ACT Place Names Committee
The ACT Place Names Committee sets the policy for naming of public places in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
Members
The committee is appointed by the Minister for Planning to advise on public place naming, geographical naming and contentious naming matters. The members are:
- Dr Jay Arthur, historian, National Museum of Australia (Co-Chair)
- Mr Bill Hirst, ACT Surveyor-General (Co-Chair)
- Mr John Kalokerinos, multicultural
- Mr Terry Williams, Indigenous
- Ms Jill Waterhouse, historian
- Dr Dianne Firth, Heritage Council of the ACT
- Ms Alex Sloan, of ABC Radio
- Dr David Headon, historian, Centenary of Canberra
- Dr Lenore Coltheart, historian, National Archives of Australia
Secretariat
- Ms Sharon Priestly, ACT Place Names Officer
- Mr Peter Phillips, ACT Place Names Officer
Committee responsibilities
The terms of reference for the Place Names Committee are to:
- establish policies and guidelines for the determination of place names for territory land in the ACT, including divisions, roads, public places and geographic features; and
- provide recommendations to the Minister or his delegate on place names for territory land in the ACT.
The Committee meets on an as required basis or at least once a year. A meeting is arranged whenever issues arise that need a consensus of opinion from the Committee. Issues that would require a meeting may include:
- discussion on and formulation of place names policies
- contentious issues
- when new suburb names or themes need to be discussed and a recommendation reached for forwarding to the ACT Planning and Land Authority Executive.
Advice is sought from indigenous elders, nominated experts (historians and cultural experts) from external agencies, organisations and community groups when required.
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