Would you want to live in Mullawallah?
A large number of Ballarat residents say no.
The regional Victorian city has proposed naming its newest suburb after respected Aboriginal elder William Wilson or Mullawallah as he was known.
He was one of at least three Wathaurung men in the Ballarat area who were called "King Billy" by European settlers.
The council put the proposal out for public comment and received more than 100 objections.
The council will vote on the issue at tonight's council meeting and Deputy Mayor Peter Innes says it is likely the name will not be used for the new suburb.
Councillor Innes told SBS the objectors felt it was too hard to pronounce.
LISTEN: Greg Dyett speaks with Deputy Mayor Peter Innes
"People were concerned that it was a difficult name to pronounce,” he said.
“Secondly, that it was difficult to spell and also that it was similar to other named areas so there's a recommendation to go before council tonight to stop that process, to go back out to the community looking for an appropriate name for the area.
“We are also going to look for names for other future developed areas in Ballarat so as then people have an idea that when they're going to purchase land, or wherever it may be in a new area, that it actually has a name to attach to it."
Councillor Innes said it would be inappropriate to pre-empt the decision but added it seemed sensible to reject the Aboriginal name.
"It would seem to me that that would probably be the smart way to go, not saying, that's pre-empting the decision because it's inappropriate, that would seem to me to be a good process."
Local Aboriginal elder Ted Lovett told SBS racism was behind the objections.
"If the council back down, they're weak, that's my opinion," he said.
Councillor Innes said references to racism were unfortunate.
"I think that's an unfortunate choice of words and a soon as you have like that that's what people are going to jump up and down on.”
“We've had a lot of discussions with elders who believe that what we are suggesting is a good common sense way to go. That's just the right thing to do."
