The West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority is calling on tech giant Google to correct a wrongly named waterway around Cowwarr and Heyfield.
Google has been incorrectly naming Rainbow Creek as the Thomson River when in fact they are two separate waterways.
WGCMA project officer David Stork said “all we want is our Rainbow back”.
“This is more than a petty annoyance, rivers and other waterways are major landmarks in Gippsland, so having them labelled correctly for visitors and local is important.”
Rainbow Creek formed as a breakaway from the Thomson River in the 1950s and at the time caused major erosion, loss of productive farmland and a loss of flow into the Thomson River.
The flood that formed Rainbow Creek led to a secessionist movement for landholders to declare a separate state within Victoria.
“If it was a case of clicking our heels three times and wishing it were so, that would be lovely. Unfortunately, this is Google we’re dealing with, so we need to try another tack,” Mr Stork said.
“Let’s hope that this campaign can work and that dreams that we dare to dream, really do come true.”
To ask Google to change the name, visit Google Community Groups page at bit.ly/gippsrainbow and leave a comment.
