An Aboriginal elder and massacre survivor immortalised on the Australian $2 coin could be further recognised if a bid to rename a vast Northern Territory electorate is successful.

Key points: Independent NT MLA Scott McConnell said he was acting on behalf of constituents to call for his electorate to be renamed Gwoya

Independent NT MLA Scott McConnell said he was acting on behalf of constituents to call for his electorate to be renamed Gwoya Gwoya Tjungurrayi is the man depicted on the $2 coin and was a boomerang salesman and elder in Central Australia

Gwoya Tjungurrayi is the man depicted on the $2 coin and was a boomerang salesman and elder in Central Australia If the change is permitted, it will replace the current name of Stuart, after the Scottish pioneer John McDouall Stuart

NT parliamentarian Scott McConnell has penned a letter to the NT Electoral Commission calling for the name of his electorate of Stuart to be changed to Gwoya, to better represent the Indigenous heritage of the region.

While most Australians would struggle to name the man behind the bearded profile on the small golden coin, Gwoya Tjungurrayi — who also went by the nickname of One Pound Jimmy — was an elder, a boomerang salesman and the first Aboriginal to be featured on a postage stamp.

He died in 1965.

The coin was designed by Horst Hahne, based on a drawing of Tjungurrayi by artist Ainslie Roberts.

The postage stamp featuring Tjungurrayi.

Tjungurrayi also survived the Coniston Massacre, a brutal outback mass killing in 1928, where up to 60 people lost their lives.

Mr McConnell said he'd been approached by constituents to push for the renaming.

"It's time to look at the name of the electorate that I am privileged enough to represent the constituents of at the moment, the electorate of Stuart," Mr McConnell said.

"This person is represented on the $2 coin, and as such is probably in most Australians' pocket at any one time, yet people don't know the story of him as a survivor of one of the most documented massacres in Australia, that took place only 90 years ago."

He said the change would bring greater public awareness to this "eminent Aboriginal person" and to the Coniston Massacre.

"I've always been an advocate for the fact that we need to tell this story much better," Mr McConnell said.

"The story of the Coniston Massacre should be on the curriculum of every school."

'History on both sides': Price

Former Member for Stuart Bess Price, who was also a minister in the last Country Liberal Party NT Government, said if the constituents of Stuart decided the name change was wanted, "it'd be great".

"It it was the name the people chose to name the electorate after, I think people would embrace that," Ms Price said.

Ms Price, a Warlpiri woman who calls Tjungurrayi "grandfather", said the move would be a way of acknowledging "history on both sides".

The original photo of Gwoya "One Pound Jimmy" Tjungarrayi was taken in 1936.

"[It would acknowledge] Aboriginal people having a part in it, and the explorers as well, being part of the Northern Territory," Ms Price said.

"People, especially Aboriginal people, would accept and be happy about having a name change to someone like Gwoya."

Stuart's controversial legacy

The electorate is currently named after the intrepid Scottish explorer John McDouall Stuart, who is renowned as one of the great early white pioneers of inland Australia.

His legacy is also shrouded in controversy.

A statue of Stuart in Alice Springs triggered protests when it was erected in 2014, due to Stuart's alleged link to Aboriginal bloodshed in the Red Centre — this despite very little historical evidence existing to prove Stuart's role in any murders.

Mr McConnell said the "considerable debate around Stuart as an explorer" weighed into the reasons behind calling for the name change.

"A lot of opinions were expressed around Stuart's conduct, particularly in relation to how he interacted with Aboriginal people," Mr McConnell said.

"There are widely held views of Stuart as the explorer — we're not going to take anything away from that [by changing the name] because there's so much recognition for Stuart in many other ways.

"What we're doing is bring some greater recognition to this gentleman, [Gwoya]."

Name change has precedent

An electoral boundary redistribution process is currently underway in the Northern Territory, which could open the door to the possibility of name changes, pending a submission to and decision by the commission's Redistribution Committee.

NT Electoral Commissioner Iain Loganathan said "all things are possible" and there was past precedent for such a change.

The statue of explorer John McDouall Stuart was controversial when it was erected. ( Supplied: David Nixon )

"There have been other name changes historically … particularly in terms of remote divisions, there has been a push to have them recognise Indigenous people who have made a significant contribution to the Northern Territory," Mr Loganathan said.

"In that sense, that's how we got the seat of Namatjira in Central Australia" — which was named after famed Hermannsburg watercolour artist Albert Namatjira.

Public submissions on the NT boundary redistribution close on March 29.