A petition that aimed to strip the name of a slave trader from a prominent street in two leafy suburbs of Sydney has been knocked back.
North Sydney Council will keep the name of Ben Boyd Rd in Neutral Bay and Cremorne, on the lower north shore of Sydney, after a former Green’s staffer created a petition to change the name.
The petition caused a stir in the community with the council then asked to consider a name change.
The road was named after a colonial entrepreneur who lived in Neutral Bay in the 1840s.
Boyd was known for pioneering the practice of using cheap labour from the South Sea islands to work in Australia. It is known as ‘blackbirding’.
After the petition was circulated the council asked constituents for their thoughts.
A survey was put forward and 2318 residents responded, 54.7 per cent opposed the renaming of the street while 44.3 per cent were in favour. Just 1.6 per cent were unsure.
North Sydney Council papers show that there were other names for the road considered including Barangaroo Road, Neutral Bay Road and Reconciliation Road.
Barangaroo was the preferred option as it “commemorates the Cammeraygal woman, Barangaroo, on her own land”.
The papers also said there were 20 council installed street signs referencing Ben Boyd Rd. The cost of replacing these would be about $6200.
There are also two plaques in the community commemorating Ben Boyd with the council preparing to alter these.
“The larger of these are soon to be reinstalled with another plaque outlining the story of Boyd’s place in Australia’s historical narrative,” council papers said.
“With that, the naming of Ben Boyd Road will be put in context, and residents and visitors can decide for themselves the nature of the man and his deeds.”
A number of places in Australia named after Boyd have faced similar challenges.
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Earlier this year, it was reported the historic NSW village of Boydtown would likely be renamed because of its “racist” links to slavery.
NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean has also previously said he would investigate changing the name of Ben Boyd National Park, located near Eden on the south coast.
Last year, one of the sporting houses at Neutral Bay Public School bore Boyd’s name before it was changed to Waratah.
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