How Wairarapa streets were named

PATRIOTIC: Martinborough's streets are laid out in the shape of the Union Jack, as seen in this view from the 1950s.

How streets get names, and whose names get commemorated, has been an interesting field of study in Wairarapa, with each of the townships having their own distinctive naming patterns.

From the individually quirky nature of John Martin's Union Jack-shaped Martinborough, through the Wellington Provincial Council's naming of the streets of Featherston after its members, to the more prosaic methods adopted in Greytown, each of the southern towns has its own charm.

Carterton and Masterton have used a variety of methods.

The last of the towns to be established was Martinborough, laid out by John Martin on the plains near the Ruamahanga at a site known to Maori as Waihenga. Oddly enough, it was not the family's first connection with the area, as his brother-in-law, J D Baird had previously laid out a town, just to the south of the present one.

The settlement, known as Baird's Town, never really flourished but some of the streets Baird named remain - for example, Ferry Rd, which led down to the ferry on the Ruamahanga River at Waihenga - but others were changed during World War I, in a purge of German sounding names.

Hirschberg St, named after a Greytown merchant, became Roberts St, after a British general, and Bismark St was changed to French St to commemorate another British general. Other British military leaders honoured in Martinborough include Admiral Jellicoe (also a Governor General) and Field-Marshal Kitchener.

But John Martin had a totally different method of naming the streets of the town he laid out in 1879. He was inspired by a world tour he took with his family in 1875, and named many of the streets after places they visited - Cambridge, Cologne, Cork and New York among others.

The central square, from which the main streets radiate to form the shape of the Union Jack, and which seems to have been modelled on examples Martin had seen on his trip, was originally called Martin Square, but after World War I it was officially dedicated as the town's war memorial, becoming Memorial Square.

However, perhaps the most interesting street name in Martinborough belongs to a small street off Jellicoe St in the old Baird's Town, commemorating the unusual activities of one of the many Scottish settlers in the area. Alexander McLeod did not follow the usual pattern of working as a shepherd or settling a sheep station - he established a boot factory in what was known colloquially as McLeod's Lane, and then also produced his own boot polish - both under the brand name of Radium. The factories have gone but the name remains in Radium St.

Over on the other side of the valley, another town had a completely different set of criteria for street naming.

Featherston was established by the Wellington Provincial Council in 1856, three years after it had been purchased from iwi.

It was an obvious place to plant a town - nestled at the foot of the Rimutaka Range, then straddled only by a difficult and dangerous track. Travellers needed a place to rest in bad weather.

In setting out the township they engaged William Mein Smith, who had also surveyed Masterton. When it came to naming the town they modestly named it after their superintendent, Dr Isaac Featherston, and then set about naming the streets in an equally modest fashion - after themselves.

The main streets are said to have been named to commemorate the more important members of the council - William Fox and William Fitzherbert were strong supporters of Dr Featherston and were rewarded by having long streets named after them.

Others were not so lucky. Charles Schultze was a Scotsman, despite his German sounding name - his family had been resident in Glasgow for over a century. He came to New Zealand after marrying a member of the whaling Weller family from Otago and later shifted to Wellington, where he operated a flourmill and served on the provincial council.

A prominent street in Featherston was named after him - but in the anti-German atmosphere of World War I the street was renamed after Field Marshall Birdwood, commander of the Anzac forces in Turkey.

A slightly different humiliation was in store for Robert Waitt. Another Scottish-born settler, he was a Wellington businessman and later a South Island farmer.

Over the years the spelling of his name has changed and the street he must once have been proud of is now erroneously called Waite St.

There is another oddity among the street names of Featherston. Many towns name streets in commemoration of their mayors but Featherston has the unusual honour of having more streets named after mayors of other towns.

Renall St commemorates the charismatic Masterton mayor Alfred Renall (who also has streets named after him in Masterton and in Auckland, courtesy of his place in the Parliament), while Watt St honours William Hogg Watt, a mayor of Wanganui.

The one Featherston mayor recalled certainly earned the honour. Card Cres is named after John Wiltshire Card MBE, who was Featherston's first mayor in 1917 and remained in office until 1947.

He had also served on the town board from 1896-1917.

Perhaps the most confusing street in Featherston is Underhill Rd.

The name Underhill is relatively uncommon but there is a family of that name in Wairarapa, and the question is often posed - is Underhill Rd named after the family?

Sadly, the answer is no. It is named very prosaically, as it runs underneath the hills to the west of the town.

But when it comes to naming streets prosaically, nothing in Wairarapa approaches the overwhelming common sense and complete lack of creativity of the good people of Greytown.

Gareth Winter's historical series continues tomorrow.