Wind of Your Homeland

Place names record the stories of the people who have lived there, where they came from and what they did. Ngā kaituhituhi Howard Keene and Faumuina F. Maria Mau'u speak to some of the people who are passionate about reinstating ancient place names back onto the landscape of Te Waipounamu.

Above: Maurice Manawatu (Ngāti Kurī) standing in front of Peketa Pā, Kaikōura. Photograph: Shar Devine.

Ngāi Tahu place names are signposts to the past.

Some are simple descriptions of features in the landscape or named after people or events, but many – surprisingly common in the New Zealand landscape – have journeyed on waka from the islands of east Polynesia with this land's first human occupants.

On top of this catalogue of ancient Māori names is an overlay of more recent names given by Pākehā missionaries, explorers, surveyors and settlers over the past 200 years or so, as well as recently constructed Māori names.

For Raewyn Solomon (Ngāti Kurī, Rangitāne, Ngāti Toa), given the task by Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura to "reveal and reclaim cultural landscapes", place names are an important component.

Those names establish a reminder of her association with a place. "When you go visiting sites like wāhi tapu and urupā, you do get a very, very strong sense of your identity," she says, "You can't help it."

The work she does has given her a confidence she didn't have before.

"It's an anchor. It's about giving the information to the next generation.

"Place names are very important in that. They tell a history. Places weren't given a name just because it was a pretty name."

She quotes a whakataukī (proverb) to illustrate her feelings: Kia puhia koe e te hau o tōu kāinga! (To feel the wind of your homeland on your face!)

Tā Tipene O'Regan shares Solomon's fascination for place names. He is the longest-standing member of the New Zealand Geographic Board, the statutory body responsible for formally ratifying place names.

"It is a fascinating and interesting subject area," he says, "and I've been privileged to have done it for 24 or 25 years."

Ancient place names are perhaps more important as a record of the Māori footprint than physical remains pored over by archaeologists.

"Even some of our most important ancestors had these place names associated with them and they are part of the comprehension we have of our identity and origins, and they are therefore to be particularly valued," says Tā Tipene.

One name change many people may remember was from Puketa to Peketa on State Highway 1 south of Kaikōura about 20 years ago.

Tā Tipene says all the manuscripts pointed to Peketa being the correct name. When the bridge was being put across the Kahutara River in the 1930s, the foreman – a North Island Māori, decided Peketa had no meaning and that it should be Puketa.

Above: Signage for Peketa on State Highway 1 south of Kaikōura.

The cause to restore the right name was taken up by Ngāti Kurī tāua Hariata Whakatau and continued by her granddaughter Wharetutu Stirling.

Tā Tipene was able to effect the change as a member of the Geographic Board before Wharetutu Stirling died.

By the side of the Kahutara River, overlooking the site of the old Peketa Pā, Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura chairman and Hariata Whakatau's great-great grandson, Maurice Manawatu (Ngāti Kurī) explains why the pā was so important and why it was so important to change the incorrect spelling.

He points out the steep hill on which the Ngāti Māmoe pā sat, saying it was considered impregnable and eventually taken by Ngāti Kurī only by trickery.

"If you look for a strategic pā, this was it."

Today a railway tunnel runs straight through the hill, which he says wouldn't be allowed now, given the history.

Manawatu says significant decisions were made on the Peketa Pā which had a big influence on the future hapū of Ngāi Tahu and migration further south. Many significant tīpuna were involved.

It was upsetting when the small settlement on the road was called Puketa. "The people that lived here and the stories from here make this very special for us."

Another change in the Kaikōura rohe would remove an offensive name from a sacred site. Tukutuku Iwi off the Inland Kaikōura Road is of great significance to Ngāti Kurī. Manawatu says the name Tukutuku comes from the piles of bones there that were crisscrossed like a tukutuku panel.

"It was quite a special place. Part of our belief was that if you said a wrong prayer or the wrong genealogy when you died, that's where your spirit went to."

This area was renamed Monkey Face but the name Tukutuku Iwi has now been reinstated onto the landscape.

Other important Māori names in the rohe have been recognised in recent years. For example, the Department of Conservation named their new conservation park covering the Seaward Kaikōura Range Kā Whata Tū o Rakihouia. This is the original Māori name for the range, which means "The Standing Stores of Rakihouia".

Manawatu adds some of the walkways that were named after Pākehā could have been named after Māori.

"Those Pākehā were good people, but it would be good if a track was named after my grandfather (Rangi Solomon) or my uncle (Bill Solomon) or someone like that, but they're not."

Under the Ngāi Tahu Claim Settlement Act, the iwi secured changes to 88 place names, almost entirely as dual naming, with the existing Pākehā name coming first, such as Mount Grey/Maungatere. In one sweep, the iwi was able to do what would normally have taken years. The only exceptions are Whareakeake, which replaced the name Murdering Beach on Otago Peninsula, and Aoraki/Mt Cook, where the Māori name comes first – it was a critical restoration of the iwi's mana and connection to the South Island landscape.

If these revived names haven't already been included on official maps, road signs and explanatory materials, they will be as those things are replaced over time.

The Act also ensures Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu has a dedicated seat on the Geographic Board, a seat currently held by Tā Tipene. The Ngāi Tahu Settlement also provides for amendments to the New Zealand Geographic Board Act 1946 in its emphasis on the encouragement of the use of the original Māori place names on official maps, including maps published by or under the direction or control of the Surveyor-General.

Further south, Mandy Home of Arowhenua has a strong interest and dedication to Māori place names.

"It's because of the whakapapa connected to it – you'll know the name and the meaning and why it's there. We've lost the meaning of so many names as the old people have disappeared."

As Home (Makihikihi, Kāti Huirapa) travels around with her children and grandchildren, she talks about names. "I say to them 'Oh look its Kohurau (Kurow)'. My children always roll their eyes, but it's not for the benefit of them, it's for my moko.

There's a certain amount of speculating and theorising, but they're there and they're ancient names. So there's no need to go around constructing meanings.

Tā Tipene O'Regan (Ngāi Tahu)

"It's like our mountains. Every one has a name, and through learning their names you're learning your whakapapa, that's what it's all about."

She says there are some names in the Arowhenua rohe she would like to see changed back. "We've got Aoraki back, and that's most important to us.

"We've got our names put back onto Big Mount Peel and Little Mount Peel – Tarahaoa and Huatekerekere. They were husband and wife.

Home would also like other corrections such as Temuka changed back to the original Te Umu Kaha.

"I'd like Waitarakao put back onto the Washdyke Lagoon and Raukapuka put back onto Geraldine. If you went to every marae you'd probably find every one has some names they'd like to put back."

There has been a slow change in attitude by Pākehā over the years, says Home. For example, Hakatere for the Ashburton River and district is becoming accepted. "We've been thrilled to bits because a lot of people up there are taking it on board now in the names of different clubs and organisations.

"So it's become known again, and people ask why it's called that and they want to know why."

Tā Tipene says most place names in Te Waipounamu were likely to have been established before the Ngāi Tahu migrations from the North Island.

"There's a rather nice manuscript telling the story of Tūrākautahi from Kaiapoi leading a delegation, if you like, across to the West Coast to speak to Ngāti Wairangi that they may learn the names and kawa of the island."

We've got Aoraki back, and that's most important to us ... If you went to every marae you'd probably find every one has some names they'd like to put back.

Mandy Home (Makihikihi, Kāti Huirapa)

While there is no corroborating evidence for that story, and not a lot of value should be put on it as historic fact. "It's patently obvious this island was named and its resources discovered well before Ngāi Tahu arrived probably in the late 17th century."

Māori names fall into four categories, says Tā Tipene: definite Hawaiki names, names which may be Hawaiki names, names which are simply descriptive, and names taken from events or people.

The Hawaiki names are those bought here from the Pacific by the first settlers, and the myths associated with those names that have been relocated here with the names.

"That's one of the characteristics of an oral culture. After a time you start believing the stories of those names actually happened where the name is now."

About 27 Aorangi place names exist in New Zealand (but only one Aoraki). It's a name that's right through the Pacific in islands such as Tāhiti and Samoa.

Similarly through the South Pacific are many Murihiku and Muriwhenua, representing the southern and northern extremities of landmasses as they do in New Zealand.

"You've got the trio of Taranaki, Pātea and Hāwera occurring through the Pacific. They're all on the island of Raiatea (in French Polynesia), for instance, and you get them in the North Island. Of course, Pātea is the original name of Doubtful Sound in Fiordland and Mount Hāwera and Taranaki Peak are just behind it.

"You always find those three together, and you'll always find Aorangi and Hikurangi together."

Whenua Hou (Codfish Island), meaning new land, is special to Ngāi Tahu, but not surprisingly for seafaring peoples, it is found all over the Pacific.

There are also sets of names that may be Hawaiki names, "but we just don't know", says Tā Tipene.

Around Wellington Harbour, the Mirimar Peninsula – formerly an island – was called Te Motu Kairangi. The Hutt River's original name was Te Awa Kairangi, and the pā along the top of the island was Te Whetū Kairangi.

Kairaki names also exist in the South Island. "They're names the meaning of which has been lost. Kairaki may be a Hawaiki name, and it may not, but it tends to appear in sets."

Between Wānaka (the house of the centre of learning) and Hāwea was a great learning place called Manuhaea. "We don't really know the story behind or translation of Manuhaea," says Tā Tipene, adding there is no embarrassment in not knowing the meaning of these names.

"When people say 'I don't know what it means', I say 'Tell me what London means'. The Romans didn't know, they just took this old name and called it Londinium.

"There's a certain amount of speculating and theorising, but they're there and they're ancient names. So there's no need to go around constructing meanings."

A significant number of Hawaiki names are based around creation and origin myths "or stories of real people who have become encrusted with myth", says Tā Tipene.

These included Tāwhaki, Aoraki, and Poutini. "Tāwhaki is a hugely important myth ancestor right through the Pacific. Some people regard him as more important than Māui and just about anyone else. So the area of the great southern ocean to the south of Awarua is called Te Moana Tāpokopoko a Tāwhaki."

Poutini names are mixed into names all over the place and form an oral map in myth form of what he calls the first geological survey of New Zealand.

"They create a table of elements, if you like, of valuable stones. That inventory of materials is tied into the Poutini myth."

Another group of names are simply descriptive, such as Ruapuke or Pukerua (two hills) and Waimakariri (cold water).

For many years, Tā Tipene, Te Aue Davis and Professor Wharehuia Milroy have been compiling an inventory of descriptive names for the Geographic Board.

This includes the different words for the shape of headlands and hills, and the different names for streams.

"There's a range of size and scale in those descriptions. We've just about completed it, and we're very proud of it. It's been a huge task."

Then there are many places named after people or events. Koukourarata, or Port Levy on Banks Peninsula, is one example. It is a second use of the name. The primary one is for a stream near Wellington Airport.

"That is the place where Tumaro dressed the hair of Rakaitekura prior to her intended execution," says Tā Tipene. "She had had this illegitimate son who was to become Tūāhuriri, the Ngāi Tahu ancestor which the hapu Ngāi Tūāhuriri is named after. He took her to the side of the stream where he dressed her hair preparatory to a formal execution because she was a chiefly woman. While he was dressing her hair he had a feeling for her, so instead of bringing the butt of his patu onto her skull he smacked her on the bum with the flat of it and sent her back to Mahia, where she was subsequently to become the grandmother of Mahinarangi of Tainui.

"So that relationship is quite important when we're on the marae and we see Tainui there because we can talk to that."

Within a few generations, if writing hadn't intervened, this story would have likely been moved to Port Levy as though it had actually happened there, he says.

"What's so important is not the tradition of migration. It's the migration of tradition. It is a completely legitimate and understandable process."

Wind of Your Homeland

Wind of Your Homeland

Cultural Heritage Mapping

Te Ana A Wai

The New Zealand Geographic Board

Inside Issue 43

Wind of your Homeland

Cyber Connections

Reo Revolution

Keeping Watch Over Mātaitai

Bi-Lingual Tamariki

Chopper Ready

Appetite for Living

Organic Gardening