Hands off our name

Cribbes Rd change possible to address new subdivision

Written by JEFF ZEUSCHNER. Wangaratta Chronicle 6 Feb 09

GRAHAM Cribbes has taken umbrage at moves to rename Cribbes Road.

Named after his grandfather, former Wangaratta city councillor George Cribbes, changing a section of the road, between Salisbury Street and Greta Road, has been proposed as the ‘easy’ option to accommodate 21 new residential lots to the south.

A report commissioned by the Rural City of Wangaratta for its community appointed naming committee, identified the name change as the most prefered of three options.

The two other options would be to number the lots with a number suffix eg 2A, 2B etc; or renumbering the whole south side of Cribbes Road from Greta Road to Murdoch Road, affecting 70 dwellings.

Rural city acting director of infrastructure services, Bronwyn Chapman, said the naming committee was yet make a final recommendation for council to consider.

Ms Chapman said council would call for public comment once a decision is made.

And they’re sure to get some.

Mr Cribbes signalled he and his family would strongly oppose any change in name.

He believes option two, which has the support of Australia Post, is the clear cut choice.

"It makes more sense to me," he said, admitting his ‘blood had boiled’ at the prospect of seeing his family name ‘cut down’.

"In the post war years the road was nothing but an impassable stock route, but it opened up with the bridge over the One Mile Creek in the 1960s," he said.

"The specific section they’re looking to rename was an extension in recent years, and our family was tickled pink because it joined Cribbes Road with Mason Street…Mason being the maiden name of my grandmother."