Boyup Brook council rejects dual naming of Blackwood River after public consultation

Boyup Brook shire has rejected a bid to dual name the Blackwood River to recognise it’s Aboriginal name just days after another South West council questioned if it would continue with acknowledgement of country. Neighbouring Bridgetown-Greenbushes shire had requested the Boyup Brook council to endorse its application for dual naming of the Blackwood River, as is required for Landgate approval. However at its October 26 meeting, the Boyup Brook council voted six to two to not support the Bridgetown-Greenbushes request to include the river’s Aboriginal name Goorbilyup. The decision comes as the Shire of Harvey is set to debate if it will continue recognition of first nations before meetings and formal events after one councillor called for the “tokenism” to be scrapped. Back in July, Bunbury council had a heated debate when updating its welcome and acknowledgement statement, with one councillor claiming it took away their freedoms, while another did not want to recognise those who are not “pure in soul and in heart”. Boyup Brook council said its decision to decline the dual naming of Blackwood River was in response to public consultation in which 10 of the 16 submissions received opposed the addition. Boyup Brook Shire president Richard Walker said there were a range of reasons for the majority of the consultation being against the change and that the council had to take it into consideration. “It was something the community should have some say in and there was definite opposition towards supporting that and that’s what influenced the decision of the council,” he said. “There were a range of reasons, with a combination of concerns, but we have to consider the community’s point of view.” The proposal for the dual naming came after the Bridgetown-Greenbushes council’s cultural inclusion advisory committee noted it as a priority project. As the Blackwood River passed through different shires, Western Australian Land Information Authority, also known as Landgate, required both Shires to individually support and request for the dual naming for the proposal to be approved. Bridgetown-Greenbushes Shire president Jenny Mountford said the Boyup Brook Shire council was the only one that had not come back with an affirmative response towards the dual naming. “All the other shires are happy to go with it, and it’s not replacing the name, it’s having two different names for a site, which is common with other natural sites in the region,” she said. “I suspect that due to the decision, I may be asked to have a chat about the disagreement towards the dual-naming proposal.” She said the initial proposal for the dual naming came as a recommendation from their recently established committee, due to the cultural significance of the Blackwood River. “The committee felt it would be a beautiful thing to do, in line with the other cultural initiatives that the committee came to place, and we went to see if the participating towns and shires were in agreement about possibly doing it,” she said. “It is an appropriate proposal to pass through, as the Blackwood River is a significant natural site, especially to the Indigenous people in the region.” Meanwhile on the pending Harvey shire debate on the acknowledgement of country, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti has refused to direct the council. “As we know, the Voice debate was a situation that many views were expressed, some (of which) were very distressing for First Nations people and what the Harvey council does is a matter for them,” he said. “All I know is that the WA Government has a policy regarding welcome to country and that remains.”