When Pōkeno changed its name to jenniferann.com - former mayor Heather Maloney remembers

Pōkeno was informally re-named jenniferann.com for a year in March 2000. Jennifer Ann Lingerie was owned by Jenny Hannah, pictured. File photo / Peter Meecham

The road highway had left town three years earlier, but the information superhighway was ready to move in, or more precisely on, to tiny south-of-the-Bombays settlement Pōkeno. Twenty-two years ago in March, the Franklin district village, population about 400, changed its name - in spirit at least - to that of a lingerie website. Pōkeno became jenniferann.com for a year in return for lashings of publicity, free promotion on the website by Jennifer Ann Lingerie owner Jenny Hannah, and a new computer and free internet access at the village school. Former Franklin mayor Heather Maloney casts her mind back to Pōkeno's dalliance with the dotcom buzz.

I can't even remember what the girl's surname was, but she had this little company and she came into my office and said, 'Is there any chance I could rename the town jenniferann.com?'

Websites were fairly new at that time. The whole thing was that you were meant to go on the website and see what it was all about.

I said, 'If you can convince the people of Pōkeno, then I'll be right behind you'.

I gave her a list of the key movers and shakers in Pōkeno and she went and talked to them.

I was honestly quite surprised, as I didn't think she'd get the support of the town. I just thought, 'Oh well, send her out there and see what happens'.

But everyone was up for the challenge.

Heather Maloney was mayor of Franklin district when Pōkeno informally changed its name to jenniferann.com for a year. Photo / Supplied

I think everybody took it in good humour.

There were a few people who said, 'What a silly idea', but they weren't anti the whole thing.

Pōkeno was quite small then, and the main road didn't go through there any longer and the business people were feeling the pinch anyway, dramatically, which is why I was quite supportive of her doing it.

It was a lingerie company that she had, so it wasn't really relevant to Pōkeno, but anything for publicity, I'm happy with that as long as it's clean and above board.

We had a ribbon-cutting, officially naming the town jenniferann.com

It didn't mean that much really, except that it was a talking point.

Even in the much wider district people were saying, 'Oh did you hear that Pōkeno's changed its name to jenniferann.com?'

Then people were saying, 'Oh, is this legal? Have you done this through whoever-you're- meant-to-name-changers-group?'

And I was like, 'No, we haven't done that of course, it's only for 12 months, we're not going to go down that path'.

Jennifer Ann Lingerie owner Jenny Hannah pictured putting up the new jenniferann.com signs in March 2000. File photo / Peter Meecham

There were signs up saying, 'The town is now jenniferann.com', I can certainly remember one that was just inside the motorway, so that we weren't upsetting Transit, who were in charge of the motorways back then.

She'd been a little bit naughty because she made those signs and put them on the motorway without permission.

I certainly knew nothing about that and I don't think anyone else did either, but that was sort of to get the attention of people.

Transit made her pull them down obviously.

I think we had another function at the end of the 12 months to take the signs down, which was another opportunity to promote Pōkeno again.

I've never heard anybody bring it up since then.

There's a whole stack more people in Pōkeno now, I reckon there's at least 2000 new houses there.

It's quite staggering when you look at it now, how much bigger Pōkeno is.

And none of those people would've been around the district back then, when the jenniferann.com thing happened.

They would have no idea.

• As told to Cherie Howie