Tony Kelly's family is hoping Dubbo Regional Council rename No.1 Oval after the late public servant

After Mr Kelly's passing in late 2020, then Dubbo mayor Ben Shields proposed naming the sporting complex in honour of the former council staff member but it wasn't as simple as it seemed.

The matter was referred to the Geographical Names Board who subsequently denied the proposal even after it was unanimously voted by the group of councillors at the time in favour of renaming the oval.

Mr Kelly's wife Barbara has recently written to Dubbo Regional Council to urge them to reconsider their current plan to name the new No.1 Oval pavilion the 'Tony Kelly Pavilion'.

In a letter to the current group of councillors including mayor Mathew Dickerson, Mrs Kelly believes her late husband did as much for the sporting ovals in Dubbo as anyone has.

"The original letter dated November 30, 2020 was sent to the former council requesting the name change and was supported by two former mayors, a former State Member of Dubbo and councillor, the president of the Dubbo Cricket Association, the president of St John's Rugby League Club and Mr Roger Fletcher," the letter said.

"This group knew Tony personally and recognised his contribution to putting the foundations in place for building the city that Dubbo has become today."

Mr Kelly spent 36 years as town clerk/general manager in Dubbo and his wife said No.1 Oval was a big part of her husband's life.

"The oval had a special place in Tony's heart as he played rugby league and cricket on the oval and in later years watched rugby from the balcony of the clubhouse with his friends," she said in the letter.

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"Tony was instrumental in having lights installed at this very oval for the first ever night cricket games in regional NSW.

"Before each council meeting, he would take a walk of Victoria Park to "clear his head" as he put it and then detour to the oval to check the playing surface for the following weekend's games."

According to Mrs Kelly, she and her family were told the proposal had been submitted to Geographical Names Board, with a small advertisement being placed in the papers to ask for submissions.

"At no stage were we advised that the decision was going to be decided on a number basis," she said.

"The family assumed that the unanimous vote of the councillors and those who supported the proposal would be considered enough by the Geographical Names Board to outweigh the mere 40 misguided and often incorrect objections received but still counted.

"To put it bluntly, this decision beggars belief that forty people out of a population of well over 40,000 can hold sway on such an important decision and councillors have no say in the matter."

Recently mayor Mathew Dickerson confirmed that the council could rename the oval after Mr Kelly and that the handling of the situation was done incorrectly which isn't anything new to Barbara.

"My daughter Lee and I had a meeting via Skype with two members of the Geographical Names Board. Before the meeting began they apologised for the mistakes made by the Board and Council," she said.

"They also advised they were changing the way applications for name changes were going to be handled in the future. I took this as their admission that this proposed name change had been comprised.

"They also mentioned that No.1.Oval is on a separate title to Victoria Park, therefore there was no need to submit the proposal to them in the first place."

A petition was put forward to the council at the last their last meeting and it is expected to be on the agenda once again soon.

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