Tauranga City councillor John Robson has urged a cautious approach to the proposal to rename Judea's Churchill Park after an American Mormon missionary who was revered by Maori and ended up as one of the international church's 12 rulers.
The case to rename the park after Matiu Kauri was put by Tamati Tata of Judea hapu Ngai Tamarawaho.
Cr Robson told yesterday's tangata whenua/council committee meeting that it was important the council took a measured approach to considering a name change. "I appreciate the lesson I got in history," he said of the description of the life of Matiu Kauri and his interaction with Maori and their culture during the early to mid-20th century.
Mr Tata described how Matthew Cowley arrived in Tauranga in 1914 as a 17-year-old missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was so successful in assimilating himself into Maori culture that he was give the Maori name of Matiu Kauri and later adopted a Maori boy.
The missionary quickly learned the language and by 1915 was preaching in a grove of native trees near the Huria Marae. It became known as a place of learning and karakia (prayer). After spending five years as a missionary assigned to the Hauraki district, he went back to America to qualify as a lawyer, returning to New Zealand with his family in 1938 to become the church's New Zealand Mission president.
Mr Tata said Matiu Kauri was called back to America in 1945, where he was appointed one of the church's 12 ruling apostles and served as president of the Pacific Mission. He become known as the "Polynesian Apostle" because of his intimate knowledge of Polynesian culture and the Maori language. Mr Tata said church members still visited the marae and the grove of trees where he preached.
Cr Robson said it could be said that the missionary's motivation was primarily to convert people to his belief system.
While it may appear on the face of it that Matiu Kauri would be worthy of consideration, he wanted the discussion opened up because there may be a more worthy candidate. It was important that a decision was not made in haste.
Mayor Stuart Crosby reassured committee member Whitiora McLeod that the issue would come back to the committee.
American missionary Matthew Cowley/Matiu Kauri 1897-1953
•Hauraki Mission 1914-19
•New Zealand Mission president 1938-45
•Pacific Mission president 1946-53
•Revised the Maori text of the Book of Mormon
What do you think?
Have your say below or email editor@bayofplentytimes.co.nz, go to our facebook page, text 021 241 4568 BOP (message) or write to Private Bag 12002.
Response may be published.