A national park in NSW has removed its connection to Benjamin Boyd while a road in Neutral Bay still honours the 19th century slave trader.

Ben Boyd Road in Neutral Bay has stirred recent public debate due to the association with the controversial businessman and advocate for low wages and free labour.

A NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service report in 2021 revealed Boyd pioneered the slave trade practise known as blackbirding using violence and manipulation to compel Pacific Islanders into unpaid or low-wage work in Australia.

The report’s writer, Dr Mark Dunn, concluded Boyd’s use of violence and manipulation to force Pacific Islanders into work can be held partly responsible for over 62,000 men being subjected to blackbirding in New South Wales and Queensland.

Ben Boyd’s controversial methods and beliefs “split opinions in the colony”, wrote Dr Dunn.

Despite lingering debates on whether Ben Boyd’s actions were problematic or a product of their time, the road name in Neutral Bay remains unchanged.

After a North Sydney Council survey revealed a majority of residents opposed the change, the Council voted in 2021 not to alter the name for Ben Boyd Road.

The survey received over 2000 responses, with 53 per cent voting against the change and 45.9 per cent voting in favour.

North Sydney Council Mayor Zoë Baker said the “waxing and waning reputation” of Ben Boyd can be attributed to his advocacy for low wages and use of coercive tactics after he arrived in Australia.

The Mayor said her own opinion on the renaming of Ben Boyd Road “as distinct from the position of the Council” was to support the renaming.

The Council decided instead to install a new plaque to contextualise “the waxing and waning reputation of Ben Boyd”.

Wiradjuri man and Native Title professional Russell Dunn, a team member of the Native Title organisation Indigenous Agreement Solutions, said the implementation of a sign to inform the public about Ben Boyd represents “better truth telling”.

“Ben Boyd in today’s terms is not a nice person,” he said.

However, during the time Boyd lived and worked in Australia “he was approved of”.

“This is history,” Russell Dunn said.

Ben Boyd arrived in Sydney by yacht in 1842 with the goal of acquiring land, establishing a coastal steaming operation and purchasing pastoral businesses.

He quickly obtained large expanses of land, established his businesses and began importing workers from Vanuatu and New Caledonia, reported Dr Dunn.

This practice of forcibly importing Pacific Islander workers for free or cheap labour was “christened as Blackbirding”.

While the term blackbirding wasn’t used during Boyd ‘s time, Dr Dunn explains Boyd’s methods of procuring workers and his use of violence was the precursor for the slave trade in Queensland in the late 19th century.

After Boyd’s business ventures began to fail in 1848, he moved to California and then to the Pacific where he was killed by Guadalcanal Islanders in 1851.

Dr Dunn’s 2021 report established that Ben Boyd Road in Neutral Bay was named in the 1880s in honour of the contentious entrepreneur who had lived in the area during his time in Australia.

In the late 20th century Ben Boyd was also commemorated through the naming of Ben Boyd National Park, Ben Boyd Dam and Ben Boyd Reservoir.

In early 2023, the NSW Government chose to rename Ben Boyd National Park to Beowa National Park in response to requests from the Aboriginal community.

Dr Dunn’s NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service report, which concluded that Ben Boyd was heavily involved in slavery, also assisted the government in making the decision to rename Beowa National Park.

The name Beowa means ‘killer whale’ or ‘orca’ in the Aboriginal Thaua language and was chosen after substantial consultation with more than 60 Aboriginal and South Sea Islander individuals.

The change to Beowa National Park was part of a government initiative that aimed to return all NSW national park land titles to Aboriginal owners over a 15 to 20 year time span.

Native Title professional Russell Dunn said name changes like this “can be good” but removing original names from land areas like national parks and roads could also divide communities and Indigenous groups.

Despite the removal of Ben Boyd’s name from the national park in Eden NSW, Ben Boyd Road in Neutral Bay remains and Mayor Baker said it was unlikely the move would be considered again in this term of Council.

“If there are community calls for a review and renaming, I am certain that this Council will listen and respond,” Mayor Baker said.

This article is part of a larger project called Where What Why. You can find the whole collection of stories about places and their names here.