City of Gosnells shoots down 12-year-old girl’s petition calling for ‘racist and derogatory’ street name to be changed

A young girl's petition to change the name of a Perth street because of the insult to the Indigenous community has been rejected by a council.

Grace, 12, filed the petition to change Blackboy Court in Thornlie to Grasstree Court in July after learning about First Nations history at school.

But Gosnells town councilors voted against the change at a Nov. 30 meeting after heated opposition from other residents.

“We were taught at school about the history of this country and I feel a strong sense of empathy when I think of all the Aboriginal people who have suffered,” Grace said.

The street in Thornlie, half an hour outside Perth, became a point of contention earlier this year after a 12-year-old girl started a petition to change the name because of its insult to Indigenous people.

“I can't change the past, but I can try to change the future.”

The schoolgirl said she consulted a First Nations friend who supported the name change. PerthNow reported.

“I spoke to an Aboriginal friend and he told me he finds the street name very offensive and he said I was doing the right thing,” she added.

'I would love to see the street name changed from Blackboy Court to Grasstree Court.'

The proposal sparked hostility among residents, with one local resident starting an opposing petition that gathered 26 signatures.

Graeme Capstick argued that the street name was always clearly visible, and many people from different cultural backgrounds passed by without complaint.

A Gosnells Council report states that the term 'blackboy' was an informal name for the native xanthorrhoea plant, or grass trees.

“This in itself would certainly support the fact that a majority of people and cultures do not find it racially defamatory, derogatory or offensive in any way,” he said.

“The name itself, because it is one word, is not a description of a colored child, but simply a common botanical name.”

The term 'blackboy' is another name for xanthorrhoea plants or grass trees, according to a report from the City of Gosnells, with many of the surrounding street names in Thornlie also featuring native Australian flora.

Residents of the 16 homes at Blackboy Court also stated that the name change would be difficult, meaning they had to change their official address details.

The petition caused hostility among residents, with one local Graeme Capstick claiming it would be inconvenient to have to change their official address details.

Councilor Peter Abetz added: 'To expect the residents of that street to go through the inconvenience of notifying all their insurers, banks and everything else… I really think is completely unnecessary.'

“Let us not seek offense where there is no need to take offense.”

Blackboy Court was built in the late 1980s and the name was approved by the Department of Land Administration (now Landgate) in 1988.

The city council has unanimously decided not to take action on this point.