Diverse Dunedin street names

‘It covers all sorts of cultures, males and females’

TUWHARE Dr and Lo Keong Pl could soon join George and Stuart Sts on the Dunedin map, as the Dunedin City Council develops a more diverse nomenclature for its streets and roads.

Otago poet Hone Tuwhare and storekeeper and Dunedin community worker Matilda Lo Keong, the first identified Chinese female immigrant in New Zealand, are two new names among 43 set to be added to the city’s road name register.

The 43 names, and 20 plant names in both English and Maori, have been put forward for approval at a council infrastructure services and networks committee meeting on Monday.

Some names suggested have not made the list, including Adie, after ‘‘Brockville battler’’ and Dunedin Ratepayers and Householders Association chairman Syd Adie, who died in 2014, as he had a park named after him.

Speight, after brewer Charles Speight, did not make the cut as Speight’s Brewery was a trading name.

Names on the list include Barnett, after businessman Arthur Barnett, Brasch, after Landfall founder and poet Charles Brasch, and Knight, after photographer and historian Hardwicke Knight.

Last year, the council was criticised for coming up with a list made up of only white men.

The list was approved by councillors, but only after staff said a process to add a more diverse list of names was under way.

The public was also asked to suggest names at the time.

Council acting chief information officer Tracey Tamakehu said the register was ‘‘an iterative process’’.

It was created in 2011, and so far had just 20 names available.

‘‘This time we’ve made sure there’s a good diversity in there,’’ she said of the list.

‘‘It covers all sorts of cultures, males and females.’’

Ms Tamakehu said when developers came up with their own names for streets it could take time to get through the report and committee process, so using a preapproved name from the register sped that process up.

She said there were reasons names could not be included, for instance where they could confuse emergency services looking for a street.

For that reason, there could be no duplication or confusing names.

‘‘The idea behind the register was to make it easy for customers to use.’’

Developers could still come up with their own names for approval, however.

‘‘We encourage that too.

‘‘That’s perfectly fine, [but] it does take longer to start from scratch.’’

Staff would require information on why a name was chosen and make sure it was not too similar to an existing name as well as fitting with New Zealand Post standards.

For instance, names could not be longer than 15 letters or they were too hard to fit on to street signs.