Traffic snarl over road name

By Rebecca Fraser
FORMER Casey councillor Ben Clissold says he is slowly being “driven mad” by a swathe of Melbourne radio announcers who continue to mispronounce Ernst Wanke Road.
Mr Clissold has now contacted Melbourne’s metropolitan radio stations urging their traffic reporters to pronounce the name correctly.
“Ever since the Monash Freeway Hallam Bypass opened all the traffic reporters have been pronouncing Ernst Wanke Drive incorrectly,” he said.
“The road is named after an early settler to the Harkaway area of Lutheran descent.
“Therefore the W is pronounced V and the accent on the name is German in nature.
“If it was spelt as it sounds it would be ‘Ernst Vonka Road’ not Ernest, but Ernst, not Wanky, but Vonka,” he said.
Mr Clissold said the correct pronunciation might not be as entertaining as other pronunciations but Mr Wanke (Vonka) deserved some respect.
In an email sent to the stations Mr Clissold urged that out of respect for this early settler the stations should encourage traffic reporters to pronounce the name correctly.
According to the CaseyCardinia Library Corporation regional history site Ernst Gottlieb Wanke was a doctor of dentistry and was born about 1821 in Prussia.
The Wanke family arrived in Victoria in 1849 and had an important connection with Harkaway and Narre Warren North.
The site also states that Ernst Wanke Drive is named in the family’s honour and the settlers were remembered as a hardworking migrant family who were successful farmers.