Dubbo Regional Council won't be naming the Victoria Park pavilion after late Tony Kelly

After Mr Kelly's passing in late 2020, then Dubbo mayor Ben Shields proposed naming the sporting complex in honour of the former council staff member but it wasn't that simple.

The matter was referred to the Geographical Names Board who subsequently denied the proposal even after it was unanimously voted by the group of councillors at the time in favour of renaming the oval.

As a substitute DRC put forward the idea to name the new No.1 Oval pavilion the 'Tony Kelly Pavilion', something Mr Kelly's family was firmly against.

Mr Kelly's wife Barbara recently wrote to Dubbo Regional Council [DRC] to urge them to reconsider their current plan.

Mayor Mathew Dickerson said he agreed with the general commentary that the Geographical Names Board did not need to be involved with the naming of the Oval.

"Unfortunately it was, it's occurred and what's done is done so we move past that now, and the idea of naming the pavilion, I think was a reasonable recognition of Tony Kelly," he said.

"I thought the pavilion was a reasonable compromise if you like, as it still gave recognition to the great work Tony did in his community."

Cr Dickerson made note the SCG wasn't named after Don Bradman, but a stand in the stadium was.

"I was quite happy to go down that path and name that in that way, a nice way to recognise Tony, unfortunately the family was not after Tony Kelly pavilion, they wanted the oval or nothing which I'm disappointed about," he said.

"I would like to name something in the community after Tony because I was on council when Tony was here as general manager so I'm a little bit disappointed."

Cr Dickerson said he didn't want to go against the families wishes but would have preferred to name the pavilion after Mr Kelly.

READ MORE:

Mr Kelly was employed by Dubbo City Council from June 1968 until his retirement in November 2004, some 36 years of service including 30 years as Town Clerk/General Manager.

During his tenure Mr Kelly significantly contributed to the development of Dubbo with some of his lasting legacies including:

Mr Kelly died on Thursday, November 26 2020 at 77 years of age.

In addition to the 12 submissions received, three petitions were also received requesting further consideration for changing the name of Victoria Park No.1 Oval to the Tony Kelly Oval.

An online petition which didn't comply with the council policy regarding petitions had 298 names and individuals towns requesting further consideration for changing the name of Victoria Park No.1 Oval to the Tony Kelly Oval.

At the standing committee meeting on Thursday, September 8, Ken Rodgers asked council to take the necessary steps to name No.1 Oval, Tony Kelly Oval.

"This elected body through no fault of its own inherited a minefield of issues from its predecessor, subsequently this council is faced with the task of rebuilding trust and respect within the community and I'm confident under the current leadership and subsequent decisions will achieve this," he said.

Mr Rodgers said naming the pavilion after Mr Kelly would be a mistake.

"It widely seems like a poor substitute and received little to any public support, council knows and understands these truths," he said.

"Tony Kelly built the Dubbo we know and love today, we earnestly request council take the honourable decision and name the oval Tony Kelly Oval."

The mayor said council would seem disingenuous and "sneaky" if they decided to go back and name No.1 Oval after Tony Kelly.

"We went out for public consultation to name the pavilion, I think if we came back and went in a different direction in naming No.1 Oval, I think the community would rightly say we were a little bit disingenuous with the community," he said.

"It would seem like council had moved on from No.1 Oval and moved to an alternative; the pavilion, and then jumped back, it would seem like councillors were being a bit sneaky or disingenuous in naming No.1 Oval.

"We said to community we would name the clubhouse and we got a lot of feedback on that."

Cr Dickerson said they've reached a point where nothing will be named after Tony Kelly.

"Morally we can't go back and name the oval, it was either the pavilion or nothing," he said.

Councillor Josh Black suggested creating a plaque commemorating Tony Kelly's service, which could hang in the council building, should the family wish that to occur.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: