Moreland City Council: Wurundjeri elder Ian Hunter blasts Greens, Mark Riley over ‘political’ name change

The decision to rename an inner-city council has been slammed by an Indigenous elder as part of a “greens agenda” to put “their name up in lights”.

Wurundjeri elder Ian Hunter has blasted Moreland Council decision’s to change their name to Merri-bek, following recent controversy over the name’s ties to an 18th century Jamaican estate that used slaves.

An Indigenous elder has blasted a Melbourne council’s decision to change its “racist name” as “part of a Green agenda that allows them to put their names up in lights”.

Ian Hunter, an elder of the Wurundjeri community, also claimed Moreland Council’s new name — Merri-bek meaning “rocky country” — was not the right translation and that neither word existed in his language.

“The Greens think that when an Indigenous person has an idea, it has to be followed through with,” Mr Hunter said.

On Wednesday night, Moreland announced that 3739 residents had chosen Merri-bek as their preferred name to replace Moreland — 59 per cent of the more than 6000 ratepayers who voted in the process.

Ratepayers were given a choice of four options — Merri-bek, Jerrang, and Wa-dam-buk or to keep the name.

The vote is the culmination of a long and divisive debate that began in November, when Moreland received a letter from the Wurundjeri Woi-wurring Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation objecting to the retention of the name due to its ties to an 18th century Jamaican slave-trading estate.

But Mr Hunter said ‘Bek’ was not a word in the Wurundjeri language and that the construction Merri-bek was not grammatically correct.

He said that ‘Biik’ was the closest word that translated to ‘country,’ while he could not trace the origins of ‘merri’ in his language.

Mr Hunter said the decision would not have an impact on Victoria’s Indigenous community.

“Most (of the Victorian Indigenous community) wouldn’t be interested in the issue one way or another,” he said.

His comments come as independent Moreland councillor Oscar Yildiz ramps up pressure on the council over what he described as a “deceitful” consultation process.

“Lots of people thought the letters (Moreland) sent out to them were informing them the name change was occurring; it wasn’t obvious to lots of residents that it was a vote,” Mr Yildiz said.

He said the number of respondents, which amounted to approximately 4.5 per cent of Moreland’s population, meant there was no democratic mandate to change Moreland’s name.

“What about the other 95 per cent?”

“If you walked down Victoria Mall in Coburg and asked people what they thought, I’d say 95 per cent of people would know nothing about Moreland’s decision to change its name.”

The council, Mayor Mark Riley and the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation were contacted for comment.