City of Launceston council supports Batman Bridge renaming
THE EXAMINER - City of Launceston council supports Batman Bridge renaming (Friday April 09, 2021)
The City of Launceston council passed a motion on Thursday to acknowledge the name of Batman Bridge was inappropriate and should be changed.
In its first meeting of the month, councillors voted five to three to support the name change of the Tamar River bridge named after explorer John Batman, following a motion put forward by Councillor Tim Walker.
The motion asked the council to acknowledge the name of the bridge was inappropriate due to Batman's murderous treatment of Aborigines, to write to the state government to request a renaming process and to seek support from the West Tamar and George Town councils on the matter.
Cr Walker, when speaking to the motion, gave a Welcome to Country. "[Those elders who have passed], are waiting to be acknowledged and us to pay respect," he said.
"When we name a bridge we usually do it in honour of someone, but unfortunately I feel there is no honour in naming a bridge after John Batman."
Cr Paul Spencer said he was "horrified" to learn of the historic events surrounding Batman when he did his research on the subject.
Cr Andrea Dawkins also researched the history, after visiting the bridge as a child but never knowing who the person was that it was named after.
"I'm not responsible for the past, but I am responsible for the future," she said. "[John Batman] is no one's hero." She said she believed the ultimate decision of the name should be made by Aboriginal people.
Cr Walker had hoped the decision from the council would be unanimous. However, it was not, but not because councillors did not support the name change. Several councillors instead voiced that the bridge name changed should be part of a bigger conversation and reconciliation plan.
"It's blatantly obvious that we need a pathway to change the name of this bridge, but we also need a pathway to change a whole lot of other very offensive ... titles that do nothing but obstruct the reconciliation [with First Nations people]," deputy mayor Danny Gibson said.
The motion followed a proposal by the George Town Council to erect an art sculpture and plaque to commemorate the Litarimirina people at the site, before an Indigenous leader said a name change should occur first.
LINK: https://www.examiner.com.au/story/7201425/growing-support-to-rename-batman-bridge/