'That's absolutely ridiculous': Premier Daniel Andrews rubbishes calls to rename Victoria over links to 'murderous' British empire

  • Lidia Thorpe said territories got names because of an 'invasion of this country' 
  • Suggested government could change them in a treaty with Aboriginal groups
  • She was panned by critics online who accused her of 'jumping on a bandwagon' 
  • Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the change was 'absolutely ridiculous' 

By Thomas Duff and Shive Prema and Jackson Barron For Daily Mail Australia

Published: | Updated:

Premier Daniel Andrews has dismissed calls by a former Greens MP to rename Victoria over its links to the British empire and colonialism, calling it 'ridiculous'.  

Lidia Thorpe, who represented the Greens in the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 2017 and 2018, said the state got its name because of an 'invasion of the country'.

She claimed the names of both Victoria and Queensland 'caused harm' to Aboriginal people by honouring an empire 'that murdered people'. 

But the Victorian premier said the suggestion is 'absolutely ridiculous'. 

'I'm not interested in symbols and divisive debates,' Mr Andrews said on Thursday.

'I'm interested in action that sees Aboriginal people have far greater control over their lives and Aboriginal policy and indigenous affairs and a shared future. 

Aboriginal activist and former Greens MP Lidia Thorpe (pictured) said she wants both Queensland and Victoria to change their names

Aboriginal activist and former Greens MP Lidia Thorpe (pictured) said she wants both Queensland and Victoria to change their names

'One that recognises our past but one that is fundamentally based in justice and a treaty for the future. 

'I don't think that suggestion is compatible with my outlook, and not just my words, but our action.' 

Ms Thorpe was the first Aboriginal woman elected to the Parliament of Victoria.

Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien shared Mr Andrew's opinion on the controversial suggestion for a name change.

'I'd thought I'd heard every stupid idea under the sun, but that takes the cake,' Mr O'Brien said on Thursday.

Ms Thorpe's calls come as increasing attention is brought to Aboriginal affairs amid the global Black Lives Matter movement, which began after the death of George Floyd in police custody in America.

Ms Thorpe thinks Victoria should be renamed over its association with Queen Victoria (pictured)

Ms Thorpe thinks Victoria should be renamed over its association with Queen Victoria (pictured)

Ms Thorpe's comments were also panned on Twitter, where critics accused her of 'jumping on a bandwagon.'

Some critics online pointed out that her surname 'Thorpe' had English origins so could also have to be changed under her own reasoning. 

Meanwhile, British Conservative MP Mark Francois said: 'Unless I am mistaken several years ago Australia voted democratically in a referendum to retain HM the Queen as head of state.

'In light of that decision it seems to me that there is unlikely to be overwhelming support in Australia for this proposition. We would all be better to focus on the exciting prospect of a new trade deal between Britain and Australia.' 

Queen Victoria granted permission to become a separate colony in 1859, and the new colony was named Queensland (Queen's land) in her honour. 

Ms Thorpe believes a rename of the state should be considered during treaty talks between the state government and indigenous groups

Ms Thorpe believes a rename of the state should be considered during treaty talks between the state government and indigenous groups

The comments by Ms Thorpe were dismissed by premier Daniel Andrews (pictured) who said her suggestion was 'absolutely ridiculous'

 The comments by Ms Thorpe were dismissed by premier Daniel Andrews (pictured) who said her suggestion was 'absolutely ridiculous'

 

Her comments were panned on Twitter, where critics accused her of 'jumping on a bandwagon' and pointed out that her surname 'Thorpe' had English origins

Her comments were panned on Twitter, where critics accused her of 'jumping on a bandwagon' and pointed out that her surname 'Thorpe' had English origins

Similarly, Victoria was also named after Queen Victoria when the colony was established in 1851. 

Ms Thorpe suggested the Victoria name change in an interview with The Herald Sun, in which she said: 'Anything that's named after someone who's caused harm or murdered people, then I think we should take their name down.' 

'Maybe that's something they (the Queensland government) could negotiate (in a treaty),' she told news.au.

'Given we're all talking about the colonial past and how everything's named as a result of invasion of this country, why wouldn't we negotiate that (name changes)?

'It may be that it stays the same. But why wouldn't we put that on the table. Maybe we need to be making decisions, changing place names, state names and anything else that causes harm.' 

The population of Queensland (pictured) in the north-east of Australia is just over five million

The population of Queensland (pictured) in the north-east of Australia is just over five million 

Victoria and Queensland are the second and third most populous states in Australia, with 5.6 million and 4.6 millon inhabitants consecutively.

The history of early British settlement in Australia is intensely controversial and has been characterised by Aboriginal people as an 'invasion'. 

After several sightings by European explorers, British naval captain James Cook arrived in Queensland in 1770 and claimed the territory for George III. 

The territory was once part of New South Wales but since the seat of the colony, Sydney, was too far away, northern settlers petitioned to separate.  

Queensland (top right) and Victoria (bottom right) were both named in honour of Queen Victoria by British settlers

Queensland (top right) and Victoria (bottom right) were both named in honour of Queen Victoria by British settlers 

The Captain Cook statue in Cairns (pictured) has stood since 1972, but protesters want it to be taken down

The Captain Cook statue in Cairns (pictured) has stood since 1972, but protesters want it to be taken down

'Invasion day'? How Australia remains divided over the arrival of British settlers and its impact on Aboriginal people 

The legacy of British settlement in Australia remains intensely controversial, with the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 commemorated each year as Australia Day but characterised by Aboriginal people as 'invasion day'. 

The Royal Navy's Captain Arthur Phillip had been empowered under British law by King George III to establish a penal colony in New South Wales. 

The land he was ordered to settle had been occupied by Aborigines for perhaps 60,000 years but was not legally recognised as a sovereign nation.

Among Phillip's instructions upon reaching his destination were that Aborigines' lives and livelihoods be protected and friendly relations with them established.

The First Fleet's initial landing was gradual, with ships arriving between January 18 and 20 at Botany Bay, south of Port Jackson, where James Cook had dropped anchor 18 years earlier.

According to the NSW Migration Heritage Centre, the local Aboriginal people met the fleet in an 'uneasy stand-off' at what is now called Frenchmans Beach at La Perouse. No violence occurred.

Unsatisfied with Botany Bay as a suitable site to establish a colony, on January 21, Phillip led a small party in three boats to explore other options further north.

He entered Port Jackson, which he later described in a letter as 'the finest harbour in the world, in which a thousand sail of the line may ride in the most perfect security…'

The British flag was planted in a short ceremony and formal possession was declared.

The other 10 ships of the fleet did not arrive until later in the day. There was no armed conflict with the local Eora people. No one was physically harmed.

Phillip's instructions regarding Aborigines were that he would 'conciliate their affections', to 'live in amity and kindness with them.'

He was to punish anyone who should 'wantonly destroy them, or give them any unnecessary interruption in the exercise of their several occupations.'

Those instructions were standard British orders for the time and initially were largely followed.

Writing in the Dictionary of Sydney, historian Grace Karskens said: 'Phillip and the officers were genuinely committed to establishing and maintaining friendly and peaceful relations.

'The early meetings in Botany Bay and Port Jackson were often marked by friendliness, curiosity, gift-giving and dancing together on the beaches.

'This is so entirely different from earlier violent and murderous encounters between Europeans and Indigenous people.'

Professor Karskens told how the arrival of the First Fleet and the establishment of a small camp at Sydney Cove was momentous only in that 'it marked the origins of a great city.'

The expert noted the Eora did immediately have to cope with an influx of strangers on their lands and waterways, which must have been alarming.

According to Professor Karskens, the first fatal shooting might not have occurred until September 1789 when a Henry Hacking shot into a group of Aborigines out hunting on the North Shore.

As the colony spread in the years to come, so did the violence. More and more land was taken, and massacres did occur.

Some Australians say all of those wrongs must be attributed to the First Fleet arriving at Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788.

But there was no violent confrontation on that first Australia Day.

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In both territories of Queensland and Victoria, the Aboriginal population declined for 150 years after settlement, mainly through infectious diseases from Europe like Smallpox, but also through frontier conflict with settlers. 

Thousands were also killed in massacres, usually as indiscriminate revenge for killings or raids against white settlers. 

Others were killed under a programme offering bounties for dead Aborigines and large numbers were forced into slavery for their 'white masters'.   

Queensland Greens MP Michael Berkman's spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the state should change its name. 

Ms Thorpe's comments came as Black Lives Matter protests sparked calls to tear down monuments linked to Australia's colonial past across the country. 

City of Melbourne councillor Nicholas Reece said monuments dedicated to Melbourne co-founder John Batman could be up for review through his hand in hunting Aborigines in Tasmania.

'There's a number of monuments and statues to John Batman in Melbourne, and I think there's a case to be made around perhaps them being given a less prominent place in our city,' he told 3AW. 

A 50-year-old statue of Captain Cook in Cairns is under threat after activists petitioned for it to be torn down because of the British Royal Navy captain's treatment of Aboriginal people when his ship landed in Australia.

The petition claims the statue is a 'slap in the face to all indigenous people', saying Cook's legacy was one of 'forced removal, slavery, genocide and stolen land'.

Two other statues of the explorer, both in Sydney, have already been defaced as Black Lives Matter protests shine a light on racial inequality.

There are growing calls for statues of Cook to be removed, though Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended the explorer's legacy and controversially declared there was 'no slavery in Australia' - a comment he has since apologised for. 

The petition for the Cairns statue to be removed, signed by more than 12,000 people as of Tuesday morning, reads: 'Since 1972, the James Cook statue on Sheridan Street has stood as a symbol of colonialism and genocide.

'It's a slap in the face to all indigenous people,' it read. 'For us it represents dispossession, forced removal, slavery, genocide, stolen land, and loss of culture - among many other things.

'I am calling on Cairns Regional Council and Cairns Mayor Mr Bob Manning to take action today and remove this statue. This would be a huge step forward in uniting the community and honouring our First Nation's people.

'I also call on non-indigenous Australians to stand with us. The #BlackLivesMatter movement is as urgent here on your own doorsteps as it is on the streets of Minneapolis.

'For you to demand the removal of this offensive and outdated statue shows your willingness to look Australia's ugly history right in the eye, and say no more.'

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told 9News he wants the statues to stay. 

'I don't think ripping pages out of history books and brushing over parts of history you don't agree with or you don't like is really something the Australian public is going to embrace,' he said.

'There are good and bad parts of our history. You learn from that.'

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has also voiced his support for the statues to stay.

'You can't rewrite history, you have to learn from it,' he told Sydney radio 2GB.

'The idea that you go back to year zero of history is in my view, just quite frankly unacceptable.'

Mr Morrison has previously said he wanted to help the public to gain a better understanding of Captain Cook's historic voyage.

'That voyage is the reason Australia is what it is today and it's important we take the opportunity to reflect on it,' Mr Morrison said.    

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Premier Daniel Andrews rubbishes calls to rename Victoria over links to 'murderous' British empire 

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