With the ongoing coverage of Black Lives Matter, I have found out that Ben Boyd Rd in Neutral Bay is named after Benjamin Boyd, who was in fact one of the first people in Australia to engage in slavery. He did this through blackbirding, the practice of coercing and kidnapping South Sea Islanders as slave labourers.

Similarly one of the school houses at Neutral Bay Public School is called 'Boyd' after this man.

It is totally unacceptable that such a racist and inhumane man should continue to be 'honoured' in the name of a prominent road in Neutral Bay and a school house, so hopefully a push from our community right now will convince North Sydney Council and Neutral Bay Public School to change the name.

An Aboriginal community in Eden on the South Coast of NSW is also calling for Ben Boyd National Park to be renamed due to Ben Boyd's racist and inhumane history - see https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-16/blackbirder-ben-boyd-renaming-push-renewed/12358978

Maybe in Neutral Bay we could use a name of an individual or place of significance to the local Aboriginal or South Sea Islander community instead?