Blackboy Park in Perth has been given a new aboriginal name following racism complaints, even though the original referred to the presence of grass trees in the area.
The park in Mullaloo will now be known as Koolyanga Park, matching a nearby street, after the City of Joondalup council determined it was “no longer considered appropriate”. The new name means “Children’s Park” in the Noongar language.
The renaming process has cost ratepayers $26,000 so far, and the city will now install signs with the new name following a consultation process that included aboriginal groups, council and the Western Australian land ownership register, Landgate, PerthNow reported.
Joondalup mayor Daniel Kingston said the renaming showed the city was committed to respectful place-naming practices, and acknowledged the significance of the local aboriginal language.
“The former name, which features prominently on park signage, is no longer considered appropriate,” he said.
“Koolyanga Park represents a respectful and locally meaningful choice, and is a name our community can be proud of.”
Just over half of submissions received during community consultations early last year were in favour of the renaming, with some saying Blackboys Park was “offensive, outdated, derogatory and racist” and that a new name would be “more respectful and welcoming”.
The park was named after the Xanthorrhoea plant, which was once called “blackboy” or “blackboy” – itself a translation of the Noongar word “balga” given due to the trees purported resemblance to a man holding a spear. The plants were also called “black boys” by Tasmanian aboriginals due to their thick black trunks.
Efforts to rename the park began in 2019, but the aboriginal-led consultancy did not begin until early 2024, causing Councillor Russ Fishwick, who in 2019 called the name “politically incorrect and potentially offensive”, to complain about how long the process had taken.
“When I first raised this notice of motion some 6½ years ago, I didn’t really believe it would take this long, and it still hasn’t been resolved,” he said in July.
“I referred to President Kennedy when he said that at some stage ‘I want to lob a man on the moon within 10 years’, and that was done within about nine, so for us to take 6.5 years is really an issue with me.”
Header image: Blackboy Park signage (City of Joondalup).
