Albany’s history speaks
Whatever side of the Al-bany or All-bany fence you’ve been sitting on, there’s a more definitive guide as to its pronunciation according to the history books.
As documented in The Station, a concise history of the Albany basin 1840-1940, the name was first proposed at a public meeting by Captain McArthur, with the ‘Al’ in Albany to be pronounced as in ‘Albert’.
It is believed McArthur was influenced by the fruit growing area in Australia of the same name.
Albany Village Hall committee treasurer Peg Welsford said the information regarding the pronunciation was taken from meeting minutes of the Albany Fruitgrowers’ Association.
‘‘With this specific pronunciation in the minute book, it is most definite,’’ she said.
Resident since the early 1940s, Welsford worked on research with her late husband, Jack, for The Station and another book on Albany’s history.
While older folk tended to say ‘Al-bany’, the question of its pronunciation had cropped again over the past 20 years, she said.
Upper Harbour Local Board chairwoman Lisa Whyte said when she first entered local politics, she was also taught Albany was pronounced Al-bany as in ‘Albert’.
Massey University linguistics lecturer Victoria Kerry said language is dynamic, so considered common usage as the most relevant indicator when it came to pronunciation. However, this did not mean a word could not be pronounced in only one way, she said.
The area originally started out with the name Lucas Creek.
‘‘In the minute book, it is most definite.’’