National Park Village verses Waimarino name change
Is the name change – the right thing to do?
Why this website?
Why the Q & A’s?
Note: the answers are in the language of a government department i.e. the New Zealand Geographic Board.
This website is to help provide information taken from the New Zealand Geographic Board’s Proposal Document (the document they are using for consultation) and their reports supporting this.
- 06a. Proposals considered by the Board on 3 October 2023 for: Waimarino (village) [alter from National Park] Waimarino Station [alter from National Park Station].
- 03. Supporting document for Proposal report for Waimarino and Waimarino Station – Previous considerations by the Board and other commentary
- 04. Secretariat research for Waimarino proposals
If you have questions about the proposal to change the name of National Park Village and the National Park Railway Station. Hopefully, they are answered here.
Each question is answered by a direct quote from the NZGB documents, and a link will take you to that page for context.
This website is for the purpose of directing you to factual information. This information here can assist your understanding of the issues and help you when preparing your submission.
The Proposal
What is being proposed?
06a. Page 1
The proposers seek to restore the original Māori name which refers to the ‘calm waters’ pooling on the plains as they come down from the maunga. They consider their voice has station. They state they continue to refer to National Park village as ‘Waimarino Pā’ or ‘Waimarino Kāinga’.
06a. Page 3
Decision by New Zealand Geographic Board 3 October 2023:
- Accept the proposal to alter the existing unofficial recorded village name National Park to the official village name Waimarino.
- Accept a new proposal from the Board to alter the existing unofficial recorded railway station name National Park Station to Waimarino Railway Station.
Waimarino Pa
Where was the pa located?
06. Page 4 and 04. Page 1
Early maps and survey plans name Waimarino for the plains, the stream, and the land block. Some plans name a Waimarino village and pā approximately 3.8km south of the current National Park at Waikune. The pā name is correctly Ngātokoerua and it’s unclear if ‘Waimarino’ is colloquial, ie ‘the village at Waimarino Plains’.
03. Page 4
The proposal material refers to the contemporary National Park (village) (the proposed Waimarino) as a ‘pā’, eg on 16 ‘It wasn’t until 1971 the title of the Pā changed to ‘Waimarino (National Park)’ on the NZMS 1 series.’ On page 15 it refers to ‘the Main Trunk railway line which subsequently was built running through the middle of the Pā displacing whānau and completely destroying the pā and its urupā’ equating these with the village. But here it is referring to the original Māori settlement 4km to the south at Waimarino Stream (see table of maps and plans and PWD plan). This was Ngākoerua, the village of Peehi Turoa and a stopping point for several explorers and surveyors.3 It’s unclear if ‘Waimarino’ as recorded on some surveys for this settlement was the name of the village at the pā, or this is just a colloquial reference, ie ‘the village at Waimarino [plains]’.
03. Page 5
When the NIMT railway line went through the original site c.1906 it’s unclear if the village still existed. The Waitangi Tribunal Waimarino report does not note anything such as forced evictions among the many issues with the taking of the land. It’s not clear what the timeline and events were between ‘Waimarino Village’ still being depicted on plans in 1897 to the south to when the new ‘Township of Waimarino’ was surveyed 4km north in 1910.
The Name
National Park. What is the current name?
06a. Page 5
National Park (village) and National Park Station are unofficial recorded names in the Gazetteer.
Cadastral maps continued to use ‘Waimarino’ for the legal appellation (correctly). Legal descriptions do not change until they are surveyed again even if the inhabited place name is altered (whether by the Board or unofficially). Most legal property parcels in National Park (village) are still described as being in ‘Town of Waimarino’.
Waimarino Name
Where did it come from & where is it now?
04. Page 3,4
Although there were earlier explorations of the interior volcanic plateau, no very early references to the name Waimarino have been identified. References to ‘Waimarino Plains’ appear with exploratory surveys for the route of the North Island Main Trunk in the 1880s, eg ‘we afterwards found [the plain] was known to the natives as the Waimarino, from the name of the river running through it, and which had its source in Haurungatahi…’.
04. Page4
Waimarino was the name of various electorates with significantly variable extents throughout the 20th century.
04. Page 5
Waimarino County was a local government area established in 1902 with similar boundaries to the Waimarino Block. At this point the Township of Waimarino, the future National Park did not exist.
04. Page 5
Therefore, an area identified as Waimarino has been in more or less continuous existence, for generally the same area, and entirely south of National Park for 120+ years.
06a. Page 8
Should National Park be altered to Waimarino for the village, the Secretariat would request Toitū Te Whenua LINZ to update the dataset for the wider locality name. However, ‘Waimarino’ is already a name in the dataset for a nearby area 33km to the south.
Railway Station
How was it named & what is the current criteria for a railway station name?
04. Page 4
The Rail Heritage Trust records an opening date of 1908 for Waimarino Railway Station.
06a. Page 3
the Board’s longstanding consideration that railway stations should typically be named for the populated places they service, for consistency and to prevent confusion for travellers and tourists.
06. Page 6
In 1926 the Railways Department agreed to a local request to alter the railway station name to National Park.
In 1926 newspapers appear to immediately switch to use ‘National Park Station’ although some use of National Park Station (Waimarino),17 ‘formerly Waimarino’, etc continues at National Park, as Waimarino is now called…’. 1
Changing the name
What are the main criteria to change a name?
06a. Page 7
1.6 Altered names: a name may be altered when: – the location of a feature or place is unclear, – it is confusing or ambiguous, Any alteration should balance the cultural and historical significance of the name against long-term use and the practical need for location identification.
Wider consequences
06a. Page 8
The Secretariat would also make a recommendation to Toitū Te Whenua LINZ to update the
dataset to use another name for the southern Waimarino addressable locality. Not changing
the NZ Suburbs and Localities dataset would be confusing and undermine the statutory
process, should the name be altered.
Where to from here?
A. You can make your own personal submission
Note: The public submission process has now finished.
B. Support a group submission Apposing the Name Change
A group submission apposing the name change was submitted to the Geographic Board during the public consultation process, if you would like to lodge your support for this submission follow this link.
