Strewth, is it a bird, is it a plane, is it a jumbuck?

Stone the crows  — a salty, yeast-based breakfast spread that only returned to Australian ownership in January is among 20 potential monikers to make the final cut of a competition to name the Qantas fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners . Vegemite is an Australian institution that spent much of its recent history being owned by Americans until a $A460m deal in January returned it to Australian ownership with the Bega Cheese Group. Whether Qantas will give free advertising to another brand by attaching the name Vegemite on one its new B787-9s remains to be seen but voters are being asked to make their voices heard ahead of an announcement of the eight winners next week. The 20 names to emerge from the 10,000 submissions and 40,000 names received by the airline include legendary cricketer Sir Donald Bradman, opera singer Dame Joan Sutherland and tennis great Evonne Goolagong. Geographical icons in the running include  Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock), Kokoda, Great Ocean Road and Great Southern Land, which is also the name of a popular song. Aussie terms coooee (a shout used to attract attention), jumbuck (a sheep)  and true blue (used to denote that something or someone is genuine but also a song title) also get a guernsey as do the marsupial-oriented Skippy and quokka. Other options are iconic song Waltzing Matilda, which comes with a built-in jumbuck, or Aboriginal terms boomerang and Dreamtime. “There were so many great entries that truly reflected the spirit of Australia and we’re thrilled with the response,”  Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said in a statement “It was obvious that people really put some thought into different themes we could use to name our fleet of eight new Dreamliners including famous explorers (and) some of their favourite Aussie sayings. “And it’s fair to say there were a few suggestions which we found very funny but probably not suitable for an aircraft that will be flying around the globe.’’