A spokesperson for Transport Minister Jo Haylen’s office said the name was “still going through the Geographical Name Board process”.
Final approval for the name lies with Customer Service Minister Jihad Dib,say well-placed government sources who are not authorised to speak publicly. Dib is responsible for the Geographic Name Board that approves names for the state’s roads,suburbs and stations. The government will have to announce the name in a parliamentary gazette.
Approval would officially shut down a debate that began two years ago.
The board first announced plans to name the station Gadigal in October 2021,following a suggestion from the Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council. The proposal was signed off by then-Liberal transport minister Andrew Constance,and a public submission period attracted feedback from 123 people,with 72 for and 51 against.
But that process was thrown into disarray when the now former MP David Elliott moved into the transport and veterans’ affairs ministry in December 2021,and proposed an alternative name for the station. Elliott suggested it honour Captain Reginald Saunders,the first Indigenous Australian to be commissioned as an army officer.
“In short,he was a hero,” he said at the time,citing Saunders’ impressive military record in defending against a Nazi invasion in Greece in World War II,before serving in New Guinea and Korea. Elliott declined to comment on Tuesday.