Bid to rename National Park Village splits town
Iwi collective seek to rename village Waimarino
Aclose-knit community in the central North Island is divided over an iwi bid to change its name. The iwi collective Te Korowai o Wainuiārua wants National Park Village and National Park Railway Station renamed Waimarino, the original name of the station and — according to iwi researchers — the village.
But the 180 or so permanent residents are divided, with some saying there was no evidence Waimarino was the original name of the village.
Ō whango-National Park Community Board chairman Anthony Gurr said he was fully behind the name change, but there were strongly differing positions among residents.
“The community is somewhat split. I’d say 60-40 in favour, but there is a large proportion of people in the village who are against it.”
Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa New Zealand Geographic Board opened a three-month public consultation on the proposal in November. The consultation period ends on February 8.
The chairwoman of the National Park Village Business Association, lodge owner Andrea Messenger, said the proposal was a thorny issue for residents.
“It’s a really, really tough subject. Everyone’s got a personal opinion. We’ve got a group of people wanting to change the name to Waimarino even though our identity has been National Park Village for 100 years.”
Messenger said business owners were concerned about the proposed change and the implications and costs of rebranding.
The proposal was being driven by “indigenous New Zealanders” who did not live there, as opposed to those who had “set up their lives in the community”, she said.
“I don’t think there’s any right or wrong answer and we’ll always be an amazing village that works really well together, no matter what we’re called,” Messenger said.
Te Korowai o Wainuiārua was established in 2014 to represent hapū affiliated to the three iwi — Uenuku, Tamahaki and Tamakana — in Treaty settlement negotiations. In July it signed a $28.5 million Treaty settlement with the Crown that included cash, cultural redress and property.
Gurr anticipated the Treaty settlement would bring significant change to the tourist village.
“Uenuku’s just become one of the largest landholders in the village,” Gurr said.
“While some of them do not live here, they will eventually be coming back home, right, because they’ve now got the land to build houses and to enable their community and mokopuna or tamariki to live here. They’ve got the opportunity to now come back and make this place vibrant.”
Gurr’s wife, Alex, said she was excited about the potential name change.
“Waimarino is such a beautiful name, it seems a shame not to use it. It was the original name for this area and it got changed for a silly reason.”
Waimarino — meaning calm waters — was the name of the railway station from 1908 until 1926, when it was renamed National Park Station by NZ Railways following complaints that mail destined for Raetihi, in Waimarino County, was going missing.