By Shelby Brooks
Berwick identity Neil Lucas has been investigating the background of the names of streets, parks and landmarks in the City of Casey in a regular Gazette column What’s In A Name.
Mr Lucas is a former CEO of the City of Berwick, a State MP, the mayor of Casey and serving in a Vice Regal role as administrator of the territories of Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands.
“Developers have to think of fancy names that haven’t already been used in the suburb. If there are two Smith Streets in the same suburb, the fire brigade and ambulance don’t know where to go,“ Mr Lucas said of the street naming process.
Often suburbs have themes, Mr Lucas said.
“Endeavour Hills is based on Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavour,“ he said.
“The streets are all named after the sailors on the ship, who were all men.“
There’s also a group of streets in Berwick named after Essendon football players- Van Der Haar Avenue, Ezard Close, Duckworth Close and Mansfield Street.
In the four years of producing the column, he said he couldn’t recall any public places he had written about that were about women, other than those who were former councillors.
He said in the 1980s, the City of Berwick passed a resolution to name reserves after every councillor – past and present.
A number of those were women.
He said he had thought it a bit ridiculous at the time that some of the councillors who had reserves named after them, both men and women, had only served one or two years.
However, a one prominent female councillor missed out, Mr Lucas said.
“There was a bit of a discussion over Norma McClausland because the shire was advised place names couldn’t be named after people who were living, so Norma missed out,“ he said.
Mr Lucas said he would like to see her commemorated in some way, along with a number of historical women he can think of who weren’t councillors.
As for street names, there are only a few female named ones Mr Lucas can list that weren’t named after female councillors.
One, after the wife of the owner of a property that had to be acquired to build a connecting road.
Another, named after the daughter of a friend of the developer, Felicity Court in Narre Warren.
And lastly Florence St in Berwick was the subdivider’s mother or mother-in-law.
“That might have been to keep her quiet,“ Mr Lucas joked.
Mr Lucas is optimistic about the prospects for women being commemorated more in the future.
“When we look back to name a street, road or park, it’s just a fact MPs and councillors were historically men,“ Mr Lucas said.
“Now that women have taken their rightful place in society in the future it should become 50/50 as well.
“I think there is plenty of opportunity to have more people of worth, both men and women, named.“
