A small town’s city council has rejected a resident’s plea to change a street name deemed a “racial slur.”
The resident of Penola, a South Australian town of about 1,000 people located in the state’s east near the Victorian border, had just bought a property on Chinaman’s Lane and was embarrassed by the name of the road.
He asked the Wattle Range Council if they wanted to change the name, but Yahoo reported that it rejected the request at its monthly meeting on Tuesday.
‘After reviewing the officers’ report detailing the historical origins of the name, the opinions of other residents, and receiving a submission from a descendant of one of the early Chinese settlers, the council unanimously made the decision to recommend the renaming of the name not to continue. Lane,” a spokesperson said sadly.
According to the spokesperson, renaming the course would mean an update of a number of databases, title references and addresses.
The lane got its name in the 19th century when it was used by Chinese greengrocers who sold supplies to those going from Robe to Ballarat during the 19th century gold rush.
In the letter making the request, the unnamed resident acknowledged the historical origins of the name but argued that it was outdated.
“While I recognize that the name has a connection to the history of the region, the word ‘Chinese’ is widely considered a slur, and has been so for some time,” the letter said.
A council in the South Australian town of Penola, near the Victorian border, has rejected a resident’s plea to change a road name deemed a ‘racial slur’.
The letter writer said the name embarrassed them, especially if they had to share it with someone of Asian descent.
A similar name change proposal divided residents of one of Australia’s swankiest suburbs in July.
Osmand Chiu, a second-generation Chinese-Australian, wanted a name change for Chinaman’s Beach in Mosman, on Sydney’s Lower North Shore.
Mr Chiu, a researcher at the independent think tank PerCapita, said the term “Chinese” is disrespectful and used as a racial slur.
“It’s shocking to have a place called ‘Chinamans Beach’ in the city where I was born and raised, as if there’s nothing wrong with it,” he told the Mosman Collective.
“We would never name a place or even refer to someone as a ‘Chinese’ these days, which speaks volumes about the term.”
The popular tourist hotspot, surrounded by a 250-metre stretch of sand, is now home to some of the most expensive real estate in Australia.
Obviously the name is relatively recent.
The beach was traditionally known as Rosherville Beach, but was renamed in 1977 according to Sophie-Loy Wilson, senior lecturer in history at the University of Sydney.
Despite the plea of an embarrassed new residents’ council rejected the name change on the grounds that it had historical value
Ms Wilson told SBS Insight that the name had been changed to refer to Chinese fishermen using the surrounding waters.
Locals are divided over the issue, with resident and property consultant Rob Klaric saying the scenic beach should not be renamed.
“Many wealthy Chinese from mainland China love that the beach is called Chinaman’s Beach,” he said.
Other residents defended the name on social media.
“Okay, so should it be called Australianman Beach? Let’s see how that turns out? I’m so bored when people get offended by the words “yawn yawn,” someone wrote.
Another said: ‘Absolutely not. It is history with a beautiful story. When will this madness stop?’