The importance of naming our regions

Culture is an extremely precious and highly vulnerable asset of any civilisation and merits consideration and respect. We have a lot to learn from the aborigines in this regard. We also have a lot to learn from the French whom I, personally, have gotten to know quite well during the many years that I have been living and working in Paris. In the case of the Notre Dame cathedral, for example, from the time they laid the first stone in 1163 until the cathedral was finally consecrated by the Archbishop of Paris in 1864, 700 years of construction had been patiently carried out. That was the result of team work that involved more than 23 generations of the country’s best craftsmen. It would have been impossible if each new generation considered it did not have the right to continue the work of its predecessors and chose to build its own cathedral. There would be no Notre Dame, no Chateau de Versailles, no Louvre Museum worthy of housing Michelangelo’s famous painting, the Mona Lisa, and little or no cultural heritage at all.

In its “eNews” of Monday June 16, 2008, the Dalby Regional Council quoted the Mayor, Cr Ray Brown, as stating: “thanks to a group of 40 participants made up of Councillors, staff and 20 community representatives across the region, under the guidance of an independent facilitator, Council now has a list of original name suggestions to consider. Council will decide which names are short-listed for further consideration at its next ordinary meeting to be held 9.30am Wednesday 18 June at the Chinchilla Customer Service Centre.”

It is a pity the Dalby Regional Council chose, without any further discussion or consultation of the wider regional community, to submit only two names to electors at its name change referendum in August: Greater Downs Regional Council and Western Downs Regional Council, indicating, while so doing, that both suggested names evoked “Queensland’s famous Darling Downs” which “identifies that the region is rich in agriculture, manufacturing and natural resources with a wealth of opportunities on offer”.

Unfortunately, Council has, perhaps unwittingly, deprived electors of voting for the one name that does not content itself with simply “evoking” Queensland’s famous Darling Downs but proudly proclaims it frankly and openly: Darling Downs Regional Council.

Despite constant efforts and numerous e-mails to Council, the only response that has been forthcoming so far indicated that the name suggestion Darling Downs Regional Council had been duly registered for consideration. That was over a couple of months ago when Council called for name suggestions to be submitted for the “preselection” process in preparation of the referendum. All subsequent e-mails have remained unanswered.

It now behoves the Minister for Local Government or possibly the Local Government Boundary and Electoral Commission to decide what appropriate action should be taken, both in relation to the manner in which the short list was established, and also in relation to the very small choice of names submitted to the vote of electors. There is little comfort in the thought that Council did appear to want to be seen as doing things democratically by setting up a community “workshop” and paying an “independent facilitator” as, unfortunately, it was unable to resist the temptation of drawing up the short list itself without consulting anybody. There is not much to rejoice about either as regards the contents of the “short list”. “Short” is a euphemism to describe a list containing two items only. “Scanty” would seem to be a more appropriate term.

Council seems to have done everything it could to bridle and harness the electorate, directing it exactly where it wanted it to go, leading it along with a nice juicy (democratic) carrot dangling in front of its eyes. Unfortunately, at every step, the “carrot” proved unattainable.

As a final anecdote, it is interesting to note that according to the Queensland Heritage Register which can be consulted on the Queensland Government web site, the only currently certified listing that has “Darling Downs” included in its name is a building dating from the 1930’s located at 133 Cunningham Street Dalby. It was the former Dalby Town Council Chambers and Offices. To quote the register: “The building is no longer the seat of local government and is currently occupied by Education Queensland and houses offices of the Darling Downs Northern School Support Centre”.

The new Dalby Regional Council offices are located just a few blocks down the street and around the corner on Drayton Street but, unfortunately, unlike the old Town Council Chambers, the new offices do not appear to qualify for listing in the Queensland Heritage Register.

It is regrettable to be taking a half-hearted approach to our cultural heritage. We should be going all out for it with confidence and determination, adopting it with open arms, making it part of our lives and adding our best contribution before carrying it forward for future generations to enjoy and embellish in their turn. The Darling Downs is our Notre Dame Cathedral. It is high time we rolled up our sleeves and went to work on it.