Someone Is Seriously Suggesting We Rename South Australia
And it's not just any "someone", he's an actual official.
South Australians, in my experience, often get pissed off when people try to reduce the entire state to just Adelaide, forgetting other South Australian things like the Barossa and…other things. Nevertheless, that’s what one man has just suggested we do: rename the entire state of South Australia to just “Adelaide”.
The guy suggesting this is not actually a nobody: his name is Bill Muirhead, and he’s the Agent General for South Australia in London (an official representative of South Australia, basically). And at an event at the University of South Australia a few days ago, he put it to the audience: why not just call South Australia “Adelaide”?
The city, too, would remain “Adelaide”. In this dark future timeline, “Adelaide, Adelaide” would become the “New York, New York” of Australia, except less good.
Great to see @AgentG_Adelaide flying the flag for #Adelaide and proposing some innovative ways to put #SouthAustralia on the map. #AdelaideAdelaide was my favourite from the story in the @theTiser pic.twitter.com/lbucVN41tG
— Andrew Grill (@AndrewGrill) April 22, 2018
The idea, it seems, was that South Australia has a branding problem: people from overseas aren’t really sure which bit of the bottom of the country it refers to, and people from Australia think of it as, well, South Australia. Plus, Muirhead pointed out, Adelaide is already pretty much a city-state — the vast majority of South Australia’s population already lives there. Why not make it official?
Unfortunately for Muirhead’s dream, the people do not appear to agree. In a (very non-scientific) poll on The Advertiser’s website, the vast majority have voted against Adelaide, Adelaide. Online, too, the idea has been soundly rejected, and on Sunrise this morning the presenters couldn’t keep a straight face while discussing the idea.
Instead of being Adelaide, South Australia. Bill Muirhead said "why not Adelaide, Adelaide like New York, New York?" Because it's fucking stupid Bill… That's why… #Adelaide #SouthAustralia
— Muff Badger (@Muff_Badger) April 23, 2018
spectacularly stupid areas https://t.co/iWkiIWYXIx
— Vince Rugari (@VinceRugari) April 21, 2018
we should rename South Australia definitely, but pick a better name
— Angus Livingston (@anguslivingston) 21 April 2018
Still, for a moment this week someone dared to dream. He dreamed of Adelaide, Adelaide, and for a brief moment that was a beautiful thing. Sadly, it will never exist, but we still have the next best thing: Adelaide, South Australia.