Hepburn Shire: Proposal to rename ‘racist’ Jim Crow Creek

Victoria’s most racist creek name could soon be wiped off the map as residents of two Central Victorian councils decide on the future of Jim Crow Creek.

Hepburn Shire Council and Mount Alexander Shire Council have proposed to rename Jim Crow Creek to Larni Barramal Yaluk following public pressure over the racist name. Picture: Contributed, Hepburn Shire Council

Victoria’s most racist creek name, Jim Crow Creek, could soon be wiped off the map as residents of two rural councils decide on its future.

Hepburn Shire Council and Mount Alexander Shire Council have proposed to rename the waterway considered to Victoria‘s most racist and derogatory place name.

Hundreds of residents within 200m of the creek will be asked whether it should be changed to Larni Barramal Yaluk.

That name has been proposed by the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation and means ‘Home of the Emu Creek’.

Dja Dja Warrung chief executive officer Rodney Carter said it would be a positive step and return Traditional Owner’s language and people back into the landscape.

“Naming places in our language opens up conversations so when people say that word, it is talking to country,” Mr Carter said.

“You create a degree of fondness and care of a place.”

Hepburn mayor Lesley Hewitt said the term Jim Crow was rooted in the history of segregation and racism and there had been calls to change the creek’s name for years.

Cr Hewitt said the derogatory term began as a slur against African-Americans in 1828, with Jim Crow a blackface minstrel character played by Thomas Dartmouth.

Darthmouth’s song and dance routine became world famous, leading “Jim Crow” to become a term for people of colour everywhere.

His racist character became the namesake of the “Jim Crow Laws” which legalised racial segregation in the United States.

When Captain John Hepburn and other settlers arrived in at Mt Franklin in the 1830s they used the racist term to refer to the mountain, Aboriginal Protectorate, creek and goldfields – as well as the Indigenous people living in the area.

Cr Hewitt said the name change had support in the community, with a petition reaching council in 2014.

“We want to learn, acknowledge and move forward together,” Cr Hewitt said.

“By reinstating a name that reconnects our community with the Dja Dja Wurrung culture and language that spans many thousands of years, we are setting the standard for how we can support the Dja Dja Wurrung Peoples.”

Hepburn Shire Council and Mount Alexander Shire Council have proposed to rename Jim Crow Creek to Larni Barramal Yaluk following public pressure over the racist name. Picture: Contributed.

Cr Hewitt said there were about 100 properties within 200m of the creek who would be sent a survey on the proposed name change, but an online portal would allow anyone to lodge a submission over the creek.

The public consultation period will remain open until November 12, with council to announce its decision between February and March, 2022.

Cr Hewitt said if endorsed, the council would send the proposal to the Victorian Office of Geographic Names.

The North Central Catchment Management Authority, who are the natural resource management agency for the region, also supported the move.

This will not be the first time an Australian place is changed because of its racist origins.

Until 2017 there were 10 locations and landmarks in Queensland with the N----r in their title, and in 2018 Queensland’s Mount Jim Crow was renamed Baga.

In September the Queensland government committed to renaming Fraser Island to K‘gari, meaning paradise, while the Lake Macquarie council in New South Wales voted to change Coon Island to Pirrita Island.

Western Australia confirmed it planned to rename the King Leopold Ranges, in the Kimberly, as the Belgian monarch was responsible for the deaths of millions of people in Africa.

Rockhampton’s racially offensive Black Gin Creek was officially renamed to Dundula Creek in 2020, while Cairns announced this year it would considering renaming Blackfellows Creek Park – but plans to rename the divisive creek itself have not been confirmed.

Towns across Australia have also struggled with their colonial namesakes legacy, with calls to review Townsville, Mackay, Gladstone, and McIlwraith who supported slavery and blackbirding in Queensland.

There have been repeated calls to remove the name of Melbourne founder John Batman, including a poll by Melbourne Girls’ Grammar students to remove Batman from one of the school’s houses.