Elsie Lange
Hume council has voted to adopt Woi Wurrung names for three reserves in Sunbury, following community consultation.
Darr Banneem for Sunbury Fields Grassland, Mumilam Korobine for Fullwood Drive Reserve and the addition of Wuruwurrt Biik as a second, dual name for Albert Road Nature Reserve will now be submitted to the Registrar of Geographic Names for consideration and approval.
The community’s feedback, which was mostly in support of the names bar a few objections, was noted in the decision at a council meeting on Tuesday, June 14.
Councillor Jack Medcraft said as an Aboriginal person, seeing the names be accepted was a “really enlightening moment”.
“It’s a long time overdue … it’s great to see the reserves named after certain Aboriginal places, or people,” Cr Medcraft said.
“Really they were here before anyone else was here and I think it basically says that we do acknowledge the places that have been named and I think that it’s a really good initiative.”
Sunbury Fields Grassland is a remnant of the endangered plains grassland vegetation type and supports First Nations artefact scatters – its new Woi Wurrung name ‘Darr Banneem’ means ‘spear grass’, a prominent plant in the reserve.
In Woi Wurrung, ‘Wuruwurrt Biik’ means ‘bushy ground’ reflecting the shrubby character of Albert Road Nature Reserve, and ‘Mumilam Korobine’ means ‘western initiation ground’, referencing its proximity to the Bora Rings.
Council voted to open the names to public feedback in July last year, where they underwent two consultation periods over September to October 2021, and April to May 2022.
Darr Baneem received 32 submissions, 30 in support and two objections, and Albert Road Nature Reserve/Wuruwurrt Biik received 18 submissions, with 15 in support and three objections.
Due to a minor error in the Mumilam Korobine naming proposal led to a second consultation process, with a total of 32 submissions, 25 of those in support and five against.
Cr Jarrod Bell said he was “thrilled” to see the vast majority of respondents to council’s request for comment on the names over September to October 2021 and April to May 2022 had been “almost unanimously supportive”.
