Victorian government backs changing of ‘racist’ Moreland Council name

A controversial bid by an inner-city council to change its “racist” name has won support from the state government.

Moves are under way to change the ‘racist’ name of Moreland Council. Picture: Josie Hayden

The Andrews government has backed a controversial move to change the “racist” name of Moreland Council due to its link to a 19th-century Jamaican slave estate.

Minister for Local Government Shaun Leane favours a proposal for a community engagement process in 2022 to choose a new name in consultation with Aboriginal people.

“I confirm my support and will be pleased to facilitate renaming of the council in accordance with the requirements of the (Local Government) Act if the proposal is supported by council and the local community,” he wrote in a letter to Moreland Greens mayor Mark Riley.

A council meeting on Monday will consider a management report recommending that the renaming process go ahead after Aboriginal elders approached the council about “a confronting example of ingrained racism of historic origin”.

Aboriginal elders approached the council about ‘a confronting example of ingrained racism of historic origin’.

Early Melbourne settler Farquhar McCrae named his land near Moonee Ponds Creek after a family plantation in Jamaica, which traded in slaves, sugar and rum.

The report said the Moreland Council name only dated to 1994 following the merger of Brunswick, Coburg and Broadmeadows councils.

“In its 27 years, Moreland City Council has historically stood against racism and for diversity,” it said.

“Having a name which is considered racist and offensive conflicts with this history, and with council’s commitment to social justice, diversity and community inclusion.”

“Retaining the name now ... could cause considerable reputational damage to Moreland as a progressive and responsive local government service provider to a diverse multicultural community.”

If adopted, the council’s consultation process will get advice from the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Heritage Aboriginal Corporation identifying suitable names that reflect local Indigenous places and culture.

“It is also proposed to open a conversation with the community on the impacts and

consequences of dispossession and racism, and encourage respectful understanding

through a program of education, truth telling and reconciliation,” the report said.

Dr Bella d’Abrera says Moreland Council believes it is morally superior to the ‘racist’ men and women of the British Empire. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Director of the Foundations of Western Civilisation program at the Institute of Public Affairs, Dr Bella d’Abrera, accused Moreland Council of “a masterclass in virtue signalling”.

“(They) clearly believe that they are morally superior to the ‘racist’ men and women of the British Empire,” she said.

“The ratepayers of Moreland are being unjustly compared to slave-owning colonials who lived and died some 300 years ago.”

“Perhaps the council and Shaun Leane need to be reminded that while the British did follow Arabs and Africans into the slave trade, they were also the first to leave it, and its hideous racism, too.”