Dillwynia Ward in the City of Casey will soon be the recipient of a swathe of new names for its many facilities, reserves and landmarks ahead of a new naming program put forward by the council.
Scheduled for the 2025/2026 financial year, a total of five combined community facilities, recreation reserves and future council-owned reserves will take on new names, with the community able to partake in the decision-making process.
Called the Forward Works Program for Naming and Registration of Council-owned Reserves and Community Facilities, the council passed a unanimous vote on its endorsement following the 15 July meeting.
Overall, it aims to name nine places this financial year throughout the municipality.
Dillwynia Ward councillor, Anthony Walter, said that “as my ward has multiple projects on the horizon, I feel this is a good time for this to be coming to council for adoption”.
“It’s also to make sure that we are being transparent and having full community input on these upcoming places,” he said.
Councillors, including Deputy Mayor Melinda Ambros, Cr Kim Ross, Cr Lynette Pereira, Cr Carolyn Eaves, Cr Jennifer Dizon and Cr Scott Dowling spoke and asked questions, all revolving around the emphasis on said community input.
Manager of Growth and Investment, Kathryn Seirlis, responded by providing a swathe of methods in which residents can have their input on the new names.
She said that the process for naming a facility can be varied, ranging from nominations directly from the community, consultation with the Bunurong Land Council for Indigenous or First Nations names, and online methods such as Casey Conversations.
“Through the program, each project will take a different course depending on the size, scale and extent of impact of the naming opportunity,” Seirlis said.
“Most, if not all, will include community consultation as appropriate, and that’ll be undertaken through our Casey Conversations website.”
For the 2026/2027 and 2027/2028 periods, an additional nine, respectively, will also be named.
Looking back at Dillwynia Ward, the first category of community facilities and recreation reserves includes Hardys Road Family and Community Centre, Springleaf Ave Recreation Reserve, and the Alexander Boulevard Recreation Reserve.
These three, like others included in the category, include reserves and facilities that are part of the council’s capital works program, meaning the naming will commence once said capital works program is endorsed.
Under the second category of future passive reserves, this includes St Germain State with a proposed name of Gill Park, and Minta Estate with a proposed name of Fantasy Park.
These names don’t refer to the estate itself, but rather future parcels of open space that will become council-owned and will have amenities accessible to the public.
Name selection considerations are stated on the agenda to have a preference for Indigenous female and female names in general, aligning with a Geographic Names Victoria campaign that addresses gender imbalance in place names.
In terms of priority, requests from emergency services and GNV are to be considered, alongside the frequency and scale of public use, the size and extent of the land, existing infrastructure, and newer facilities.
Building on community engagement, this will include letters and emails, as well as online consultations; it was also stated that a single naming process could take anywhere between one and six months.
