A new train station named after traditional Indigenous owners has been revealed but the move has divided locals.
The metro station yet to be built in Sydney has officially been named ‘Gadigal Railway Station’ by the NSW state government and was announced on Wednesday.
The station which will be built by 2024 recognises the Gadigal people who are the Indigenous owners of the land known as today’s Sydney CBD.
A new metro station yet to be built in Sydney has officially been named ‘Gadigal Railway Station’ (pictured) by the NSW state government
NSW Premier Chris Minns took to Twitter on Thursday night to confirm the appointment of the name which he said acknowledged Sydney’s Indigenous heritage.
‘Welcome to Gadigal Railway Station – coming 2024,’ Mr Minns wrote.
‘We’re proud to announce that Sydney’s newest metro station will be named after the traditional custodians of the land – the Gadigal People’.
The station which is located underneath Pitt, Park and Bathurst Streets in the heart of the city received overwhelming support to be named after the traditional owners.
The name ends the dispute over what to call the $500million piece of infrastructure that forms part of the $21.6billion Sydney Metro City and Southwest project.
The Premier’s social media post was flooded with hundreds of comments from users who approved of the name given to the station.
‘Excellent choice of station name’. ‘Well done,’ one user wrote.
‘It’s about time,’ wrote another.
‘Love it!’
The station (pictured) which will be completed in 2024 received overwhelming support to be named after the traditional owners
Others however voiced their opposition to the move which some labelled a form of ‘virtue signaling’.
‘I’ll never call this station by this ridiculous, virtue-signalling name. It will be Pitt St. [sic] Station to me,’ one user said.
‘More virtue signalling nonsense from a party that specialises in virtue signalling nonsense,’ another said.
‘Neat station, crap name’.
The Sydney Metro City and Southwest metro is a 30 kilometre underground railway project which will link North Sydney, the Sydney CBD, the inner-west and parts of the western suburbs.
Metro stations are set to be built at Crows Nest, Victoria Cross, Barangaroo, Martin Place, Pitt Street, Waterloo and several other underground stations at Central Station.
Commuters would be able to travel from Gadigal station to Crows Nest in under ten minutes while trips to Chatswood and Sydenham would take well under 15 minutes of travel time, with trains expected to run every four minutes
Gadigal station (pictured) will be a part of several metro stations that will be built across the Sydney CBD including Crows Nest, Victoria Cross, Barangaroo, and Martin Place
The Sydenham and Chatswood lines will form a train link that stretches for 16.5 kilometers between the two suburbs.
The key part of the project is the Sydney Metro West which will also fastrack travel time from western Sydney to the CBD.
The service will also connect the Western Sydney International Airport in Badgerys Creek.
The Sydney Metro Northwest is the only metro project that has been opened so far after train services began running from May 2019.
The announcement of the Gadigal Railway Station comes after Australians overwhelmingly rejected the Voice to parliament referendum.
Every state and one territory vote No to constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians.