A Queensland government minister intervened to ensure that a new theatre would not be named after the Aboriginal poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, overriding the theatre’s board, according to documents obtained under right to information laws.
The late artist’s name is also set to be stripped from a state electorate, in draft electoral boundaries released by the state’s redistribution commission this week. The Liberal National party lobbied for the change.
An email from a government adviser released to Guardian Australia reveals that the arts minister, John-Paul Langbroek, was “set on [the name] ‘Glasshouse Theatre’” in January 2025 but was waiting for “final sign-off from the premier”.
The minister formally signed off on the name on 3 February 2025 – before consultation with the board, the documents show, and months before opening it to a public vote in which Glasshouse was declared the winner.
Oodgeroo’s oldest grandson, Raymond Walker, described the decision as “disrespectful” but said he wasn’t surprised. He said it felt as though the state government did not want to name it after an Aboriginal woman.
“For it to be put up there [as a suggestion] and then not and then just ignored, I think that’s just terrible,” he said. “That’s ignorance.
Documents show that Oodgeroo was the name preferred by the board of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.
In a March 2024 email seen by Guardian Australia, the board recommended seven names to the then Labor minister Leeanne Enoch. But it said Oodgeroo’s name “stands out in our view”, describing her as “a profoundly influential storyteller and truth-teller”.
“Her legacy endures as a person who was a beacon of resilience and wisdom, with an unwavering commitment to justice and reconciliation,” the email said.
The Crisafulli government was elected in October 2024. In February 2025 the new arts minister, Langbroek, wrote to the Qpac board and suggested Glasshouse as a name.
The Qpac chief executive, Rachel Healy, emailed back to object to the name, arguing it would be confusing since several other venues in Australia also used the name Glasshouse.
She also wrote that the Qpac Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group had recommended naming it Oodgeroo, “as an inspirational national example of Queensland creative imagination and leadership”.
Oodgeroo Noonuccal, who was born Kath Ruska in Brisbane in 1920 and was later known as Kath Walker before reclaiming her Aboriginal name, died in 1993 and remains one of Australia’s best known and best-read poets. Her 1964 work, We Are Going, was the first published book of verse written by an Aboriginal person, and the first published book by an Aboriginal woman. She was also an activist for Aboriginal rights: in a celebrated story, the former prime minister Robert Menzies once offered her a sherry during the 1967 referendum campaign. She informed him he’d committed an offence; it was illegal to buy alcohol for an Aboriginal person in the state of Queensland.
Her name is used for poetry competitions, university rooms, scholarships and – until this week – the state electorate of Oodgeroo in the Redland city region.
The LNP asked for the Oodgeroo electorate to be renamed last year, in its submission taken up by the Queensland Redistribution Commission in draft plans released on Tuesday. The suggested replacement name is Cleveland, for the suburb it covers.
The LNP’s submission argued that electorate names should “remain intuitive and geographically grounded” because named electorates are confusing. But in the same submission, it suggested electorates named for Captain James Cook, Augustus Charles Gregory and Alfred Traeger should keep their names.
Langbroek said the government “put the decision [of the theatre’s name] in the hands of Queenslanders”.
“Queenslanders agree that Glasshouse Theatre is the best name for this iconic venue – with more than 42% of people voting for it in the public poll – which included four options for voting and allowed people to submit their own ideas too,” he said.
Oodgeroo was not listed as an option on the poll.
On Sunday, the Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, defended his government’s decision to ignore the recommendations.
Crisafulli said the name would “make a remarkable ability to market it”.
“The name is fitting of what that facility is. It’s clearly able to be marketed across the globe,” he said.
“In years to come, when people say the Glasshouse theatre, they will know where it is, what it looks like and its key attributes. There couldn’t be a more appropriate name, which is why Queenslanders backed it”.
But the premier said the government was considering naming something else after the Indigenous poet, who grew up and lived for many years on Minjerribah/North Stradbroke Island.
“Regarding honouring that individual, we should find ways to do that; she’s significant and we should,” Crisafulli said.
A Qpac spokesperson said the “Queensland government determined the choice of the name Glasshouse Theatre following a public vote”.
The chair of the Australian Society of Authors, Jennifer Mills, said she wished she was “more shocked” by the decision not to use Oodgeroo’s name.
“This decision looks to me like another instance of political interference in the arts, to downplay an Indigenous legacy that the community wanted to reflect,” she said.
The theatre opened to the public on 7 March. Its first event, The Last Ship, will open on 9 April.
