Whose identity are we protecting? The question of adding te reo Māori names to Selwyn’s wards
Saturday, 28 September 2024
When asked if Māori names should be added to Selwyn’s ward names, one woman said “heritage and tradition are important. So is identity”.
“Are you hoping to change the names and confuse everyone?” she said.
This comment is one of hundreds submitted during consultation on the Selwyn District Council’s representation review.
Another woman agreed it was important to retain the community’s roots in the names of its wards, but had a different perspective.
“It’s great to acknowledge the history of the area prior to European settlement,” she said.
The council asked residents: “Do you support the name suggestions for the four local electoral wards from Malvern; Rolleston; Ellesmere; and Springs to Tawera Malvern Ward; Kā Mānia Rolleston Ward; Te Waihora Ellesmere Ward; and Kā Puna Springs Ward?”
Of the 582 people who answered the question, about a third were for the change. The majority were against the addition of reo Māori.
Some were on the fence, but voted no because they wanted the English name ahead of the Māori name, or were worried about the cost.
This is normal, Associate Professor Dr Te Hurinui Karaka-Clarke (Ngāi Tahu, Te Arawa) said.
When change is brought up, whether it’s related to te reo Māori or not, people end up in one of three groups: immediately ready to take it on board, on the fence waiting for the results, or unequivocally against the shift.
Over the past few years, te reo Māori names have been added to councils, landmarks and food items, sparking backlash from some sections of society.
During Te Wiki o te reo Māori in 2022, Whittaker’s Miraka Kirīmi Creamy Milk chocolate bar was printed with both te reo Māori and te reo Pākehā, leading to some saying they would never buy another block again.
There has also been backlash against policies that do not support te reo Māori in public spaces.
Reo supporters stood up against the coalition Government’s move to change government names to put English first - except Kāinga Ora and Oranga Tamariki - contributing to Toitū te Tiriti, Honour the Treaty, protests across the nation.
Selwyn was not proposing to remove anything, Karaka-Clarke said, it was an opportunity to acknowledge another part of the community’s identity that was put to the side by colonisation.
“The names that currently exist are being retained. What’s happening is that they’re being enhanced,” the head of the University of Canterbury’s school of teacher education said.
“Really they have a choice - to use both the new names if they’re adopted, or just stick to the one they appreciate.
“There’s a comment there [in the submissions] that says, ‘Why change something that has been in existence for over 100 years?’ Well, those Māori names have been in existence for around 500 years.”
For Malvern ward, Tawera refers to the areas around the Torlesse Range, the Southern Alps, Oxford, and the Selwyn district stretching down to the ocean. Te Waihora refers to Lake Ellesmere in the Ellesmere ward.
Kā Mānia refers to open plains, representing Rolleston, and Kā Puna refers to the springs in Springs ward created by Rākaihautū, a tipuna (ancestor) of Waitaha, one of the first iwi to migrate to Te Waipounamu (South Island).
Selwyn’s name first came into existence in the mid 1840s when one of the first European settlers, Bishop Selwyn, walked through the area.
The first settler administrator of the area, the Canterbury Provincial Council, was established in 1853 and dissolved into counties in 1876.
More than 100 years and several amalgamations later, the Selwyn District Council was formed in 1989 and its wards were titled Ellesmere, Springs, Malvern and Rolleston.
A two-day hearing on the representation review proposing the addition of the reo Māori names, ward boundary and councillor number changes, and the disestablishment of the Malvern Community Board, was held on Thursday and Friday.