City of Melbourne is responsible for creating or changing the names of places and roads, and for allocating numbers to properties within the municipality.

The Geographic Place Names Act 1998 and the Register of Geographical names (VICNAMES) guide Council’s place and road naming process.

Any proposed name must comply with the naming rules for places in Victoria (set by the State Government). The naming rules uphold the guidelines in the Geographic Place Names Act 1998.

Council currently prioritises Aboriginal language and women in history. An exception may apply where a Renewal area has an area specific naming guideline. Find more about our current process and how we comply with the State Government's naming rules here.

Prioritising Aboriginal language and women in history is one way Council can seek to correct the imbalance that currently sees women and Aboriginal culture underrepresented in Melbourne's streetscape.

For instance, in the last 20 years, there have been 50 new roads after men; 23 named after women and only just six were named using Aboriginal language.

Yes, names outside these themes can still be considered if approved at a Council Meeting or consistent with a precinct specific naming framework.

Further, an exception to our prioritisation of Aboriginal language and women in history may apply where a Renewal area has an area specific naming guideline.

The Draft Policy seeks to clearly affirm our commitment to prioritising Aboriginal language and women in history to ensure that we start addressing current imbalances in the names that distinguish our places and roads, and thus better celebrate or rich culture and history.

The Draft Policy will also enable community-led naming processes that go beyond the minimum standard requirements for place naming in Victoria by:

• clearly articulating how Traditional Owners, community members, local historical societies and other groups in the community can propose new place name
• introducing a process whereby the public can vote on name options if more than one name that meets the State Government naming rules has been identified for a particular location

Council reviews major policies such as this every four years. We will also review the Guidelines with the Policy in line with any changes to the State Government naming rules (i.e. every five years) or to reflect any changes required from seperate precinct level naming frameworks endorsed by Council.

The Draft Policy outlines the principles and processes for naming places and roads within City of Melbourne consistent with the Naming Rules for Places in Victoria.

The Draft Guidelines outline the internal processes required to implement the Policy.

The Draft Policy and Guidelines would apply to:

• New and unnamed roads, streets, lanes
• Places, including public or private spaces known to the public such as internal lanes, parks, Council buildings and suburbs