Towns owners seek to remove Benjamin Boyd's name from historic settlement

"It's something that needed to happen," Monaroo Elder BJ Cruse said.

"Boyd told one of the early settlers he would build the tower on South Head and that people would remember him forever.

"That's a slap in the face for traditional owners and First Nations people after the abuse he inflicted," said Mr Cruse, who has been the chairman of Eden Aboriginal Land Council for 36 years.

Boyd commenced the settlement of Boydtown on the shores of Twofold Bay on NSW's South Coast and was documented as one of the largest landholders and graziers in New South Wales during the mid-1800s.

The Scottish entrepreneur is also known for slaving or "blackbirding" South Sea Islanders to work in his pastoral and whaling operations, working alongside Aboriginal and Maori labourers, a topic which has been getting more attention following Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020.

"He should never have had the honour of having something named after him," Mr Cruse said.

"They can name things in Australia after anything, as an individual that doesn't worry me, but someone that has such cruelty and low moral standards shouldn't have the recognition to have something named after them," Mr Cruse said.

After talking to the owners of Boydtown over a period of months, Mr Cruse said he would like to acknowledge their decision to change the name was a positive gesture.

"It's a show of respect to Aboriginal people and people who suffered at the hands of Boyd," Mr Cruse said.

"We had a discussion along the lines that this might prompt the government to deal with [the Ben Boyd National Park name change] matter more urgently, to rectify the issue."

National Parks and Wildlife Service is currently undertaking consultation about the potential name change of the national park, expected to be completed by the middle of 2021.

In February, in a letter to traditional owner Steven Holmes, founder of Thaua Country Aboriginal Corporation, Minister for Environment Matt Kean said any discussion on the appropriateness of the current name of the national park should be preceded by an independent assessment.

Mr Holmes has been driving for the national park to be renamed for many years and a spokesperson for him said he was very pleased to hear about Boyd's name being removed from the historic settlement.

"He was gobsmacked to hear the news and said he didn't think it would go that far," the spokesperson said.

Bega Valley Shire Council voted this month to seek ministerial agreement for dual naming of Ben Boyd National Park "in recognition of our shared history", but Mr Cruse indicated the idea of dual naming could mean different things to different people.

"To me it means an Aboriginal name plus an English definition of that word," Mr Cruse said.

According to Mr Cruse, Aboriginal people didn't simply name things because of their beauty and were more likely to use names that would communicate their intrinsic value, the function they performed or contained.

"We didn't write things down on paper or parchment, we use the natural earth to teach the information and law," he said.

"When we name something, it provides a written text in a natural form.

"Without people visiting the sites they couldn't pass down the knowledge, as the site itself contained certain information."

Mr Cruse said the name should reflect the seasonal change and the hunting and gathering the First Nations people employed to find their food sources throughout the seasons.

"We didn't grow crops and herd animals, we moved around in seasonal changes and utilised the earth's natural yields.

"In winter months when there was snow in the mountains we lived on the coastal strips and ate seafood, as it became warm enough we would move inland and live off nuts and berries... and then further west into the forest and eat kangaroos."