Protest map shows Whyalla residents feelings.
The consultation period ended on Monday 26th October and to mark its end, Tom Cheesman, Project Officer of the Save Point Lowly Group, travelled to Adelaide to present a unique and colourful petition to the South Australian Geographical Names Unit representative Mr Bill Watt, to demonstrate the intense feelings the Whyalla Community had for the peninsula that Matthew Flinders named in 1802 as “Point Lowly”.
The petition was in the form of a giant map of the Point Lowly Peninsula the size of large house wall. The map had over 200 signatures of Whyalla locals, who expressed their determination in keeping the name Point Lowly featured prominently in any changes to suburb localities.
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Mr Cheesman said, “They wanted community consultation and you can’t get more emphatic than this Petition.” He said, “In 1992, in the depths of night, the State Government allocated the name ‘Port Bonython’ to a large suburb locality in this area. Whyalla City Council records show that no Community information sessions were held in regards to the 1992 change. Yet this most recent changes, the allocation of suburb names, has a large pictorial display in Council foyer – so it was great for the Community to see what had been changed while they weren’t looking, and to use this opportunity to fix the mistake.”
Dr. Andrew Melville-Smith, Chairperson of the Save Point Lowly group said the group had combed the archives looking at maps of the coast line around Whyalla and they all show the area as the Point Lowly “From Matthew Flinders map in 1802 through to the present maps, the area is Point Lowly” he said “The residents will not tolerate the bulk of the area being renamed Port Bonython.”
“Our maritime history is precious so we will oppose any attempt to replace the name given to the area by explorer Matthew Finders.” He said “The land mass between to bays, False bay and Fitzgerald bay, is a peninsula and not a Port”
Lights back on
The Whyalla Council has turn the Point Lowly Lighthouse light back on with a dimmer yellow light