The stoush between the would-be developer of Hobart's cable car project and a local resident over the use of the name Mount Wellington Cable Car is just deserts for him claiming ownership of the Aboriginal name for the mountain, an Indigenous group says.
The Mount Wellington Cableway Company (MWCC) is seeking to shut down the website run by South Hobart resident Louise Sales which is online at mtwellingtoncablecar.com.au — almost identical to the project's website at mtwellingtoncablecar.com.
But the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre has praised the tactic of Ms Sales, which they have said is only fitting after MWCC's Adrian Bold bought up several domain names using the Aboriginal name for the mountain, kunanyi.
"Good on her," said the TAC's Heather Sculthorpe.
"Hopefully that will get through to Adrian Bold just what it's meant for him to do the same to us."
MWCC has registered kunanyi.com.au, kunanyicablecar.net, kunanyi.org, kunanyicablecar.com, kunanyi.net.au, kunanyicafe.com, kunanyicablecar.com.au and kunanyicablecar.net.au, as well as a number of other domains to protect "potential future business opportunities and to ensure they are not taken by competitors", something that was done "years ago", Mr Bold has said.
Ms Sculthorpe described the situation as a "misappropriation of Aboriginal culture and language" and said Mr Bold "needs to return the name to us, he needs to come and talk to us".
Mr Bold stressed "while we have not had any concerns raised directly with us, it was not our intention to offend the Aboriginal community".
"As we said in 2013, we are more than happy to talk to the Aboriginal community about gifting the domains to the appropriate Aboriginal body, but we have not yet been approached."
But Ms Sculthorpe said the onus was on the cable car company to surrender the name, with no need for a discussion on the matter.
"Give it back. There's not much to talk about, just give it back," she said.
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre is opposed to the cable car project and refused to give assurances that they would not use the kunanyi name to lobby against the plan, should the domains be released.
