20 September 2008

Canberra Ghandi snub makes world news

| johnboy
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Newsblaze of Folsom California is aghast that grey Canberra bureaucrats have turned a deaf ear to the pleas of the Gandhi Monument Council and refused to name a street after Mahatma Ghandi:

    Replying to a plea of Gandhi Monument Council headquartered in USA, John Meyer, Executive Director Client Services of Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Planning and Land Authority, said, “…Canberra’s place naming guidelines do not allow us to accept your nomination. These guidelines state that the ACT’s roads and public places are to commemorate Australians and things Australian.”

As an exercise for the reader I’m asking for other streets in Canberra already named for non-Australians?

[Image: Gandhi statue in Glebe Park]

UPDATED: The Indian MeriNews site has now picked up the story.

ANOTHER UPDATE: The LA Chronicle is now on the story. Punjab NewsLine is also joining the angry mob.

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VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy said :

What about Adolf Hitler Drive out in Harrison?

I always thought Indian independance had more to do with Britain’s depleted military capacity after two wars against the hun than a few labourers sitting down on the job. You would think they would hold the man in higher regard.

Thoroughly Smashed12:34 pm 28 Oct 09

What about Necromancy Street?

wolfkeeng said :

Kings Avenue. (Queen) Adelaide Ave. King Edward Tce. Queen Victoria Tce. All fine upstanding Australian’s. Surely.

I assume Adelaide Ave is named after the city, not the German. But maybe King Edward Tce could be renamed Matthew Massey Tce

Muttsybignuts11:44 am 28 Oct 09

While we are off on a tangent, I want to punch whoever named Notepad Place in Dunlop. Some bastard so lazy that they just looked at their desk and used the first thing they saw.

The suburb of Harrison Ford, named after Indiana Jones? Or is that two adjoining suburbs?

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy9:51 am 28 Oct 09

What about Adolf Hitler Drive out in Harrison?

Gungahlin Al9:39 am 28 Oct 09

I-filed said :

Let’s name a street after MARION MAHONEY GRIFFIN before we do Gandhi!

Street? Suburb. Haven’t we run out of PMs to name them after yet?

Let’s name a street after MARION MAHONEY GRIFFIN before we do Gandhi!

Yeah, but doesn’t the rest of the response to these guys say that we have commemorated Ghandi with a statue in Glebe park; isn’t that the photo? Thats got to be better than a length of bitumen?

AussieGal83 said :

Fracken toasters!

Can I propose Adama Avenue or Gaius Balter Lane?

Ghandi a Cylon? Maybe he was haunted by a cylobabe in a hot red dress and a predeliction for ear tonguing?

Cylon War Memorial?

Fracken toasters!

Can I propose Adama Avenue or Gaius Balter Lane?

Maybe we should just name a whole suburb and get it over with, or new parliament house could become “Ghandi House” ….

Kings Avenue. (Queen) Adelaide Ave. King Edward Tce. Queen Victoria Tce. All fine upstanding Australian’s. Surely.

Well, Sergeant Major Ghandi was a war veteran, and technically Australia was part of the British Empire while he was in Africa helping the Brits fight Zulu (or “Kaffir”, as he called them) independence, but I’m not sure that’s enough to warrant a street named after him.

Jonathon Reynolds8:15 am 20 Sep 08

If any foreign country is complaining perhaps they should build an ‘Immigration Bridge’ and just get over it? 😛

Aurelius said :

James Kirk Street in Gungahlin anyone?
Rhodes Place (where the Sth African embassy is)
Red Hill’s full of explorer names, many of which are not Australian
Not to mention who the frack was Northbourne???

Fracken toasters!

Bill Baileys discussion was the first that I was aware that we had a Gandi statue.

Beautiful, n’est-ce pas?

; )

Vic Bitterman7:26 pm 19 Sep 08

As to non-Australians, I’m fairly sure “Glow Worm Grove” is not named after an Aussie, so the precedent is set??

http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/ah0073?slid=167250146

Well, one has to get one’s priorities right after all ….

This is the 8th most popular story on Newsblaze today…above “Georgia Crisis Deepens Complexity of U.S-Russian Relations” but somehow below “Very Young Girls Movie Review: Sex, Class and Ho Daddies” and “Hannah Montana Gets Naked?”

James Kirk Street in Gungahlin anyone?
Rhodes Place (where the Sth African embassy is)
Red Hill’s full of explorer names, many of which are not Australian
Not to mention who the frack was Northbourne???

What about batman street in braddon? :p

Lake Burley Griffin is a pretty hard to miss one. Also Haig Park.

What next – The Paris Hilton Appreciation Society offended, that like, there’s not a Paris Hilton Blvd in Canberra?

southeeplace said :

Bogan-ville Street for example. He was the first frenchman to navigate the globe.

Sounds pretty Aussie to me…

southeeplace4:40 pm 19 Sep 08

There are lots of streets named after non – Australians. Bougainville Street for example. He was the first frenchman to navigate the globe.

See http://apps.actpla.act.gov.au/actlic/places/search/originsSearch_new.htm

Ghandi is one of my heroes, but they’ve got a bit of a nerve trying to tell us how to name our own streets!

Um, gee, thanks Hollywood, I reckon we can figger it owt on owr oan ….

fnaah said :

You mean the super-calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis?

Who ever sent that stupid email out the other day needs to be slapped…

They were so ‘Punny’…

You mean the super-calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis?

Wide Boy Jake3:49 pm 19 Sep 08

Mahatma Ghandi? I thought his name was Mahatma Coat.

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