Getting the Name Right !

In the dizzying heights of management decisions within our ABC the results are often rather pedantic.  The flagship news report that goes to air promptly at seven each evening is probably the most widely watched television news roundup in Australia and it is followed by the weather report.

ABC weather starts with the high and low temperatures achieved in the various Sydney suburbs and historically this included the range achieved in Wollongong because of that cities proximity to Sydney. Several months ago the ABC dropped the name of Wollongong and replaced it with " Bellambi Point ".

Bellambi Point would be a complete mystery to most Sydney viewers but at least its temperature would approximate that of the city of Wollongong, but when the report moves to the high and low temperatures across the state, Wollongong again goes missing and is replaced by " Albion Park ".

Albion Park is a suburb to the south west of Wollongong and - being inland -  has a very different temperature range to Wollongong city, and like Bellambi Point it would be unfamiliar to most people in the wider viewing area.

It can be reasoned that there is logic in replacing a city with a suburb when that report on temperatures within Sydney are reported on a suburban basis, but the state report includes cities and towns by their given name and to replace the mighty city of Wollongong with a mere suburban name is a disclaimer. Wollongong residents must wonder what their city has done to draw the ire of the ABC ?

It becomes more confusing when that weather report goes on to report the expected temperatures for the following day.  There is no further mention of either Bellambi Point or Albion Park in the state report and Wollongong reclaims its rightful spot to the south of Sydney, and - amazingly - its name is also restored in the report on the expected temperatures in Sydney suburbs.

Perhaps there is confusion in the higher reaches of the ABC.  Perhaps few of the Mandarins who control the ABC empire have ever travelled south of the National park.   Wollongong is a free standing city in its own right in similar fashion to Newcastle to Sydney's north.  It is noticeable that no attempt was made to reduce Newcastle to simply a suburban name.

While we are on the subject of place names it might be appropriate to mention a city that seems to have disappeared from the memory of the map makers.   Wollongong has a twin rapidly expanding on its southern border and Shellharbour long ago attained city status, yet it never appears on the ABC weather report.  Instead it gets lumped in together as part of Wollongong, and a similar situation appears with the city of Queanbeyan, which has a border with Canberra.

No doubt Shellharbour residents despair that theirs is a forgotten city and few in Wollongong would have been pleased when the ABC chose to drop their city name and replace it with two rather obscure suburbs.

In the interests of clarity, it is about time that misnomer was corrected on the weather map  !