The Yarra River and the Colonial Act of Naming
This text is derived from and was written in conjunction with the author's article 'The Naming of the Yarra River as an Act of Colonialism'. Agora, Colonial Histories, 56:3, 2021.
After nearly two centuries of European occupation, Melbourne's Yarra River is a highly colonised river. The name 'Yarra' ranks amongst the many facets of European colonisation of the river. This is because 'Yarra' is a colonial name. Although it has its origins in the languages of Melbourne's First Nations peoples, it is not the actual name of the river, but instead an imposed colonial one. The river's actual name, in Melbourne's local Kulin languages, is 'Birrarung' ('river of mists').
In September 1835, John Helder Wedge (1793-1872), the surveyor for the Port Phillip Association and one of Victoria's earliest colonists, arrived at the site of what was to become the settlement of Melbourne, and the lands of the Boon wurrung and Woi wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation. Wedge is responsible for naming...