THE man who led the charge to rename Munster as Lake Coogee says the suburb has a newfound sense of identity following the name change.
Lake Coogee will be officially recognised as a suburb from March 30 after council backed a community-led proposal to change the name, which was approved by Landgate’s Geographic Names Committee in November.
The new suburb will encompass the area of Munster north of Frobisher Road to Barrington Street, including the entire lake after which formed the basis for the new name.
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READ NOWThe current section of Munster north of Russell Road West will become part of the suburb of Henderson, while the residual district east of Rockingham Road will remain as Munster.
South Coogee Community Association founder Fred Bkamdin said the new name recognised the history of the area.
“The coastal area in the district of South Coogee has finally got its identity back by being able to call the area Lake Coogee,” he said.
“It is a major milestone for the locals (early settlers) who grew up in this area due to their early association with the name Coogee and also for the fairly new residents of this coastal suburb who invested in the area based on the fact the City of Cockburn wanted to reinstate the name South Coogee.
“People are very pleased they have an identity, now being the third suburb affiliated to the name Coogee, thereby not have to explain every time to others where exactly on the Australian map does Munster exist.”
The Munster name had been in place since 1954 and originally Prince William, the Earl of Munster.
Support for a name change can be traced back to December 2012, when council passed a proposal to redraw Munster’s boundaries to create a new suburb of South Coogee.
The changes were knocked back at the time as the Geographic Names Committee cited an identically named suburb in New South Wales, but the South Coogee Community Association revived the issue in 2018.
Australia Post, WA Police, St John Ambulance, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, the WA Electoral Commission and the Water Corporation have been advised of the changes, but for privacy reasons residents must make some notifications themselves.
People living in the affected areas need to update their own personal details once the change is formally applied.
Australia Post has advised that from March 30 mail will be delivered to either suburb address for four months.