Aotearoa: Land of the long red tape

There are about 15,000 official names in New Zealand, Antarctica and its continental shelf compared to the 33,000 recorded names, according to the New Zealand Geographic Board.

The official naming of each Wairarapa town and almost every New Zealand city - even the capital - will be all done and dusted sometime in the next 130 years.

Wendy Shaw, New Zealand Geographic Board secretary, said the naming of towns in Wairarapa including Woodville, Pahiatua, Eketahuna, Masterton, Carterton, Greytown, Featherston, and Martinborough; and other geographical features such as the lake that gives the region its name, were yet to be officially titled and upgraded from their recorded names status.

The board was aware of a tradition that Kupe named Lake Wairarapa, Mrs Shaw said, and another attributes the naming to Haunui-a-nanaia. The generally accepted meaning of Wairarapa, which was recognised as the original Maori name for the lake, was glistening
water - wai (water) and rarapa (glistening).

The board is today dealing with seven naming proposals that includes changing the name of the Rimutaka Hill to Remutaka Pass. Submissions were called in May on the proposal and close on August 28, which was a submission deadline as well for the renaming of the Wanganui District to the Whanganui District.

The next board meeting, to which Featherston man Perry Cameron was to submit a proposal to officially name Lake Ferry as such, will be held on September 23.

Legislation had in 2008 tasked the NZGB Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa with approving recorded names as official, Mrs Shaw said, and the agency had two years ago started "at the top left of the South Island and began working across to the right and down the
island".

The NZGB had worked through 10 maps to date, she said, and approved over 500 recorded names as official. The board met behind closed doors up to three times a year to consider name proposals and the minutes of each meeting were available on request.

The board was established in 1924 "to adjudicate on questions about place and feature names" and the surveyor-general is ex officio chairman of the board, according to the Land Information New Zealand website.

There are 33,000 recorded names which, at the present rate, would take over 130 years to process and the board would at its September meeting consider "other options for speeding up the process".

"Based on the current process and progress, it would take many years for lower North Island main centre names to become official. However, if the NZGB agrees to increase its focus on making recorded names official, this could happen much sooner," Mrs Shaw said.

The list of recorded names to be approved as official is drawn from Land Information New Zealand topographical maps. Most main centres in New Zealand were classified as recorded names, Mrs Shaw said, with a handful of cities officially named including Manukau City, Waitakere City, and Whanganui or Wanganui.

Wellington, like its counterpart main centres, was yet to be officially named a city but the process faced some barbs, as there were several alternative recorded names for the capital including Te Whanganui a Tara, Port Nicholson and Poneke.

"As such, the fast track provisions of the NZGB Act could not be used for it," Mrs Shaw said.

"There is no priority or hierarchy as to which names are considered first. Names are taken from the maps, listed alphabetically and include all types of features - such as mountains, streams, lakes, ranges, localities, towns, etc. As yet, no major towns or cities have been on any of the 10 maps processed," Mrs Shaw said.

"However, there is nothing to stop any person making a formal proposal to the NZGB under the full statutory process - which includes public notification and consultation - to assign Wellington, or any other main city name, as an official name."

The NZGB could approve recorded names as official when it believed there would be no objections, and where there were no known alternative names. Names of long-standing and uncontested usage could be made official quickly and at minimal cost, she said.

The full statutory process - including public consultation - could be followed if issues arose after a recorded name was approved as official, she said.

Recorded names were common on maps and charts, and far outnumbered official gazetted names, she said.

"This is because the NZGB has largely aimed at considering public proposals and having those names processed and made official. There are around 15,000 official names in New Zealand, Antarctica and its continental shelf compared to the 33,000 recorded names."

Recorded names were also generally known to the wider public, Mrs Shaw said, and the board expected those names to be used or referred to in official documents "despite the names not being official".

To search for the status of place names at New Zealand at Land Information New Zealand click here.