Page 5007 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
names given to places reflect the thinking of the time or are a product of ignorance. That is except for particularly egregious place names, or ones which cause significant and ongoing trauma to certain people. Where consideration of changing a name may be warranted, perhaps a better way to proceed would be via education about its name, its context, and why some people might find it traumatic. Such information could be included, for instance, in the information that is provided on the ACT government’s ACTmapi place names website.
We should be equally wary about changing some of our place names which, with the benefit of hindsight, may not have been so wise. Iron Knob Street in Fyshwick and Swinger Hill in Phillip are well known. I point out that Swinger Hill, which I live very close to, was named after a surveyor, but I think very people in the ACT are aware of that meaning and most take another one. What about Bogan Place in Kaleen? Should we change this or should the residents, the people, have some pride—Belco pride—in the name?
I studied maths at uni, so I would not mind living in Calculus Lane in Duntroon, but some people have said that they have a problem with this. Perhaps residents in Cockburn Street in Curtin tire of telling people that it is really pronounced “co-burn”. Should we take pity on them? And what about the people who live in Adcock Place in Banks or Handcock Place in Macgregor. Where do we stop?
People themselves are very resistant to changing names. I know theoretically that Southern Cross Station is a station in Melbourne, but as far as I am concerned it is still Spencer Street Station, and that is where you get the trains that come from Sydney. The name was changed over a decade ago but nobody calls it Southern Cross Station. Well, maybe a few people do.
What this motion will not do and cannot do is ensure that our place naming committees will always get things right either at the time or, even harder, with hindsight. In spite of the great work that the ACT Place Names Committee does, the naming of places is a subjective matter. It is based on the mood of the time, on what the community at the time feels is a good thing to do, and on the information that is available, which may not be complete.
I have another suggestion. Given the gender imbalance in the current names, a good start might be to consider naming more streets, suburbs and places after women. It is a pretty big imbalance. Parliaments and cabinets can be replaced through elections, and have been in the ACT, where we are proudly a female majority. The most practicable way to right the imbalance in place names in our city may be to have a moratorium on naming places after men for a while. I suspect the moratorium might have to be in place for decades if we are serious about this, but I put that forward as a concept to be considered.
In closing, I would like to thank Ms Cody for bringing this motion to the Assembly. It has caused my office considerable amusement. Unlike the Liberal Party, we did not regard it as something where someone had to draw the short straw to be the speech writer; in fact, numerous people have contributed to this. We did have to take out some of the more salacious commentary; this is definitely not the X-rated version.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video