The City of Sydney has released new guidelines showing how the names of significant Sydney figures, events and landmarks can be used to name new streets, parks, and community facilities.

Sydney residents are being asked to provide their feedback on the new naming policy.

Read the policy and provide your feedback via this link.

The draft policy includes 16 principles to help assess naming proposals, including that the names should reflect their location and purpose; should be be easy to pronounce, spell and write; and should reflect the history of local people, events, the community, or landscape.

Once approved, the policy will apply to all new sites, as well as existing streets, parks or open spaces that have never been formally named. All name proposals will be put on public exhibition for community feedback.

“Having effective place and street names is not just about finding your way – names are clues to understanding significant stories and act as signposts to a place’s past," said Lord Mayor Clover Moore.

The city’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Panel helped prepare the draft, which includes details of how to use dual naming and the use of Aboriginal words for new names. The council consults with the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Panel on all Gadigal language name proposals.

Recently named public places in Sydney with names inspired by history include:

• Drying Green Park – the name of Green Square’s central park is a nod to the wool washing trade that occupied the area in the 19th century;
• Sydney Park wetlands – the four wetlands at Sydney Park have been given Gadigal names for local wildlife, including ‘wirrambi’ (bat), ‘guwali’ (cormorant), ‘bunmarra’ (lizard), and ‘gilbanung’ (grasshopper);
• Juanita Nielsen Community Centre – the recently refurbished community centre in Woolloomooloo is named after the well-known publisher, activist and urban conservationist who disappeared in 1975.
• Sweetacres Park and Sweet Street – the new Rosebery park and street are named after the Sweetacres lolly factory that opened in the area in 1922, producing famous sweets such as Minties, Jaffas and Fantales for decades.

The draft naming policy is on public exhibition until 20 March.

For more information or to provide feedback, visit sydneyyoursay.com.au

Have your say via this link.

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