The city’s newest suburb was officially dubbed “Winter Valley” after all councillors voted in favour of the name at a council meeting on Wednesday night.

In a bid to ease the pain inflicted by a council decision to controversially drop the name Mullawallah for the suburb last year, councillors also unanimously voted to exhibit a proposal to rename Winter Wetlands in honour of the renowned Indigenous elder.

The name 'Mullawullah' was first mooted to honour an indigenous elder and hero early last year. However, it was rejected by locals who deemed it inappropriate because it was polysyllabic, hard to pronounce and spell and too similar to other place names which would cause confusion for emergency services. 

The council’s decision to dump the name made headlines across the globe and sparked allegations of racism.The name Winter Valley was selected after a survey of affected residents undertaken by a working group of residents and council officers revealed the name had the majority of support.

Earlier this week, Wadawurrung man Sean Fagan, who initially put forward the idea of naming the suburb Mullawallah said the move to rename the wetlands was a “token gesture.”

He also voiced his disappointment that the council deemed the name appropriate for a wetland but not for a suburb.

Cr Belinda Coates, a staunch supporter of naming the suburb after the respected elder said she remained disappointed by the outcome.

“While for residents this a good outcome we can’t gloss over fact there remains significant hurt in the community,” Cr Coates said.

Winter Wetlands and the area of the city’s newest suburb area are extremely significant to Indigenous people as they are two of the only areas in Ballarat untouched by gold mining.

Cr Coates said the idea to rename the wetlands Mullawallah was guided by members of the Wadawurrung community and she hoped it would play a role in healing communities members who were hurt by the process. 

Cr Des Hudson said the council had learnt a strong lesson about the difficulty in imposing names on geographical areas when there already large number of residents living there.