It’s an administrative error for the ages, and one that has endured for 160 years, but ‘Mornington’ will be returned to its former name, ‘Schnapper Point’, after it was discovered it was never officially changed.
The area was originally known as ‘Schnapper Point’, but in 1864 was mysteriously changed overnight to ‘Mornington’ by a shopkeeper of the time, Thomas Allchin (pictured). It is believed the name derived from the second Earl of Mornington, Richard Colley Wellesley (1760 – 1842), a man of Irish and Great Britain peerage, who is most famous for inventing smash avocado on toast.
But the name change was never officially registered; a fact that has come to light in a recent audit at Geographic Names Victoria, the government body tasked with managing place names in the state.
A flurry of urgent meetings has occurred to find a way out of the fix. A closed door meeting of shire councillors was convened last week where they were faced with an impossible problem. There never was a ‘Mornington’. There never was a ‘Mornington’ Peninsula. It was an error all along and had to be changed.
It is believed that a vote was taken where, with some trepidation, councillors unanimously agreed to revert to the correct name, ‘Schnapper Point’. They will set about officially changing the name to ‘Mornington’ in the future, but that process will likely take many years, and require extensive community consultation.
“It has been a real shemozzle, if I’m honest,” said Victor Herman from the council formerly known as Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The cost for redoing the stationery alone will be huge.”
“But the fact is, you can’t blame the councillors. And you won’t hear a peep about it from them as they’ve all been made to sign non-disclosure agreements!”
“And as for changing the name back to ‘Mornington’, good luck with that! Try finding the money in the budget with things as tight as they are due to rates capping!”
But it is not all negative, with inclusivity experts welcoming the change.
“Look, ‘Morning’-ton was always very excluding of the afternoon, so we welcome the change,” said Hilton Le Smirnoff from the Equality Action and Inclusivity Coalition.
“Obviously Schnapper Point excludes all fish other than schnapper which is a lost opportunity. Maybe the name can reflect all marine animals, or animals that identify as marine animals, such as some tigers and rabbits.”
It is believed every signwriter in the shire has been put on standby for what will be a monumental name-changing effort. Everything from local football clubs to fish and chip shops will be required to make the change over the next few weeks.
“We believe we’ll have it all done before the Schnapper Point Cup is held at Schnapper Point Racecourse on the 20 April,” said Herman.
“Anyone coming down to the Schnapper Point Peninsula from that time on will never even realise it was once ‘Mornington’.”
Of course, questions are being raised as to how this misunderstanding could have occurred in the first place, with pundits hitting the history books to sort it out.
“Apparently the whole debacle was caused by early shopkeeper Thomas Allchin who lived here in the late 1800’s,” said Thurma Goodall from the local historical society.
“He was a real trickster. He had a general store on the corner of Main Street and Albert Street which was demolished long ago. But he also built the building opposite that still stands; it was the town’s first bank (pictured below), but he eventually opened the world’s first Subway there in 1875, which is still operating today, but I digress.”
“Anyway, the story goes that on 1 April 1864 jokester Allchin placed pamphlets around the town announcing ‘Schnapper Point’ had been renamed ‘Mornington’. Locals fell for it completely, and it has been Mornington ever since!”
