Melbourne Knowledge Week now has narrm ngarrgu in the title under City of Melbourne change

The Melbourne Knowledge Week festival will feature an added Aboriginal name, which is the first time a council event has been given a dual name.

A key city festival has been given an added Aboriginal name under a City of Melbourne reconciliation plan that could result in other events and places being given dual names.

Melbourne Knowledge Week, which starts on Monday, now has narrm ngarrgu in the title after the council consulted with the local Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung group for a suitable Indigenous translation.

The event’s four themes will also be dual named in Woi Wurrung and English: marra ba gurrkwugel (community and culture), biik (earth), tartbanerra (economy) and parren (technology).

It is the first time that an existing city council event has been given a dual name, and more examples are expected to follow under a reconciliation action plan which promotes better knowledge of Aboriginal cultural heritage.

Melbourne Knowledge Week will have an added Aboriginal name.

“The City of Melbourne encourages and supports place and event names that act as a testament to local history, culture and citizens, especially opportunities to recognise the valuable contribution made by Aboriginal people to our city,” a council spokeswoman said.

While not an official name change, the council uses the term Yarra River-Birrarung in its strategy documents for the river in a nod to the name used before European settlement.

But Institute of Public Affairs director of the Foundations of Western Civilisation Program, Dr Bella D’Abrera, criticised the dual naming policy.

“This kind of woke virtue signalling causes nothing but confusion and division in society,” she said.

“Instead of having a name identity crisis, the Melbourne City Council should be focusing on the crisis of confidence in the CBD caused by draconian lockdowns.”

“Tokenistic renaming of places will not help anyone.”

However, Wurundjeri elder Ian Hunter, whose ancestors include 19th century Aboriginal leader Bebejan, supported dual naming when appropriate.

“It might be something constructive, you can’t argue if they have consulted properly (with Aboriginal groups),” he said.

Narrm ngarrgu/Melbourne Knowledge Week will include several events featuring Indigenous community members, including an opening night keynote performance of song and storytelling by Jessie Lloyd, and a sovereignty discussion with five “knowledge-holders from the Kulin nations”.

Knowledge Week also includes an event presented by the Immigration Museum and Deakin University called Pass it on! Reclaiming the City.

It will combine a panel talk with a self-guided city tour to “highlight how acts of rebellion have helped shape the city we live in today, and how we can harness its power to build a more equitable and inclusive city in the future”.