Tuesday 1 December 2015

What's in a name? a lot actually!

Staff and students at Melbourne University are campaigning to have multiple campus buildings renamed because they claim they are glorifying the 'racist' founding fathers.

The buildings carry the names of professors who lobbied to have Aboriginal people, homosexuals, prostitutes and unintelligent people 'sterilised' or placed in a 'lethal chamber.'

The former head of anatomy Richard Berry even 'stole' 400 corpses from traditional Indigenous graves to experiment on in a bid to produce a superior human race, The Age reported.

Mr Berry died in 1962, but hid the bodies of the Aboriginal people and they were only rediscovered in 2003.

The Richard Berry building for maths and statistics is at the main entrance of the Melbourne University's Parkville campus and is another building the students are rallying to have renamed. 

Another controversial building is the Frank Tate Learning Centre, which provides study areas for students as well as a reading room and social space.

Educationist Frank Tate established more than 150 schools in Victoria, but was also known for his controversial view that 15 per cent of the state's population should be sterilised.

He believed this should include Aboriginal people, homosexuals, criminals, epileptics, alcohol abusers and homeless people.

Mr Tate died in 1939, just ten years after winning the Legion of Honour and retiring from the Victorian Education Department. 

Zoologist Wilfred Agar had a lecture theatre on Royal Parade named after him.

He viewed Aboriginal people as 'revolting' and although was appointed the Chief Protector of Aboriginal People in Darwin, he used his power to erect a compound for Indigenous children to be removed from their parents.

Mr Agar and his family resided on the university campus until he retired in 1948. 

University scientist Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer worked among the Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory for several weeks, but saw the people as 'dehumanised survivals.'

He believed they would die out to create a superior race and wanted to isolate Indigenous people from the rest of the population.

The John Medley arts buildings are named after Sir John Medley who was a member of the Eugenics Society of Victoria.

A formal proposal to have the names changed will be launched in 2016.

'The discussion about building names has formed part of the "Courageous Conversations About Race" program, which was initiated by the University as part of its Reconciliation Action Plan,' a Melbourne University spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. 

'The University has consulted with Indigenous staff and stakeholders about an appropriate response to these concerns. 

'The University notes that there are different views about such a response, and accordingly more discussion about the issue will follow.' 


Richard Berry

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3338946/Melbourne-University-campaign-change-names-buildings-named-professors-wanted-sterilise-Aboriginals-homosexuals-poor-people.html#ixzz3t3t1pZ53 
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