Sydney's Cooks River may be renamed Goolay'yari under new proposal in Aboriginal partnership strategy
/ By Declan BowringIn short:
A proposal put to the Cooks River Alliance calls for the river — named after British explorer James Cook — to renamed Goolay'yari.
A consultant who led the proposal says the name means "place of pelican dreaming" in local languages.
What's next?
The name change is yet to be fully endorsed by the alliance, and will also require approval from the NSW Geographical Names Board.
The Cooks River in Sydney's south and south-west could be renamed Goolay'yari, meaning place of the pelican dreaming in local languages.
The proposal is part of an Aboriginal partnership strategy from the Cooks River Alliance, which includes First Nations peoples connected to the river, which is named after the British explorer James Cook.
The alliance also includes Sydney Water and the Bayside, Inner West, Strathfield and Canterbury-Bankstown councils.
Dharawal man Gregory Andrews, who held consultations for the proposal, likens the idea to returning the name Uluru to the iconic Northern Territory landmark once known as Ayers Rock.
"It's not really renaming, it's giving back the name that it's always had," Mr Andrews told ABC Radio Sydney.
"It doesn't detract from James Cook and all of his achievements as a great explorer of his time.
"If he had 'discovered' it today, he wouldn't call it after himself. He probably would ask what it was called."
The Cooks River runs from a park near Bankstown in Sydney's south-west, via Strathfield South through to Tempe before entering Botany Bay in Sydney's south.
However, renaming the river to Goolay'yari has not been fully endorsed by the alliance, according Andrew Thomas, from the organisation's secretariat.
"The [Aboriginal partnership strategy] plan is [endorsed], but not necessarily the renaming," Mr Thomas said.
"It's something the community would have to agree on first before going any further."
Mr Thomas said a newly-hired Aboriginal landcare coordinator with the alliance had been tasked with discussing the community's desire to rename the river.
Ongoing connections
Mr Andrews says an island on the river, known as Fatima Island, looks like the foot of a pelican.
"If you look at it from Google Earth, that looks like the foot of the pelican. So we we say that's the foot of the pelican," Mr Andrews said.
The alliance's Aboriginal partnership strategy also includes plan to reform the governance of the organisation, to ensure it has at least 50 per cent First Nations representation.
Mr Andrews said the river was an important escape route for Aboriginal people who were fighting against British settlers, including the famous Bidjigal warrior Pemulwuy.
In modern times, the river still held significance as a place of refuge from the "hustle and bustle" of the city, he said.
"It's really important for Aboriginal people and increasingly important, I think, for non-Aboriginal people as a little sort of haven," Mr Andrews said.
Sydney-based Indigenous artist Nadeena Dixon, who weaves baskets from reeds found in the river, was part of the consultation project for the name-change proposal.
No official submission yet
As well as being endorsed by the Cooks River Alliance and the community, an official renaming of the river would have to be passed by the NSW Geographical Names Board.
Loading...According to the board's website, the state government supports a dual-naming policy for geographical features.
However, no official proposals have been lodged with the board relating to the Cooks River.
"The Geographical Names Board has not received a proposal to rename or dual name the Cooks River as Goolay'yari," a spokesperson for the board said.