Captain Cook controversy: Paddington pub criticised for changing name
It’s been called the Captain Cook Hotel for more than 100 years, but the new owners of a landmark Paddington pub have decided it would be ‘cooler’ to drop the name of Australia’s most famous explorer. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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- Woke lefties need to take a good, hard ‘Captain Cook’ at themselves
Axing Captain James Cook’s name from a Sydney hotel is an example of how “cancel culture” is being pushed onto mainstream Aussies, concerned academics and experts say.
And our readers overwhelmingly agree, with more than 90 per cent of the almost 3,800 respondents to our Facebook poll saying the hotel’s name should not change.
The inner-city Captain Cook Hotel has decided to punt Australia’s legendary navigator and explorer from its signage, menus and social media, rebranding itself as The Captain, Paddington.
That’s despite a heritage-listed sculptural bust of the celebrated navigator sitting proudly atop the building, located just a stone’s throw from the SCG.
But the move has sparked an outcry among some Sydneysiders, furious at yet another move to downgrade our national hero and erase Australia’s history.
On Sunday at 8.30pm, Sky News will host a special on cancel culture by Spectator editor Rowan Dean, who says the creeping censorship of culture is “very dangerous”.
“Cancel culture historically has always started with removing statues, symbols and culture in an attempt to erase history,’’ he says.
“Any pub or business has every right in the world to change their name, to rebrand, but the giveaway here is to say ‘Cook is not a cool name’.”
Outraged Sydneysiders took to social media to condemn the erasure of Captain Cook’s name, with Lee Dawson typical of many, commenting: “It might be a minor thing to some but it’s a slow diminishment of our democratic society.”
In a Facebook poll run by The Daily Telegraph, 3500 of the 3800 respondents answered “No” to the question: Should the Captain Cook Hotel change its name?
Hotel owner Robby Moroney denied that the change was a response to cancel culture, saying the rebranding would give a “fresh face” and “sound cooler”.
“We figured the Captain Paddington sounds cooler, but the captain is still referring to him,” he said.
He said it was not buying into the political controversy about Australia’s heritage. “We won’t be drawn into that controversy about the stances on all that stuff.”
Built in 1914, the entire Flinders Street hotel is heritage listed and has been a popular meeting place for sports fans for decades.
Centre for Independent Studies senior research fellow Peter Kurti, who is writing a paper on cancel culture, said the movement was “insidious”, because it started out with seemingly small issues, and it “needs to be called out”.
“I think it’s a dangerous move,” he said. “Every incident of it might be described as minor, or it’s time to refresh the brand, but clearly what they want to do is distance themselves from James Cook, who is an historic figure in our country.”
Institute of Public Affairs foundations of Western civilisation program director Bella d’Abrera said Captain Cook was “an integral part of Australia’s history and he should be remembered, not erased”.
“This is yet another example of how cancel culture, which started in academia, is being pushed onto mainstream Australians,” she said.
One Nation MP Mark Latham said the pub had been a sporting institution for decades, being so close to the SCG.
“Back in the day, Paddington would have been a working-class suburb and they would have thought Cook a great person in his achievements. It’s sad it has been ripped out,” Mr Latham said.
Originally published as Captain Cook controversy: Paddington pub criticised for changing name