Naming proposal a tribute to Southern Highland News founding editor Mac Cott

Wingecarribee Shire Council's Jan Giblin said the Mac Cott Place naming proposal initially came via the local community.

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"Council often receives request from members of the community to name a road after a person," Ms Giblin said.

"The naming of a road or place is more complex than people may think."

According to Ms Giblin, the Geographic Names Board [GBN] strictly governs the naming of roads under the NSW Addressing Policy.

The policy is that roads cannot be named after a living person and road names cannot be duplicated anywhere in the shire.

"In this instance it was fortuitous the car park/road reserve had never been named and had been known simply as 'the car park off Lamond Lane'," Ms Giblin said.

"It was a perfect opportunity to record a piece of local history and honour a local person."

Mr Cott's story, track record and locally held position of respect and integrity was acknowledged and supported by the council, and met the GNB's naming guidelines.

"Mac Cott was widely renowned as a rare person indeed," Ms Giblin said.

"He was known and respected for telling it how he saw it on all things, and occasionally he would have a critical word or two to say about the council, but always founded on sound observation and with objectivity and fairness.

"He was a regular face and critic at council meetings, yet staff and councillors were among many who held him in a very high regard," she said.

The recording of local stories and the lives of local people who have come before us is a great way to appreciate the layers and nuances that have formed our community's identity, according to Ms Giblin.

"My role in managing the names of our roads and parks requires me to review and evaluate naming submissions from developers, community groups and the public," she said.

"As part of my research I'm frequently in contact with our wonderful and knowledgeable local historians and know how rich and diverse the stories can be."

In 2019 Mr Cott received well-deserved recognition for his contributions to the Southern Highlands community with inclusion on the Queen's Birthday Honour's List for a Medal of the Order of Australia. Sadly he passed away on that same morning.

Mr Cott never had the opportunity to celebrate or be presented with the medal in an official capacity but he was well aware of the honour to come his way.

His response after learning about the honour was: "my whole mantra was, 'I'm here for the community. If I were to be remembered by the community in any way, it's for caring about the community."

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