IT'S now up to the Geographic Names Board to determine if the Macquarie River will be dual named the Macquarie River - Wambuul in the coming months.
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Bathurst Regional Council resolved on Wednesday night to support an application to the board for the dual naming, which will be jointly submitted by council and the Bathurst Aboriginal Land Council.
The purpose of the dual naming is to acknowledge both Aboriginal and European culture in the name of the river, as Wambuul was how Indigenous people referred to it for thousands of years.
Council has conducted its own consultation in the development of the application, which included consulting the traditional owners, who also supported dual naming.
"To have it's traditional name back there means a great lot to us because it's recognising our country again, Wiradyuri country, and how important having our traditional names back to these places is, like we have with Wahluu," Wiradyuri elder Dinawan Dyirribang (Bill Allen) said last week.
Mount Panorama was dual named Mount Panorama - Wahluu in 2015.
Mayor Bobby Bourke said dual naming of the river was "long overdue", and on Wednesday other councillors expressed their support for the idea.
"It's good to see the land council has once again stepped up and asked for this to be done," deputy mayor Ian North said.
Similar comments were made by councillors Warren Aubin and Alex Christian.
"The Aboriginal Land Council, I find, they're a very proactive, aggressive Aboriginal group and very proactive in the Bathurst community; they don't just sit back and do nothing, they actually get out there and do projects," Cr Aubin said.
"... I favourably agree to their recommendation on this one."
General manager David Sherley, in response to questions, estimated it would take three to six months before the name becomes official, if that is the determination of the Geographic Names Board.
"It's pretty hard to put a timeline on it; it depends on the various approvals and what public consultation will be required," he said.
"The Geographic Names Board undertakes that consultation, but some of the areas they will be talking to will be the general purpose councils and all of them have been made aware of the requests, and most of them fed back that they would be basing their actions on any public consultation from the Geographic Names Board.
"The other major location that gets checked is the lands council."
