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Otago Daily Times
22-07-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Support for South Island village name change
By Pokere Paewai and Samantha Gee of RNZ Three iwi at the top of the South Island have put their support behind a proposal to change the name of the village of St Arnaud to Rotoiti. The move is supported by the iwis Rangitāne o Wairau, Ngāti Kuia and Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō. New Zealand Geographic Board secretary Wendy Shaw confirmed the board had received the proposal. "The proposer has been advised that they must consult further with the local community before the proposal can be processed further," Shaw said. The village of St Arnaud has a permanent population of slightly more than 100 people. It sits at the northern end of Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes and takes its name from the nearby St Arnaud range, which in turn takes its name from the French soldier and marshal Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud. Rangitāne o Wairau General Manager Corey Hebberd said the three iwi, all descending from the waka Kurahaupō, had a strong and proud connection to Rotoiti and the surrounding area. It's a specific area mentioned in their Treaty settlements. "Providing support to the name was just a no-brainer for us really. We know that it's an area that our people have long frequented for kai, it's a place that they've been sustained, but it's also a place that's along an important journey for us in terms of heading between Wairau and the coast and other parts of the South Island," Hebberd said. It's not the first attempt to change St Arnaud's name: another proposal was rejected in 2009 according to the Nelson Mail . Hebberd said Rangitāne did some research and were able to find records that showed the use of the name Rotoiti for the area long before St Arnaud. "So, we were able to come across a letter that one of our tūpuna Paraone Taitua sent to Governer Eyre in 1851 in which he references Rotoiti as that place name," Hebberd said. Annette Walker is part of a small group which made the current name change proposal to the Geographic Board. She is optimistic the change will happen and said it would be a huge milestone for the village. Walker called Jacques Leroy de St Arnaud a "dreadful man" and believed some residents would support a change to Rotoiti. "It's like a festering sore that still arises every now and then from the old residents of Lake Rotoiti and they still call it Rotoiti," she said. Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud's wartime exploits in Algeria included suffocating 500 Arab tribesmen in a cave by sealing its exits. Hebberd said it was important to acknowledge some of the actions of the man, but the name Rotoiti would also be more reflective of the area itself. Hebberd said he grew up in the Wairau region and would frequently head up to Lake Rotoiti, and the area near the lake was simply referred to by many as Rotoiti. "It's very infrequent that I hear it referred to as St Arnaud. I respect the fact that there will be community members who do call it St Arnaud and who have an affinity with that name, but given the past associated with that name and also the fact that it's so close Lake Rotoiti, the township sits on Lake Rotoiti it makes sense for the area to carry that name."
Otago Daily Times
22-07-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Iwi support name change for South Island village
By Pokere Paewai and Samantha Gee of RNZ Three iwi at the top of the South Island have put their support behind a proposal to change the name of the village of St Arnaud to Rotoiti. The move is supported by the iwis Rangitāne o Wairau, Ngāti Kuia and Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō. New Zealand Geographic Board secretary Wendy Shaw confirmed the board had received the proposal. "The proposer has been advised that they must consult further with the local community before the proposal can be processed further," Shaw said. The village of St Arnaud has a permanent population of slightly more than 100 people. It sits at the northern end of Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes and takes its name from the nearby St Arnaud range, which in turn takes its name from the French soldier and marshal Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud. Rangitāne o Wairau General Manager Corey Hebberd said the three iwi, all descending from the waka Kurahaupō, had a strong and proud connection to Rotoiti and the surrounding area. It's a specific area mentioned in their Treaty settlements. "Providing support to the name was just a no-brainer for us really. We know that it's an area that our people have long frequented for kai, it's a place that they've been sustained, but it's also a place that's along an important journey for us in terms of heading between Wairau and the coast and other parts of the South Island," Hebberd said. It's not the first attempt to change St Arnaud's name: another proposal was rejected in 2009 according to the Nelson Mail . Hebberd said Rangitāne did some research and were able to find records that showed the use of the name Rotoiti for the area long before St Arnaud. "So, we were able to come across a letter that one of our tūpuna Paraone Taitua sent to Governer Eyre in 1851 in which he references Rotoiti as that place name," Hebberd said. Annette Walker is part of a small group which made the current name change proposal to the Geographic Board. She is optimistic the change will happen and said it would be a huge milestone for the village. Walker called Jacques Leroy de St Arnaud a "dreadful man" and believed some residents would support a change to Rotoiti. "It's like a festering sore that still arises every now and then from the old residents of Lake Rotoiti and they still call it Rotoiti," she said. Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud's wartime exploits in Algeria included suffocating 500 Arab tribesmen in a cave by sealing its exits. Hebberd said it was important to acknowledge some of the actions of the man, but the name Rotoiti would also be more reflective of the area itself. Hebberd said he grew up in the Wairau region and would frequently head up to Lake Rotoiti, and the area near the lake was simply referred to by many as Rotoiti. "It's very infrequent that I hear it referred to as St Arnaud. I respect the fact that there will be community members who do call it St Arnaud and who have an affinity with that name, but given the past associated with that name and also the fact that it's so close Lake Rotoiti, the township sits on Lake Rotoiti it makes sense for the area to carry that name."
Otago Daily Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Bid to change Russell's name to Kororāreka declined
Russell, in the Bay of Islands. Photo: Getty The New Zealand Geographic Board has announced the proposal to change the name of the Northland town Russell to its original Māori one has been declined. The board publicly consulted on the proposal from the Kororāreka Marae Society to officially name Russell Kororāreka in 2023. The decision was made by Minister for Land Information Chris Penk, as part of of his overseeing place naming. In September 2021 the Kororāreka Marae Society lodged a name-change application with the New Zealand Geographic Board, which considered three options: An outright change to Kororāreka, the dual name Kororāreka/Russell, or the alternative names option, where both names have equal standing. A report from December 2022 showed the board's preferred option was for an outright change from Russell to Kororāreka. However, minutes from the board's June 2023 meeting, released under the Official Information Act, show the board asked the minister for land information at that time, Damien O'Connor, to make the final determination. Name-change decisions are sometimes referred to the minister if they are especially contentious. A decision was expected in 2023 but O'Connor had not made up his mind when Labour was voted out of office in the general election later that year. The responsibility then passed to National's Chris Penk, Land Information Minister in the new government. In late 2024 Penk released a number of decisions - both for and against name changes - but Kororāreka/Russell was not among them. Kororāreka Marae Society chair Deb Rewiri, who has campaigned since 2021, told RNZ the decision was "sorely disappointing". "It dismays me because I don't understand why, when the majority of submissions they had in front of them were for it." "Even the ones that were opposed to it were literally saying they didn't mind the name being there but they just wanted a dual-name, rather than Kororāreka on its own." Rewiri said she spoke with the board, before the decision was made public, and it did not give a reason as to why the decision was made. Speaking to RNZ last year, Rewiri was optimistic the change would go ahead, because it was part of a tide of traditional names returning around the country. For example, she cited the Whangārei suburb of Kamo, which had recently reverted to its previous name of Te Kamo - even though most submissions called for the status quo. Arguments cited against an outright name change include that Russell is well known as a tourist destination under that name; that Kororāreka is too long and difficult to pronounce; and the cost of changing signage, business cards, postal addresses and the like. Rewiri said Russell was the only town in Northland not known by its original Māori name, and people seemed to manage with the region's other place names. (Broadwood, in North Hokianga, is another locality officially known by its English name, but with a population of 130, it's moot whether it can be called a town.) The name Kororāreka was already widely used in the town, Deb Rewiri said. Photo: RNZ Whatever the government's decision, Rewiri said Kororāreka was already in widespread use, with many businesses already displaying on their signs and people writing Kororāreka/Russell on their correspondence. Kororāreka was also inscribed on the waharoa [gateway] welcoming visitors to the town, she said. How did Russell get its name? Heritage New Zealand Northland manager Bill Edwards earlier told RNZ there was a curious twist in the tale of how Russell got its name. While many people thought of Russell as the first capital of New Zealand, the Russell of then was not the Russell of now. New Zealand's first capital was established at what was now known as Ōkiato, about 8km south of present-day Russell, where the car ferry from Ōpua docked. That Russell was named after Lord John Russell, a British politician who never set foot in New Zealand. In 1841 the nation's capital moved to Auckland, and a year later the original Russell was destroyed by fire and faded into obscurity. At that time the name Kororāreka was used by Māori and Pākehā alike for the bustling whaling port north of the original Russell. In 1844, however, two years after the original Russell burnt down, Governor Robert FitzRoy officially designated Kororāreka as "part of the township of Russell". The name came from the Port of Russell, which was used to refer to the wider waters around Kororāreka. As for the origin of the name Kororāreka, Rewiri said it came from the words kororā, or little blue penguin, and reka, meaning sweet or delicious. "What I've been told is that one of our chiefs, he was ailing. And so the soup of the kororā was brought to him. And so he said, 'kororā reka', or 'how sweet is that kororā broth'." The minutes from the June 2023 Geographic Board meeting stated that both Russell and Kororāreka had a unique place in New Zealand history, and both names were well-known to many New Zealanders. "Although a substantial number of submitters object to an outright change, quite a number support alternative or dual names. "This indicates that they don't want Russell dropped but also support Kororāreka being restored, and this demonstrates fairly strong support for Kororāreka to be recognised somehow," the minutes stated. "The option of having Kororāreka and Russell as alternative official names would allow both names to be used in much the same way that the board had done for the North Island and South Island - Te Ika-a-Māui and Te Wai Pounamu." "This might also provide for a natural transition to the original Māori name over time, although this could not be guaranteed. It would also address Whangārei District Council's concerns about the cost of transitioning." The minutes stated there were similar numbers of public submissions for and against the proposal. Two "very abusive" submissions had been removed from consideration. Speaking to RNZ after the decision was made public, Rewiri said she would continue pressing the government to change the town's name.
