Wyndham’s newest suburb should be called Cameron, after the scientist who established the State Research Farm more than 100 years ago, according to a long-time Werribee resident.
Martin Sharkey, who worked at the State Research Farm for 30 years, has written to Wyndham council and local MPs urging them not to call the new suburb East Werribee.
Planning Minister Matthew Guy last month announced that the new suburb, being built on land that belonged to the State Research Farm, would be known as East Werribee.
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The decision has the support of the council, which lobbied for the name to include Werribee. But Premier Denis Napthine has asked Mr Guy to find a “more imaginative” name that reflects the area’s history. The review is ongoing.
Mr Sharkey said other new suburbs in Wyndham had been given names that reflected their past, so it was fitting that the latest suburb be named after Dr Samuel Cameron. “Point Cook, Williams Landing and Truganina recognise their historical truths about Truganina, the defence contribution to Australia of Point Cook and Williams Landing,” he said. “Likewise, technology was the basis for the formation of the State Research Farm in 1912 and the technology precinct in 2013, and the new name should acknowledge this link.”
Mr Sharkey said Dr Cameron helped establish the State Research Farm in 1912 with the aim of improving the genetics and disease resistance of crops and livestock, and he worked at the forefront of research into plant and animal genetics, chemistry, soil and plant diseases and farm economics.
“Cameron understood that progress demanded that trained scientists and technologists were available to solve the problems of the nation. He did his part to make sure that Australian scientists were of world standing.”
