First Nations advocates have urged the Bunbury community to reject a proposal to erect a new memorial to Captain James Stirling on the city’s foreshore.
Captain Stirling was a central figure in the European settlement of the area and Western Australia’s first governor.
He was also involved in the massacre of dozens of Noongar people at Pinjarra in 1834.
He has been recognised in Bunbury with a plaque, a street and two buildings bearing his name.
But local historian Bernhard Bischoff said more needed to be done to explain the contribution of the man he saw as the founding father of Bunbury.
He proposed to the City of Bunbury that it set aside land for a memorial to Captain Stirling on the western end of the Frank Buswell Foreshore.
The first survey peg for the town of Bunbury town was believed to have been planted at the site under Captain Stirling’s direction.
The council’s executive recommendation was not to endorse the proposal.
But on Tuesday a majority of councillors, including Mayor Jaysen Miguel, voted to instead defer the decision to the Heritage Advisory Committee.
“It is important that we know where Bunbury originated with white settlement,” councillor Tresslyn Smith said.
“We certainly know where it originated with our Indigenous people.
“We cannot forget our history and we cannot forget Stirling’s history in this part of the world either.”
But not all councillors were in favour.
“I believe Governor Stirling has already had the recognition,” said Gabi Ghasseb, one of four councillors against the proposal.
He said deferring it to the Heritage Advisory Committee was a waste of time and urged the council to instead put resources towards recognising people from a wider range of backgrounds.
The advisory committee currently has no First Nations members.
The ABC also understands that Mr Bischoff — who first tabled the motion — is a voting member of the heritage committee.
A ‘slap in the face to the Noongar people’
First Nations advocate Mervyn Eades said the City of Bunbury should have immediately rejected the proposal.
“They shouldn’t even be entertaining it,” he said. “It’s a real slap in the face to the Noongar people.”
Mr Eades seconded an unsuccessful motion in 2021 to change the name of the local government area of Stirling in Perth.
The Noongar man said while that loss was disappointing, the prospect of erecting a new memorial to a man he described as a “monster” was terrifying.
Noongar elder Dr Robert Isaacs said it was time to build memorials of First Nations people instead.
His great-grandfather Samuel Isaacs rescued more than 50 survivors from the wreck of the SS Georgette with the help of 16-year-old Grace Bussell in 1876.
“There should have been a memorial statue for him,” Dr Isaacs said.
But he said his efforts to get statues erected to First Nations leaders had so far been knocked back.
“If they’re going to put a statue up down there then an Aboriginal statue has to go alongside it, just like the Aboriginal flag alongside the Australian flag,” Dr Isaacs said.
Mayor Jaysen Miguel told the ABC this was one of many things that could be considered in ongoing discussions around the proposal.
“I’d actually very much encourage that,” he said.
“It’s very important that we do have history here and we do need to recognise what occurred, and some of that isn’t good, and it’s not pretty.
“It’s much broader than just saying, ‘We’re building a statue’ or ‘We’re not building a statue’.”
Mr Miguel said that he was not personally advocating for erecting a memorial of Captain Stirling.
He said the Heritage Advisory Committee would provide input on the proposal but it would ultimately come back to the council for a final decision.
“We certainly are very careful and mindful of that Indigenous community, and obviously if there’s been offence there, we do apologise.”
He said the council was discussing setting up an Indigenous advisory committee for future consultation.
The Gnaala Karla Booja Aboriginal Corporation, which is the local representative body for traditional owners, was not consulted on the motion.