A Queensland government minister intervened to ensure a new theater was not named after Aboriginal poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, overriding the theatre’s board of directors, according to documents obtained under right to information laws.
The late entertainer’s name will also be removed from the state electorate, in draft electoral boundaries published by the state’s redistribution commission this week. The LNP pushed for change.
An email from a government adviser given to Guardian Australia reveals that Arts Minister John-Paul Langbroek was “set on (the name) ‘Glasshouse Theatre’” in January 2025, but was awaiting “final approval from the Prime Minister”.
The minister formally approved the name on Feb. 3, 2025, before consulting with the board, documents show, and months before opening it to a public vote in which Glasshouse was declared the winner.
Noonuccal’s eldest grandson, Raymond Walker, described the decision as “disrespectful” but said he was not surprised. She said she felt like the state government didn’t want to name it after an Aboriginal woman.
“For it to be put out there (as a suggestion) and then not ignored, I think is just terrible. That’s ignorance,” he said.
“If it was called that, we would have been very proud of it.”
Documents show Oodgeroo was the name preferred by the board of directors of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.
In a March 2024 email seen by Guardian Australia, the board recommended seven names to then Labor Minister Leeanne Enoch. But he said Oodgeroo’s name “stands out from our point of view”, describing her as “a profoundly influential storyteller and truth-teller”.
“His legacy lives on as a person who was a beacon of resilience and wisdom, with an unwavering commitment to justice and reconciliation,” the email said.
Crisafulli’s government was elected in October 2024. In February 2025, new Arts Minister Langbroek wrote to the Qpac board and suggested Glasshouse as a name.
Qpac chief executive Rachel Healy responded by email to object to the name, arguing it would be confusing as several other venues in Australia also used the name Glasshouse.
He also wrote that Qpac’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group had recommended naming it Oodgeroo, “as an inspiring national example of Queensland’s creative imagination and leadership”.
Oodgeroo, who was born Kath Ruska in Brisbane in 1920 and was later known as Kath Walker before regaining her Aboriginal name, died in 1993 and remains one of Australia’s best-known and read poets. Her 1964 work, We Are Going, was the first published book of verse written by an Aboriginal person and the first book published by an Aboriginal woman. She was also an Aboriginal rights activist: in a famous story, Prime Minister Robert Menzies once offered her a sherry during the 1967 referendum campaign. She informed him that he had committed a crime; It was illegal to buy alcohol for an Aboriginal person in the state of Queensland.
His name is used for poetry competitions, university halls, scholarships and, at least until this week, the Oodgeroo state electorate in Redlands.
The former minister said the decision to overturn Qpac’s preferred name “makes it clear that this was a captain’s decision”.
The LNP requested last year that the Oodgeroo electorate be renamed, in its submission collected by the Queensland Redistribution Commission in draft plans published on Tuesday. The suggested replacement name is Cleveland, after the suburb it covers.
The LNP submission argued that elector names should “remain intuitive and geographically based” because named electors are confusing. But in the same presentation, he suggested that electors named after Captain James Cook, Augustus Charles Gregory and Alfred Traeger should keep their names.
Mr Langbroek said the government “put the decision (of the theatre’s name) in the hands of Queenslanders”.
“Queenslanders agree Glasshouse Theater is the best name for this iconic venue – with more than 42 per cent of people voting for it in the public poll – which included four voting options and allowed people to put forward their own ideas too,” he said.
Oodgeroo was not listed as an option in the survey.
A Qpac spokesperson said “the choice of the name Glasshouse Theater was determined by the Queensland Government following a public vote.”
Australian Society of Authors president Jennifer Mills said she wanted to be “more surprised” by the decision not to use the Oodgeroo name.
“I think this decision strikes me as another example of political interference in the arts, to downplay an Indigenous legacy that the community wanted to reflect,” he said. “I think it’s really insulting to that community.”
The theater opened to the public on March 7. Their first event, The Last Ship, will open on April 9.
