THE Town will not drop Kwinana from its name despite councillors discussing the possibility that getting rid of it could help wipe the area’s bad reputation across Perth.
Mayor Carol Adams said the council had discussed “some time ago” the opportunity to change Kwinana’s name when it applied to be a City, but councillors overwhelmingly supported retaining it.
The council will soon lodge an application with Local Government Minister John Castrilli to become a city after the Australia Bureau of Statistics released population figures showing the town had passed 30,000 residents.
Council hopes the impending change to city status will shake the town’s rough reputation among the rest of Perth, with the area often referred to as K-Town and the punch line of unfair jokes.
Despite the town having low socioeconomic status and one of the highest rates of unemployment in WA, Council described the town as “blossoming” in a report tabled at Wednesday’s council meeting.
“Councillors believe we have matured as a community and at this point we have no intentions of changing the name of the area,” Cr Adams said.
Cr Adams said she, along with most residents, was proud to live in Kwinana. The name came from a merchant ship, which ran aground at Kwinana Beach in 1922.
“Despite the negative connotations sometimes associated with the name Kwinana, we are still the fourth fastest growing area in the entire State,” she said.
“For that reason it is even more important that, rather than try to distance us from the culture and history which has made Kwinana such a beautiful place, we instead continue to debunk the incorrect stereotypes by showing pride in our community and welcoming with open arms the many hundreds of people who continue to call Kwinana home every year.”
Kwinana MLA Roger Cook said the town’s reputation was changing but there were still some “unfair” attitudes about the town and supported retaining the name.
“People with that attitude are probably from a different time who haven’t seen the new areas of Kwinana. We still have some social issues to deal with but the community of Kwinana is unparalleled,” he said.