RE-NAME or dual-name? The future moniker of Banks Reserve is up for public debate after local Aboriginal elders called for its Noongar name to be restored.
In August Vincent councillors voted to go ask the public about the Noongar naming.
The strip of river along Mount Lawley was dubbed Banks Reserve in 1963 after former Perth councillor Ronald Frederick Banks.
But the site has long been a meeting place and camp for Aboriginal people, and about 10 years ago a group of traditional owners and local elders agreed that the place was widely known as “Warndulier” or “Warndoolier”. ‘Warn’ is a digging stick, ‘dool’ means spirit or mist, and ‘doolier’ means big leaves.
Vincent council’s been on a campaign to revive Noongar language in public places, and originally a dual-naming was planned to keep ‘Banks’ and add ‘Warndulier’.
But as one of her final acts before retiring, then-mayor Emma Cole reckoned they should test the public sentiment for change and proposed also consulting about a complete rename back to Warndoolier.
The idea’s open for comment via imagine.vincent.wa.gov.au or Vincent’s HQ until November 16.
by DAVID BELL
Perth Voice Interactive 
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