Wyndham’s newest suburb, which will be home to 15,000 people and 58,000 jobs, finally has a name.
Victorian Planning Minister Matthew Guy told Star Weekly the state government had chosen East Werribee as the name for the largest commercial precinct to be created on government owned land in Victoria’s history.
“I think that’s the name we’re going to settle on, East Werribee,” Mr Guy said.
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“The council wanted Werribee; the MPA [Metropolitan Planning Authority] had some other ideas but I think for now that’s a sensible mid-way.”
As late as October last year, Victorian Premier Denis Napthine said he didn’t like the name East Werribee.
“I think East Werribee describes the area well, but perhaps we could use a bit more innovation and imagination,” Mr Napthine said.
A public competition was held to find a name for the area, but Mr Guy said nothing better than East Werribee had been suggested.
“To be honest, the best thing that came through was East Werribee.
“It [East Werribee] is accurate and it gives recognition to where the site is.
“There was a range of names, but they probably didn’t suit the site.”
Wyndham council’s sustainable development director, Dean Rochfort, said the council supported the announcement.
“The state government’s decision to formally adopt the name East Werribee is in line with Wyndham City’s submission on the suburb naming,” Mr Rochfort said. “The name East Werribee highlights the close and complementary relationship the employment precinct has with the Werribee City Centre.”
But Wyndham residents were not as happy with the chosen name.
“If that’s the best name they could come up with then I don’t think they were trying very hard,” Stuart, of Hoppers Crossing, said.
“I think something completely different would have been better. The name Werribee brings negative connotations that it would have been good to avoid.”
Susanne said: “I live in Werribee and I like it, but the name is not the best.”
“There are so many other things they could have called it.
‘‘East Werribee is not the most original name, plus we already have Werribee South.’’
Daniel, of Werribee, said he liked the name.
“It makes sense to call it East Werribee because that’s where it is,” he said. “People are always trying to get rid of the name Werribee for some reason, but we should be proud of it.
“Just by changing the name to something else doesn’t change the fact that you live here.”
