Major road to be renamed

arthwollipot

Limerick Purist Pronouns: He/Him
arthwollipot
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A bit of local news.

William Slim Drive to be renamed following Government review into place names

After several months of reviewing place names in the ACT, William Slim Drive is set to be renamed “to ensure our public place naming does not cause ongoing hurt to Canberrans,” the ACT Government said.

Following an ACT Legislative Assembly review into place names in the ACT and in particular Haig Park and William Slim Drive, the ACT Government will rename the busy Belconnen road but Haig Park will retain its name despite its namesake’s use of questionable war tactics during the First World War.

Last year, concerns were raised about William Slim Drive which was named after Australia’s 13th Governor-General who has been accused of committing sexual abuse against children.
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So what do you think? Should things be renamed if the people they were named after are discovered to have been terrible people?
 
arthwollipot said:
Tells you in the article. Tells you even in the excerpt I quoted. He was Australia's 13th Governor General.
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I wasn't asking about the specific instance, but the more general question which followed.

In the specific case was he a really, really great Governor General, or did he just get the road named after him because he had the title?
 
quadraginta said:
I wasn't asking about the specific instance, but the more general question which followed.

In the specific case was he a really, really great Governor General, or did he just get the road named after him because he had the title?
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As a follow-up, I read his bio in Wiki. Highly respected war hero.

How does that weigh against the child molesting allegations?

Frankly, I don't have a ready answer. I'm willing to be persuaded either way.
 
quadraginta said:
As a follow-up, I read his bio in Wiki. Highly respected war hero.

How does that weigh against the child molesting allegations?

Frankly, I don't have a ready answer. I'm willing to be persuaded either way.
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Perhaps we should deploy child molesters to active service for redemption?
 
quadraginta said:
I wasn't asking about the specific instance, but the more general question which followed.

In the specific case was he a really, really great Governor General, or did he just get the road named after him because he had the title?
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Being Governor General is sufficient reason to have a road in Canberra named after you. Most of our original suburbs are named after Prime Ministers, though we ran out of those some time ago and one famously declined the honour.
 
arthwollipot said:
Being Governor General is sufficient reason to have a road in Canberra named after you. Most of our original suburbs are named after Prime Ministers, though we ran out of those some time ago and one famously declined the honour.
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“For victims, it is incredibly confronting to see an alleged perpetrator being honoured and acknowledged by having things named after them.
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Alleged perpetrator?
 
I’ve said this in other similar threads about statues and so on, if you judged every historical figure on today’s standards, no statues would survive. Churchill? Nasty piece of work, sexist, probably racist. Out with you. Every royal, general, admiral and political leader prior to the 20th century? Racists, autocrats, bullies all of you. No statues, no names.

History shouldn’t work like that.
 
I think it's appropriate to draw lines. Each case should be judged on its merits. As noted in the article, William Slim who was allegedly a paedphile didn't make the cut, whereas Field Marshall Haig who was allegedly a war criminal did. It's not like anyone's saying "let's just blanket rename everything that's named after everyone who ever did anything a little bit shady". But some names are over the line.
 
The non-entity politician who is running this campaign outlines her motivation:

Ms Cody said that during her 30 plus years as a hairdresser, people often raised with her the hurt they felt over particular place names
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Doesn’t matter if it’s a hairdresser, accountant or police officer, this should not be the basis for public policy. What’s next? A fundy MP upset by places named after godless scientists?

There are more important issues ACT MPs should be attending to.
 
arthwollipot said:
I think it's appropriate to draw lines. Each case should be judged on its merits. As noted in the article, William Slim who was allegedly a paedphile didn't make the cut, whereas Field Marshall Haig who was allegedly a war criminal did. It's not like anyone's saying "let's just blanket rename everything that's named after everyone who ever did anything a little bit shady". But some names are over the line.
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“Allegedly” the key word. We can’t have post mortem trials, but it looks like we can have post mortem convictions.
 
lionking said:
The non-entity politician who is running this campaign outlines her motivation:



Doesn’t matter if it’s a hairdresser, accountant or police officer, this should not be the basis for public policy. What’s next? A fundy MP upset by places named after godless scientists?

There are more important issues ACT MPs should be attending to.
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Child rapist to godless scientists. Its one hell of a slippery slope. Members of the public do seem an ideal source of public policy but that’s just me.
 
Sideroxylon said:
Child rape and war crimes do seem a bit shady.
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If they indeed happened. And to my earlier point, would not almost every military action prior to the 20th century constitute a war crime under the Geneva Conventions? All statues down, all names change.

Judging historical figures by today’s standards is stupid. Getting worked up about street names and statues, stupider still.
 
Sideroxylon said:
What is a stake here? What is the cost of a name change?
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I’ll turn that around. What’s to be gained? Bugger all in my opinion.

I don’t drive over Bolte Bridge cursing the incompetent and likely corrupt but deceased old toad. I can name a lot of streets I drive along where I don’t like the person they are named after. I don’t clutch my pearls and demand the names be changed.
 
lionking said:
I’ll turn that around. What’s to be gained? Bugger all in my opinion.

I don’t drive over Bolte Bridge cursing the incompetent and likely corrupt but deceased old toad. I can name a lot of streets I drive along where I don’t like the person they are named after. I don’t clutch my pearls and demand the names be changed.
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We gain not commemorating abhorrent people. As far as evidence goes it need not be Pell level.

Pearl clutching, huh? Yeah lets just erase the names of child rapists and war criminals from our public spaces.

What is the cost of renaming a public space/landmark?
 
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