FIVE-year-old Samuel hopes a touted Wadawurrung name for a new outdoor play and recreation space will help stop racism in Ballarat.
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Djila-tjarriu is the name City of Ballarat and Wadawurrung traditional owners are putting forward for the park in the Ballymanus estate, which is part of Alfredton, just off Ballarat-Carngham Road.
The name, pronounced jilla-ja-roo, means place of play in Wadawurrung language.
"It makes me feel proud that people will know my culture if we can name stuff after black fellas or in black fella words," Samuel told The Courier/ "It's important so racist people don't win."
Samuel's mum Rachel Muir, a Yorta Yorta woman, said so much history and language of Aboriginal peoples had become lost. This park name, she said, was a way to honour the world's oldest living culture and warriors in Ballarat history in a way we could all be proud.
"Past wrongs took away our identities. I'm a believer in multiculturalism and am proud that other cultures still are able to speak their language in Ballarat without judgement," Ms Muir said.
"We as Aboriginal people should feel we are allowed to have our language introduced back into society without prejudice or racism...for future generations to become more accepting and to have a better understanding of the history of the country they live in."
VicNames strongly encourages council to work on new place names with traditional owners in a bid to help preserve the language uniqueness to each region.
This park is part of land in City of Ballarat's Ballarat West development contributions plan, aiming for timely infrastructure to new communities, including livability, connectivity and social well-being.
This park is set on four hectares and features playground equipment, skate and scooters tracks, a multi-use court, grassed oval, running track and picnic facilities.
City of Ballarat is accepting written submissions on the name proposal until August 9.
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