What do a mythical princess, a queen and a so-called concubine have in common? They are the only females in the names of the 79 Victorian local government areas (LGAs). There’s a representation and recognition gap here. In town and suburb names. In road and street names. In park, reserves, playgrounds and building names. In statues, monuments and other commemorations. The place name and public art gap is everywhere. Yet the extent was unknown.

In 2022, Victorian local councils were surveyed about geographic place naming and public art, to better understand how well women were represented in public places. The survey was targeted at local government due to the significant role they play in naming of places, public art installations and land use management and approvals. This groundbreaking research has helped establish a baseline of data for monitoring progress and identified how we can support sector transformation.

Over 17,000 geographic place names and public artworks across 13 local councils were reviewed through the survey. The survey found that about 1 in 5 places and public art (3505) commemorated a person and about 1 in 10 (441) of those commemorations honoured women.

Image 1: Representation of women in commemorative place/art in Victoria, 2022

Of the commemorative places and public art reviewed through the survey, women were recognised in:

• 15% of commemorative roads
• 13% of commemorative features
• 10% of commemorative localities; and
• 3% of commemorative public art

Less than 1% of commemorative place names and public art recognised First Peoples women and women from multicultural backgrounds. This demonstrates not only a gender gap but also an identity gap that requires focused attention.

While these findings were based on a small sample group, the research is an important initial step in garnering a statewide picture of place naming and public art.

There are several critical steps to achieving commemorative justice including: audit, gender impact assessment (GIA) and a name bank.  Out of the 79 councils

• 3 have completed a GIA
• 7 have created a Name Bank inclusive of women
• 12 have undertaken an audit

Overall, around 15 LGAs (20%) are taking meaningful action already to understand and/or address gaps in place naming and public art with 49% saying they plan to take action on gender equality in place naming and public art and 62% planning to undertake a GIA.

The research highlighted what LGAs need to make progress on commemorative naming equality.  We heard that providing resources, professional development, presentations, funding, staff and policy support were important.

Table 1: How we can support local government to advance commemorative equality, 2022

In 2023, the formal gazettal of place names in Victoria identified that place names of women had more than doubled (from 8 to 17).  Place names commemorating men increased and continue to be higher than that of women (see table 2). While this data shows we are making progress, it highlights the need for a consistent and strategic approach to improve gender equality in naming. This will be critical as we work towards the target set by Our Equal State: Victoria’s Gender Equality Strategy and Action Plan 2023-2027, to have 70% of all new commemorative naming after women by 2027.

Table 2: Gazetted naming proposals in Victoria 2022 and 2023

With this important base line of data, the information garnered from the LGA sector, positive progress in naming gazettals and in partnership with Geographic Names Victoria, Gender Equity Victoria will be delivering a range of initiatives that respond to these needs and help advance gender equality in place naming and public art in Victoria.

Check out our webpage for all the latest up dates https://www.genvic.org.au/phnoi-about/