La Trobe Not Planning to Rename University Following ‘Aboriginal Dispossession’ Demands

More than 50 staff and students are calling for a name change at La Trobe University due to the “dispossession of Aboriginal peoples” in colonisation. The group wrote to Yoorrook Justice Commission proposing the university be renamed due to Charles La Trobe’s role in Victoria’s colonisation. “Charles La Trobe played an integral role in the dispossession of the Aboriginal peoples of south-Eastern Australia from their lands,” the group argued. Born in 1801 in London, La Trobe became the first lieutenant governor of the colony of Victoria when it separated from New South Wales in 1851. A La Trobe University spokesperson told The Epoch Times it has “no current plans to change its name” although it is aware of the petition....