Melbourne council residents vote to change name associated with slave trade

Moreland council residents voted to change the area name to Merri-bek to sever associations with the slave trade Photograph: Mike Bowers/Guardian Australia

A Melbourne council has been given the green light to change its name, formally cutting ties with an 18th-century Jamaican slave estate by month’s end.

Moreland city council will become Merri-bek council on 26 September after the name was officially approved and published in the government gazette on Thursday.