Push to rename Melbourne’s Yarra River to the Aboriginal ‘Birrarung’ as part of plans to revitalise the waterway
- Yarra River runs for 11km along river edges and urban settings in Melbourne
- Birrarung means ‘river of mists’ and is a significant place of Aboriginal culture
- City River Strategy received suggestions to re-name river to it’s Aboriginal name
Melbourne’s iconic Yarra River could soon be renamed to take on its official Aboriginal name.
The river, which runs for 11km through the heart of the Victorian capital, is known as the Birrarung in the Boon Wurrung and Woiwurrung languages.
Birrarung means ‘river of mists’ and is a significant place of shared Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal history and cultural values.
The Yarra River runs for 11km along river edges and urban settings in the heart of Melbourne
Birrarung means ‘river of mists’ and is a significant place of shared Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal history and cultural values
City of Melbourne Council said it would look to consult Aboriginal groups about the suggested name change, which was one of several recommendations as part of a ‘City River Strategy’.
‘We did this with Uluru, so why not the Yarra?’ Melbourne Water’s Kate Nagato said, Herald Sun reported.
Transport and city planning associate Mark Rowland said they received several recommendations to change the name of the river.
‘It was highlighted that the Yarra River Protection Act is the first act in Victorian history to be co-titled in Woi-wurrung, giving traditional owners a permanent voice in the planning and management of the Yarra River,’ Mr Rowland told the publication.
He said the government established a the Birrarung statutory body in 2018, which already refers more to Birrarung than the Yarra River.
Yarro Yarro originally means ‘ever flowing’.
Transport and city planning associate Mark Rowland said they received several recommendations to change the name of the river
Other suggestions the group received were demands to improve the river’s waterways amid claims they had been neglected for ‘too long’.
Yarra River Business Association president John Forman said the waterway was the ‘lifeblood of the city’.
Lord Mayor Sally Capp along with business and government leaders are working together to design a revamp for the river which would see an increase of more water related activities.
There is also a proposition of a ‘Birrarung Walk’ of 2.5km which would connect Docklands to South Wharf.