After decades of attempts, a street name in Hay Point will be changed to accurately acknowledge the family it is intended to honour.
The MacCarthy and Hellwege families were early settlers of the Hay Point area, owning land that was ultimately bought and subdivided.
The adjacent streets were named Hellwege Street, which was spelled correctly, and McCarthy Street, which was missing the letter “a”.
“That error has been there for a long time and the next few generations of the MacCarthy family realised the mistake and have been trying to get it fixed for many years,” said Councillor Laurence Bonaventura.
Glen MacCarthy, the grandson of founding Hay Point resident Norfor Norman MacCarthy, saw to the change being made after his mother initiated the change more than 40 years ago.
“He’s the last male MacCarthy that’s left with the MacCarthy name,” Mr Bonaventura said.
“He’s just been trying to get that honoured to represent the family, to get that mistake corrected.”
In a council meeting last year, Mr Bonaventura moved a personal notified motion requesting the change to be reviewed.
After community consultation with the 37 property owners of McCarthy Street, Hay Point, Council originally refused the change.
Last week, Mr Bonaventura moved an amendment to the council’s motion saying that councillors would still like to see the correction made despite the Council’s report which was carried unanimously.
“We did some consultation in the community, and we appreciate the fact that changing a street name involves a little bit for people to change their addresses etc. but this is rectifying something that’s been around for a long time,” said Mackay Regional Council Mayor Greg Williamson.
Mr MacCarthy was present at the meeting last week and was overjoyed with the result.
“He was really pleased, as the last surviving member of that family in our region, to see that the name, in his view, has been rectified to the family name,” said Mr Williamson.
Councillor Laurence Bonaventura moved a motion in last week’s council meeting, requesting a change to a street name in Hay Point which had long been spelled incorrectly
