By Ethan Benedicto
A Sikh charity organisation graced the local Guru Nanak Lake wetlands with the aroma of sizzling sausages and the aura of comradery.
Turbans 4 Australia, comprised of volunteers who provide disaster relief and advocate for education around the Sikh religion, alongside their president and founder, Amar Singh, spent the day celebrating and providing food for the everyday park-goers.
However, as the new year passes, a local issue persists, with Michael Ball, one of the resident organisers for a community meeting at the lake in November 2024, holding up a sign in the Promenade that read ‘toot if you object’, in reference to the name of the lake.
Singh is more than aware of the criticism and backlash around the name, as well as the series of events that unfolded last year.
While he understands the frustrations around the lack of consultation, he remains grateful that it was named after the founder of the Sikh faith.
“Official sources have told me that the lake didn’t have a name before that, so when people are going up and down saying that they’ve changed the label of history, that’s not fair or right,” he said.
“However, I do understand that a lot of people are upset that the government did not consult with them, but that is up to them (governing bodies) as we common people cannot tell the government what to do.”
For Ball, however, his feelings remain unchanged, and he “demands” answers from the State Government as to why there had been no discussion with the local community beforehand.
“It’s still the same, why weren’t the people consulted? They (the government) knew for two years, why weren’t we consulted?
“This is a core local issue that has hit the nerve of a lot of people, and these people feel really strongly about it, about the fact that there’s no respect for them.”
While this story has been covered extensively, it must be reiterated that Berwick Springs Lake was not formally gazetted under the Victorian Government nor the Geographic Names Victoria; which means that Berwick Springs Lake had never been recognised as the lake’s recorded name.
The name, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, came from former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ promise back in 2018 to honour the Sikh community’s contributions from disaster relief to community food drives, through the naming of a local landmark.
Despite this, however, Ball is adamant that the term ‘springs’ has a long and strong claim to a history that dates back to the construction of the Old Cheese Factory and William Clarke, who owned the homestead and roughly 1600 acres of land that included the current Guru Nanak Lake.
“Without any consultation, they removed that history, they had no respect for it and that is what the people are upset about,” Ball said.
To Singh, he remains headstrong that there needs to be a stronger basis of understanding from everyone, especially when it concerns the idea of the foundations of multiculturalism and the meaning behind it,
“At the end of the day, Australia is built on migration, we should appreciate and accept the people that call Australia home now, no matter what faith or what country they’re from.”
When it comes to multicultural communities, Singh said that there will always be a mixture of faiths, languages, and of course, culture within society; it is then up to these communities if they are willing to accept and enjoy these other cultures, allowing coexistence in coherency.
“So if we’re not allowed to celebrate our culture or language, then are we really accepting others?” he said.
“There is no hard rule that you cannot name anything after a religious figure or religious guru, deity or prophet.
“We’ve got plenty of towns and streets in Melbourne that are named after figures of the Christian faith, so you know, there shouldn’t be any issues around that.”
Singh added that Ball, alongside a small number of people, had spoken with him and his peers in friendly discussion around the series of events, and while Singh once more reiterated that he does indeed understand their frustrations, he and the Sikhs in general are not the people to voice their frustrations to.
“The whole point was to celebrate Australia Day and we all did just that, at the end of the day everyone is allowed to have their own opinion,” he said.
“Everyone came up and enjoyed the barbecue, they grabbed a sausage, there were families and young people, and there were no issues at all.”
