of the founders of 'La Blanca'
cold-storage plant. He also served on the board
in the Western Railway Company and the Buenos Aires
Provincial Bank. His most successful affair
was the purchase of
72 leagues of land (130,000 hectares) in Venado
Tuerto to sell parcels to farmers. Also, in 1881
Casey acquired 100 leagues of land in Curumalal,
Coronel Suárez. The crisis of 1890 seriously affected
Casey's investments and ultimately led him to bankruptcy.
On 16 June 1906 he died in an accident on the railway tracks.
Some historians argue that he did not commit suicide. |
|
The
coincidences and differences between these two
MPs are significant. As a consequence of the campaign
against the Indians the frontiers disappeared,
the landscape changed, and technology left behind
desert and barbarism. There was no possibility
of a social encounter between Europeans and Indians.
But there was disagreement between geographical
and historical facts. According to Lucero, the
original names should be preserved without barriers
between past and present, even though this could
influence the official history. But his petition
was not accepted due to arguments of historical
character. [4]
The
name of the city reflects the origin of these
lands. But the names of streets, parks, and places
followed a different pattern, with the exception
of one street that in the last decade was known
as Hinojo in reference to a lagoon recorded
in 1806. This name was used by Bartolomé Mitre
(President in 1862-1868) to designate a fortress
in 1864. However Casey followed a different model
to project his town. |
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