Kaikoura rivers get back Maori names
One man’s bid to stop a South Island river getting a name change because the proposed Ma¯ori version was ‘‘too long’’ has been shot down.
‘‘Waiau Uwha River is not a long name,’’ the New Zealand Geographic Board said as it officially renamed the Waiau River.
The Clarence River was also renamed, to Waiau Toa/Clarence River, after Nga¯i Tahu made proposals to the board on behalf of Te Ru¯nanga o Kaiko¯ura in 2015 and 2016 to have the rivers returned to their historical names.
There were 11 objections to the name changes, one claiming Waiau Uwha River was ‘‘too long’’ and ‘‘confusing’’.
The proposal said Waiau Toa/Clarence River was the ‘‘male’’ river, (toa meaning male) and Waiau Uwha the ‘‘female’’ river (uwha meaning female).
New Zealand Geographic Board secretary Wendy Shaw said the river names were officially marked in the New Zealand Gazette on January 18, 2018.
Shaw said there was no rush to change the signs at the rivers.
‘‘Updating signs is the responsibility of the appropriate councils and the New Zealand Transport Agency,’’ Shaw said.
‘‘This can normally be done in the course of maintenance and need not incur additional costs.’’
Clarence River Rafting owner Ben Judge said it was ‘‘great’’ to see the river’s name officially recognised.
‘‘We think it’s absolutely great and to the point that it’s not so much a renaming but back to what it’s been for 400 years,’’ he said.
Judge said he had ‘‘unofficially’’ been calling the river Waiau Toa for 15 years.
‘‘We have unofficially recognised that for a long time and I think it’s a good thing,’’ he said.
Judge said that while the region had been through a lot in the wake of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in November 2016, this particular change was a positive one.
‘‘My instinct would be you won’t get any resistance to it,’’ he said.
The decision to change the names was confirmed on December 19, 2017.