
Could Grafton’s history keeper have its place on new bridge?
THERE has been plenty of interest this week in potential names for the new Grafton bridge.
The Daily Examiner understands Transport for NSW will be calling for public submissions soon.
As published earlier this week, I've committed to lodging a submission based on the most popular choice of our readers from an online poll of 10 names that we have shortlisted as the most appropriate.
However, one that we didn't consider has been put forward in the letter to the editor below. It raises a good point - regional newspapers have had a profound influence on the identity of their towns over the past one and a half centuries, but rarely have they any recognition in the form of permanent structures like a bridge.
For the record, The Daily Examiner Bridge is not in our poll, and won't be in the submission I personally put forward. But it's been put out there and is one to consider.
* NOTE: The Daily Examiner's bridge name submission will only count as a single submission. Community members are encouraged to make their own submissions.
A suggestion given its long history of advocacy of public works
Dear Mr North,
I enjoyed your article on proposed names for the new bridge.
My personal preferences of your list are either Dirrangun or Sir Earle Page. Both go deep into the roots of our history. A combination of both could have some appeal and be a real statement of reconciliation. I know double-barrelled names are unfashionable, but the Dirrangun-Earle Page Bridge has a certain gravitas and seriousness of moral, social and political intention. Good things in a name.
Reader poll
What should the new Grafton bridge be called?
This poll ended on 02 September 2020.
Current Results
Jacaranda City Bridge
17%
Big River Bridge
26%
Dirrangun Bridge
28%
Win Jefferies Bridge
1%
Shirley Adams Bridge
6%
Sharon Edwards Bridge
2%
Sir Earle Page Bridge
5%
New Bridge
4%
Straight Bridge
2%
Harvey Bell Bridge
2%
This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.
Another suggestion... given its long history of advocacy of public works in the district, how about one of these three names:
• The Clarence and Richmond Examiner Bridge
• The Daily Examiner Bridge
• The Examiner Bridge
The last suggestion has the great virtue of economy of expression, which should appeal to a journalist, even though it's less accurate than the other two.
I am not merely seeking to flatter your employer, but feel that now is an appropriate time to commemorate this masthead with the disappearance of the paper edition happening roughly contemporaneously with the new bridge's opening.
Local newspapers play an enormous role in creating the identity of a district; advocacy for that district; and recording the history of that district. That is rarely acknowledged in place names. It should be.
Robert Lee
Yamba
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