MASTERTON celebrates the correct use of the macron (the stress mark above the "O") in a Maori placename, which could be a New Zealand first.
When confusion between Cornwall Street and Cornwall Place prompted a requirement to change the name of the latter last year, Masterton District Council invited suggestions from
the community.
So Rangitane chief executive Hone Hurihanganui got together with a group of people, who put in a suggestion that would see Masterton capture a little bit of pre-contact history.
He said the street should be called Kokiri Place to commemorate a pastime enjoyed by early Maori before European settlement.
Local Maori would initiate a race exclaiming the expression Kokiri to get started and run down the banks of the Waipoua River, swim across and run up the other side ? the person to reach the opposite bank first won, Mr Hurihanganui said.
"We decided to choose that name so that we could remind people about a slice of local history," he said.
Mr Hurihanganui said he is ecstatic the council agreed to the name change, and especially that it uses the macron.
"As we understand it, it is likely to be the first street sign anywhere in the country that uses the macron," he said.
Mr Hurihanganui, who used to be a language teacher, said that there are many street names that should have macrons and do not, and he sees it as important that Maori placenames be spelt correctly, especially in New Zealand.
He is especially proud that the monumental moment happened in Wairarapa.
He said the impact of the sign on the Maori language would be minor, but hopefully it will heighten the council's awareness of the history of the area.
"I don't know if it will have any impact whatsoever on the Maori language," he said. "It will have an impact, I hope, in the way in which councils celebrate local Maori history."
Mr Hurihanganui said he has offered to write a short precis of the history to go with the sign, which should be completed by June this year.
The whole project has inspired Rangitane to work closely with local councils, including Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa, to correct misspelt local Maori placenames.
"This work is in its early stages but we certainly hope that this is one of many national firsts," Mr Hurihanganui said.
"We don't know of any other places that councils and iwi have worked closely together to correct misspelt Maori placenames."
