Queensland arts minister ignored recommendation that new theatre be named after poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal | Queensland
A Queensland government minister overruled a theatre’s board of directors by intervening to ensure a new theater was not named after Aboriginal poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, according to documents obtained under freedom of information laws.
The name of the late artist has also been revealed removed from state votersat draft pick limits announced this week by the state’s redistricting commission.. The LNP lobbied for the change.
An email from a government adviser to Guardian Australia said arts minister John-Paul Langbroek said: [the name] ‘Glasshouse Theatre’” in January 2025, but was waiting for “the final signature from the premiere.”
The documents show that the minister officially signed the name on February 3, 2025, months before the meeting and consultation with the board took place. Glasshouse was declared the winner.
Noonuccal’s eldest grandson, Raymond Walker, called the decision “disrespectful” but said he was not surprised. She said she felt the state government did not want to name the area after an Aboriginal woman.
“To be placed there [as a suggestion] and then no and then it was ignored, which I think is too bad. “This is ignorance,” he said.
“If it had been named like that, we would have been very proud of it.”
Documents show the Queensland Performing Arts Center board’s preferred name was Oodgeroo.
In a March 2024 email seen by Guardian Australia, the board recommended seven names to then-Labor Minister Leeanne Enoch. However, he noted that Oodgeroo’s name “stands out in our view”, describing him as “an extremely effective storyteller and teller of truth”.
“His legacy endures as a beacon of resilience and wisdom with an unwavering commitment to justice and reconciliation,” the email said.
Crisafulli government was elected in October 2024. In February 2025, new arts minister Langbroek wrote a letter to the Qpac board and suggested Glasshouse as the name.
Qpac general manager Rachel Healy emailed to object to the name, arguing it would be confusing as many other venues in Australia also use the name Glasshouse.
He also wrote that the Qpac Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group recommended naming Oodgeroo “as an inspiring national example of Queensland’s creative imagination and leadership.”
Oodgeroo, born Kath Ruska in Brisbane in 1920 and later known as Kath Walker before reclaiming her Aboriginal name, died in 1993 and remains one of Australia’s best-known and most widely read poets. Her 1964 work We Are Going was the first book of poetry written by an Aboriginal woman and the first book published by an Aboriginal woman. He was also an Aboriginal rights activist: in one famous story, prime minister Robert Menzies offered him a sherry during the 1967 referendum campaign. HE informed him that he had committed a crime; It was illegal to buy alcohol to Aboriginal people in Queensland.
His name is used in poetry contests, college halls, scholarships and, at least until this week, for Oodgeroo state voters in Redlands.
The former minister said the decision to override Qpac’s preferred name “makes it clear that this was a captain’s decision”.
LNP Oodgeroo asked its voters It will be renamed last year, according to a submission considered by the Queensland Redistribution Commission in draft plans published on Tuesday. The proposed replacement name is Cleveland for the suburb it covers.
The LNP’s submission argued that voter names should “remain intuitive and geographically based” because voter names are confusing. However, in the same presentation, it was suggested that electors bearing the names of Captain James Cook, Augustus Charles Gregory and Alfred Traeger should retain their names.
Langbroek says government ‘has made the decision’ [of the theatre’s name] “It’s in the hands of Queenslanders.”
“Queenslanders agreed Glasshouse Theater was the best name for this iconic venue – over 42% of people voted for it in the public vote – it included four voting options and allowed people to submit their own ideas too,” he said.
Oodgeroo was not listed as an option in the survey.
“The Queensland government determined the choice of the name Glasshouse Theater following a public vote,” a Qpac spokesperson said.
Australian Writers Guild president Jennifer Mills said she wished she had been “more shocked” by Oodgeroo’s decision not to use his name.
“I think this decision seems to me to be yet another example of political interference in the arts to belittle an Indigenous heritage that the community wants to reflect,” he said. “I really think it’s an insult to that community.”
Theatre Opened to the public on March 7. First event, The Last ShipIt will open on April 9.
