Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst retires and heads back to school

Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst, who retires next month, has led the vision to turn the city and Heretaunga Plains into a bilingual district by 2040. Photo / NZME

If there’s a regret for departing Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst, it’s that she lacked the time to study and speak fluent te reo Māori.

Despite the workload of her eight years in office, she did register with Te Wānanga but then Covid came along.

Thus, while she hands over the mayoral korowai next month, along with the wero of making Heretaunga Hastings a bilingual district by 2040, as per its Heretaunga Ararau, Te Reo Māori Action Plan, there is unfinished business.

It’s linked to what she says has been an “exciting” introduction of the strategy, which primarily aims to normalise the use of te reo and correct pronunciation through such methods as place and street names and the stories about them, according to the history of the land.

“When I first became mayor, I could hardly say kia ora,” she said, as she prepared for the 50th celebration of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, the last before she vacates the mayoralty after the local elections that close on October 11.

“I am enjoying the journey of learning the right pronunciation. I’m really looking forward to registering again with Te Wānanga.”

Her term has included introducing the brand Heretaunga Hastings two years ago across the wider district of the city and the Heretaunga Plains, which has been adopted seamlessly, as are local names such as Pāharakeke for Flaxmere.

“We set out a vision, we didn’t know if it would be taken up, but we saw it becoming adopted. There wasn’t any formal name change and the community just picked it up, it caught on.”

Schools, businesses and other organisations incorporated the concept.

Last year, she was pleasantly surprised by the interest shown in the stories of Heretaunga narrated by council staff member Charles Ropitini that related to specific parts of the area.

“We couldn’t believe how many people watched those stories.

“There is a movement of transitional change and people are excited.

“Te wiki o te reo Māori is very important. We are very committed to it.”

It’s been a trailblazing approach, with similar trends now emerging in other cities, towns and districts. An example of this, she said, was the increasingly common use of Ahuriri Napier and Aotearoa New Zealand.

The movement has been reflected in the interest in Toitū Te Reo, Aotearoa’s Māori language festival, staged in Hastings, celebrating language, culture and the identity of Māori and wider New Zealand.

After a successful introduction as a “world-first” in August last year, the 2025 event will be held on November 13-14 and be launched at a breakfast on Wednesday.

There will be library activities during the week and in-office staff will have quizzes as the council continues to encourage people to create a bilingual district.

“It is our role, and it won’t stop,” Hazlehurst says.