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Monique Ford / Stuff
Kaumātua and Te Rūnanganui or Te Āti Awa ki te Upoko or te Ika a Maui President Kura Moeahu is in favor of a name change (File photo).
Shakespeare’s Juliet may have wondered what was in a name, but Wellington residents and city leaders agree that it should reflect the history of the region.
On Monday, the Maori Party announced a language policy to return place names to their original Maori Ingoa language and require state broadcasters to have basic fluency in Te reo Maori.
New Zealand would be officially Aotearoa and its capital, Wellington, would be called Te Whanganui-a-Tara, according to the plans.
While the people on the Neighborly community website were largely against the plans, the leaders and citizens Stuff I spoke they supported the name change.
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MONIQUE FORD / THINGS
Wellington City Councilwoman Jill Day says many towns and villages are named after people who never made it to Aotearoa (File photo).
The president of Kaumātua and Te Rūnanganui or Te Āti Awa ki te Upoko o te Ika to Maui, Kura Moeahu, said he strongly supported the move to return the place names to the original Maori names.
Such a move helps everyone understand local history, he said. “There is a narrative that accompanies each of these names.
“It’s about how well we know our local history.
“People know where Thorndon Quay is, but they don’t know Te One-i-hau-Kawakawa.”
Wellington City Councilwoman Jill Day (Ngāti Tūwharetoa), who owns the Maori Association portfolio, welcomed the announcement.
“Many of our cities and towns were named after people who never came to Aotearoa, regardless of the names that were already in use,” Day said.
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Wellington City Councilwoman Tamatha Paul says she supports re-indigenousization of the capital city’s name if that was what mana whenua wanted.
“Wellingtons have been very supportive and have accepted and even asked the council to change the street names where they did not want to celebrate the history behind their street names.”
Councilor colleague Tamatha Paul (Ngāti Awa and Waikato Tainui) said that there are about 39 places called Wellington in the world.
KEVIN STENT / THINGS
Wellingtons were widely in favor of a name change when Stuff probed views on the street (file photo).
“Te Whanganui-a-Tara is a really unique name that speaks to our unique history of our city,” said Paul.
“It is the only name of its kind in the world and I would support the reindigenization of the name of our capital city if that was what mana whenua wanted.
When Stuff toured the streets of the city, there was also support for a name change.
Craig Lambert thought Wellington was a more inclusive alternative. “Represents all people.”
Tania Edwards was in favor of New Zealand becoming a bilingual country.
She felt that Te Whanganui-a-Tara was “a bit complicated”, but thought that people were becoming more comfortable wearing te reo Māori.
Maori culture and language were what made New Zealand unique, he said.
Robert Bealing said the name better reflected cultural heritage and could encourage more people to participate in te reo.
Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust Chairman John Coffey declined to comment.
