Do you think Coon Island should be renamed?

A storm is brewing over calls to change the name of an island north of Sydney due to its racist history.

Lake Macquarie City Council councillor Kevin Baker is leading the charge to change the name of Coon Island, which is now a wildlife sanctuary in Swansea.

"Coon Island doesn't sit well with me at all," Mr Baker told A Current Affair.

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"It has genuine racial connotations."

But some locals aren't happy with the move, including 96-year-old Jack Richardson and his now-adult kids, who grew up on the island and had a holiday home there.

"It's just a name," Mr Richardson said.

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"I'll always know it as Coon Island."

But according to Mr Baker, Coon Island was named after its original inhabitant Herbert Heaney, who was a man of Anglo-Saxon origin.

"Herbert was a coal miner and when he used to come back out of the pit, he got a very unfortunate nickname," he said.

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As Mr Richardson says, Herbert "used to come home with a black face".

Mr Baker said he thinks the name needs to change because this time, it isn't someone's surname and is derogatory.

"Let me be clear: this is not Coon cheese, this is not Coonabarabran, this is not Coonamble, this is a name that has genuine racial connotations and it's time we have a change," he said.

Indigenous activist Stephen Hagen, who led the push for Coon cheese to change its name, has become an ally in Mr Baker's debate.

He said he's still upsetting a few people along the way too.

"I'm getting so much hate mail from people over the changing of 'Coon cheese' to 'Cheer cheese'," Mr Hagen said.

At Lake Macquarie Council another councillor, Jason Pauling, said talk over a name change is dividing the community.

"If there was a racial slur with this, it was nearly a hundred years ago. That's the key bit, and since then we have had a hundred years of history and locals cherish Little Coonie and Coonie Island," he said.

"I'm calling for calm and considered consultation."

Local man Ray agrees.

"This is our heritage … we've always known it," he said.

Another local Geoff said, "to us it's got a whole different context".

And it's not just Coon Island that has some people in the area offended.

"Black Neds Bay is another unfortunate one," Mr Baker said.

"The original inhabitant of the area was 'Old Ned' who was one of the Awabakal men who was living on Lake Macquarie."

There is also Black Neds walking trail, Redhead and Whitebridge which are up for debate.

"I know that the proponents say, 'this isn't cancel culture' but at the stroke of a pen they are ready to delete history," Mr Pauling said.

The names have become such a hot topic in the area, the local Aboriginal Land Council didn't wish to be interviewed.

But chief executive officer Carol Proctor, of the Bahtabah Local Aboriginal Land Council, told A Current Affair in a statement: "The name is offensive, and we know it is an emotive issue for our mob."

"The time of accepting xenophobic or bigotry is over with," Mr Hagen said.  

"We need to bring about a political approach to changing offensive signs."

Council will now consider a name change but Mr Pauling said outsiders should keep out of the discussion.

"No association with the name whatsoever yet they are saying 'change the name' and I'm offended by that, that's not democracy," he said.

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Full statement by Carol Proctor, Chief Executive Officer of the Bahtabah Local Aboriginal Land Council:

We welcome Lake Macquarie City Council's decision to commence a consultation process to investigate alternate names for Coon Island and Coon Island Point.  

The name is offensive and we know it is an emotive issue for our mob. 

We look forward to working with our Community, Council, the NSW Government's Geographical Names Board and any other stakeholders throughout the consultation process. 

See the full story tonight, from 7pm on A Current Affair.