On 27 July 2015 a small group of Rosebud West residents lodged a Proposal with Mornington Peninsula Shire Council requesting council change the name of the Rosebud West township to Capel Sound.  

This proposal was made by a very small minority who have conducted very little community consultation, underestimating the potential negative effects of changing our identity. The proposal contradicts the needs and desires of our greater community.  The group behind the name change campaign claim that our township has "no pride of place" and that our name is cause of many problems faced by our community including socio-economic issues, anti social behavior and drug problems. These claims are simply untrue, it is naive to think that changing one's name will solve any of our problems. Our township is on the improve,  changing our identity is a waste of time, energy and money, energies that could be put to so much better use in our community.

A massive casualty of this campaign will be local small businesses. Local businesses will be forced to spend large amounts of money to update mailing lists, websites, signage, stationery, logos and for some even there business names!  These are not big businesses, they are local members of our community, many of whom are already struggling to make ends meet.  Furthermore many local family businesses are set for future loss of business caused by confusion in their place name, for example a web search for "Mechanic Rosebud" will also show all mechanics in Rosebud West, however if a name change is forthcoming the search will never show mechanics located in Capel Sounds.  

Most people in Victoria know where Rosebud is, as such they also know where Rosebud West is, nobody will ever know where Capel Sound is! 

Our town is under siege by a group of people who are attempting take away our identity, we must act now to retain our identity and save Rosebud West.

The name change proposal has been lodged and the risk is real.

1. Should Council be convinced there is sufficient interest in the name change they will then be required to ask all residents and ratepayers in Postcode 3940 whether they are in favour of the change. This process alone will cost rate payers $15-$25K of funds that could be better spent on our community.

2. Based on the response received, Council will then decide whether or not to support the change, If they do support the change Council will request that State government formalise the name change from Rosebud West to Capel Sound. This entire process will cost council and business an immeasurable amount of money not just in administering the change but also in loss of business.

Council will make a decision on whether to move forward with the name change proposal at their meeting of 23 November.

This petition is designed to demonstrate to council the strong desire in our community to retain our townships current name of Rosebud West.