Rethinking the Act of Renaming the Yarra to Birrarung

In 2019, a summit hosted by the Yarra River Business Association led to a media furore over a push to rename the 'Yarra River' to its traditional Woiwurrung name ‘Birrarung.’

The suggested name change emerged from a discussion for revitalising the Yarra River as part of a broader business strategy. Though arguably well-intentioned, the participants calling for a name change did not suggest Indigenous consultation over the appropriate name and instead jumped the gun with calls for a rebranded river called ‘Birrarung’.

The example of Yarra River - Birrarung points to a broader issue over Indigenous consultation and naming, since an arguably well-intentioned (if the process of invading, naming and mapping a land to colonise it can ever be considered as such) 'consultation' is the genesis of the Yarra River’s name.

In 1835, surveyor John Wedge pointed to the river to which local people replied 'Yarro Yarro', giving birth to the name 'Yarra River'.

“On arriving in sight of the river, the two natives who were with me, pointing to the river, called out, ‘Yarra Yarra’, which, at the time, I imagined to be its name; but I afterwards learnt that the words were what they used to designate a waterfall, as they afterwards gave the same designation to a small fall in the river Weiribie [Werribee], as we crossed it on our way back to Indented Head.” - John Wedge in "Discovery and Settlement of Port Phillip" by James Bonwick, 1857

Those falls were located where Queen's Bridge stands today, facing the Immigration Museum and demolished in 1884.

As Charlotte Sterrett of Yarra Riverkeeper, an environmental organisation that cares for the river through a volunteer network points out, the origins of the Yarra River's name highlight the dark history of environmental destruction that accompanied the massacre and displacement of Indigenous people.

She said the name Yarra is a reminder of "the act of blowing up the falls, the dissolution of movement between different tribes the Wurundjeri and the Boonwurrung people, the destruction of the environment in terms of the marine water entering the fresh water, changing the environment completely."

Furthermore, the name 'Yarra' is a word taken out of context, explained by Rhys Thomas, Senior Governance Advisor for Yarra City Council “as generally understood to have its origins in the Woi-wurrung language, albeit likely misheard and poorly translated by early white settlers.

"To my knowledge, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung do not consider the name Yarra to be offensive or insulting in any way."

But the name points to a fundamentally limited attempt to understand another culture.

The opening scene of the 1986 satirical film 'Babakiueria' presents this argument succinctly. In the opening scene, white families are playing cricket and hosting a barbecue before a boat of Indigenous people in uniforms dock and approach the families, comedically reversing the roles of colonisation in Australia. The Indigenous invaders point and ask "What do you call this place?" to which a white man replies, "It’s a barbecue area." The place is then named 'Babakiueria'.

The film highlights the foolishness of the name 'Yarra' by presenting how limited the attempt to understand Indigenous peoples was likely to have been during early settlement. 

As Charley Woolmore, Wurundjeri Special Projects Manager of Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation said, “The whole colonisation was a shameful period and [the naming of the Yarra River] that's part of the story: not really listening to Aboriginal people, not really understanding or hearing what they were trying to say, not really considering them at all and just going ahead so it is shameful, it's part of that whole shameful history."

And this process of not listening or considering an Indigenous perspective continues to this day.

Since the 2019 renaming ordeal, there has been no consultation on the appropriate name for the river with the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation despite the fact that the then Acting Lord Mayor of Melbourne City Council, Arron Wood, said the council would be consulting with the Aboriginal community about this potential name change.

Woolmore said, “I’m not even sure what the community sentiment is [among Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation], although I'd be very surprised if they weren't in favour of renaming the Yarra back to the Birrarung.”

Wurundjeri elder, Uncle Colin Hunter Jr said, "I was talking to my dad about Birrarung, about the translation because we don't want to get that wrong," highlighting the fact that further research and resources are required to resolve any future renaming campaign.

But for the everyday person, the name you use is up to you. You can refer to the ‘Yarra River’ as it is named on the map, use ‘Birrarung’ or both. Woolmore said, "I do know people who do refer to the Yarra as Birrarung, I tend to do that myself but look, as I said, there hasn't been a discussion around any conventions as such."

As for the path for formal renaming, it’s not straightforward. It will be winding, like the river itself.