Koori place names
By Stan Pelczenski
The restoration of Koori place names in the form of dual names is being jeopardised by the Kennett Liberal-National government of Victoria and local councils. The government has already dropped "Geriwerd" as the dual name of the Grampians National Park, citing "public confusion" and local opposition.
Both reasons are unjustified. No confusion was caused by the restoration of the Aboriginal names to Uluru and Katatjuta, so it is unlikely that any confusion would have resulted from the change to a dual name for Geriwerd/the Grampians.
The local western Victorian opposition to the restoration of Koori names referred to by the conservation minister — including a petition of 57,000 signatories — had already been taken into consideration by the Place Names Committee when deliberating the changes under the former Labor government. The dual names were finally approved by this committee in 1991 and were a compromise between those supporting and opposing the restoration of Koori names.
The Kennett government's move was legally easy, since for some reason the previous Labor government omitted to gazette the changed name for the park while gazetting 31 other changes in 1991. If it had been gazetted, the dropping of Geriwerd would have required amendments to the National Parks Act. Gazetting would have also placed a legal obligation on local governments and public establishments to implement the name change.
Action for Aboriginal Rights urges readers to write letters to the Victorian government, asking that the name "Geriwerd" be restored to the national park. Readers can also write to the Ararat, Stawell and Horsham local councils asking why other officially approved dual names have not yet been implemented.
[Stan Pelczenski is an activist with Action for Aboriginal Rights
(Victoria).]