Indigenous names on the table for Melbourne suburbs

Some Melbourne locations – and the Yarra River – could be given another name under a plan to honour Aboriginal culture and communities.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp says dual names will be considered for some locations to honour Aboriginal culture and communities. Picture: Alex Coppel.

Some Melbourne places could be given an additional indigenous name under Town Hall’s reconciliation plan.

An Aboriginal name for Melbourne is Naarm, while a university study identified examples such as Ngar-go for Fitzroy and Quo-yung for Richmond.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp confirmed that the City of Melbourne will consider using dual names for locations to honour Aboriginal culture and communities.

“It makes us very distinctive, some towns around Australia have had the most extraordinary indigenous names for a long time,” she said.

While not an official name change, the council already uses the term Birrarung-Yarra for the Yarra River in its documents, as Birrarung is considered its proper name.

Naarm and other traditional indigenous names are used with existing place names by the ABC and some other broadcasters in their news and weather reports.

Ms Capp said there were no current proposals by the council for dual naming of areas.

“(We will consider) the policy of dual naming where appropriate, obviously working with traditional custodians about the appropriateness of that, and what the names may be,” she told the Herald Sun.

“I know at state and federal government levels that’s been a policy for a long time now, so we’ll continue to look at that as it comes up.”

A 2018 Deakin University study that looked at colonial records and 19th research notes identified names like Quo-yung (Richmond), Youruk (St Kilda), Kurnan (Malvern), Bulleke Bek (Brunswick) and Quor-nong (Royal Park).

Boonwurrung Land and Sea Council chairman Jason Briggs welcomed the council’s policy, saying the Yarra should be changed to its original name Birrarung, meaning “river of mists”.

“The area around Melbourne has a substantial cultural pedigree – derived from the thousands of years of occupation by the Kulin Nations – in particular the Boonwurrung and Woiwurrung language groups,” he said.

“Most importantly, any process to develop alternate names should have cultural relevance and legitimacy from the traditional custodians, and not by imposed by bureaucrats who like to control the situation.”

Wurundjeri elder Ian Hunter questioned the term Naarm for Melbourne, saying he had never heard of it growing up.

“How could Aboriginal people have named a place that never existed? A lot of young people come up with the word Naarm, but I’ve never seen it.”

The council’s Aboriginal reconciliation plan includes a pledge to deliver a series of “truth-telling” talks “to enable a greater understanding of Aboriginal people’s experiences (past

and present)”.

The plan also calls for the establishment of a permanent outdoor ceremonial site to be done in consultation with indigenous groups.

And a number of council employees would be seconded to Aboriginal organisations for six weeks in a bid to “establish and maintain mutually beneficial relationships”.