A PARK in Deakin will be named after distinguished poet and former Deakin resident Rosemary Dobson.
Ms Dobson, who died in 2012, won the Patrick White Award for literature in 1984 and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1987. She was a patron of the ACT Writers Centre and a longstanding supporter of poetry and literature in the ACT. Her poem Canberra Morning, prompted by an experience in Deakin, was published in her collection Over the Frontier in 1978.
Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development Simon Corbell says the name was chosen after a “Name the Park in Deakin” group sought community consultation to choose the name of the local park, located on the corner of Strickland Crescent, Norman and Lawley Streets.
The group of Deakin residents created a blog which invited residents to choose a category from the suburb’s themes. “Local identity” was the eventual winner from a list that included Governors, Governors-General, and Diplomats.
The group then carried out a second survey asking residents to choose one candidate from a list that included five other prominent Australians.
The choice of Ms Dobson was later endorsed by the ACT Place Names Committee.
The community plans to hold a naming ceremony at the park in early December 2013.
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