Common sense prevails with council decision on the name Whanganui

The Māori Party is pleased that the Wanganui District Council will apply to have the ‘H’ included in the spelling of its name.

Councillors voted 10-4 in favour of applying to the New Zealand Geographic Board for official name change last Friday after narrowly voting against a similar motion (7-6) earlier this month.

“It’s heartening to see that councillors have reviewed their decision and wasted no time in correcting it,” says Māori Party Co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell.

“It’s the right thing to do and it will help heal the rupture caused a fortnight ago when the council voted not to have the name of the area corrected.”

Since 2009, following a recommendation by the New Zealand Geographic Board, Whanganui could be spelt with or without the ‘H’ but it was expected that all Crown agencies would eventually adopt the ‘H’.

Mr Flavell says it’s a decision that the Māori Party has actively advocated for over the last five years because it “maintains the integrity of te reo Māori and shows respect to manawhenua”.

Just over a week ago, the Whanganui District Health Board voted 9-2 to spell the name of their hospital correctly as Whanganui.

Māori Party Co-leader Marama Fox believes it’s no coincidence that the decision came a day after former Māori Party Co-leader Tariana Turia wrote an opinion piece in the New Zealand Herald about restoring the ‘H’ in Whanganui. In that article Tariana reminded the District Council that it has a chance to get it right - to respect the working relationships they already have with iwi, to honour the decision of the Geographic Board, and to demonstrate they appreciate te reo Maori as an official language of Aotearoa New Zealand”

“Tariana reminded the District Council that they are there to show leadership and all it takes is one letter,” says Mrs Fox.

“The local iwi and council have clearly worked hard to develop strong relationships over recent years and I’m pleased the District Council has seen the sense in correcting their name to Whanganui .”

Origins of the name Whanganui

Whanganui is a compound word made of the words ‘whanga’ and ‘nui’ – ‘whanga’ meaning to ‘wait’ and ‘nui’ meaning large or long. According to Che Wilson who made a submission on behalf of Whanganui iwi to the New Zealand Geographic Board in 2009, the original name for Whanganui is Te Whanga-nui-a-Kupe which translates as ‘the long wait for Kupe’, referring to the extended time that the people waited for the explorer Kupe to return.

There is no such word as ‘wanga’ in the Māori language.

ENDS.

© Scoop Media