Proposal to change Russell's name to Kororāreka declined

The New Zealand Geographic Board has announced the proposal to change the name of the Northland town Russell to its original Māori has been declined.

The board publicly consulted on the proposal from the Kororāreka Marae Society to officially name Russell 'Kororāreka' in 2023.

The decision was made by Minister for Land Information Chris Penk, as part of his overseeing place naming.

In September 2021 the Kororāreka Marae Society lodged a name-change application with the New Zealand Geographic Board, which considered three options: An outright change to Kororāreka, the dual name Kororāreka/Russell, or the alternative names option, where both names have equal standing.

A report from December 2022 showed the board's preferred option was for an outright change from Russell to Kororāreka. However, minutes from the board's June 2023 meeting, released under the Official Information Act, show the board asked the minister for land information at that time, Damien O'Connor, to make the final determination.

Name-change decisions are sometimes referred to the minister if they are especially contentious.

A decision was expected in 2023 but O'Connor had not made up his mind when Labour was voted out of office in the general election later that year.

The responsibility then passed to National's Chris Penk, Land Information Minister in the new government.

In late 2024 Penk released a number of decisions - both for and against name changes - but Kororāreka/Russell was not among them.

Kororāreka Marae Society chair Deb Rewiri, who has campaigned since 2021, told RNZ the decision was "sorely disappointing".

"It dismays me because I don't understand why, when the majority of submissions they had in front of them were for it."

"Even the ones that were opposed to it were literally saying they didn't mind the name being there but they just wanted a dual-name, rather than Kororāreka on its own."

Rewiri said she spoke with the board, before the decision was made public, and it did not give a reason as to why the decision was made.

Speaking to RNZ last year, Rewiri was optimistic the change would go ahead, because it was part of a tide of traditional names returning around the country.

For example, she cited the Whangārei suburb of Kamo, which had recently reverted to its previous name of Te Kamo - even though most submissions called for the status quo.

Arguments cited against an outright name change include that Russell is well known as a tourist destination under that name; that Kororāreka is too long and difficult to pronounce; and the cost of changing signage, business cards, postal addresses and the like.

Rewiri said Russell was the only town in Northland not known by its original Māori name, and people seemed to manage with the region's other place names.

(Broadwood, in North Hokianga, is another locality officially known by its English name, but with a population of 130, it's moot whether it can be called a town.)

Whatever the government's decision, Rewiri said Kororāreka was already in widespread use, with many businesses already displaying on their signs and people writing Kororāreka/Russell on their correspondence.

Kororāreka was also inscribed on the waharoa [gateway] welcoming visitors to the town, she said.

How did Russell get its name?

Heritage New Zealand Northland manager Bill Edwards earlier told RNZ there was a curious twist in the tale of how Russell got its name.

While many people thought of Russell as the first capital of New Zealand, the Russell of then was not the Russell of now.

New Zealand's first capital was established at what was now known as Ōkiato, about 8km south of present-day Russell, where the car ferry from Ōpua docked.

That Russell was named after Lord John Russell, a British politician who never set foot in New Zealand.

In 1841 the nation's capital moved to Auckland, and a year later the original Russell was destroyed by fire and faded into obscurity.

At that time the name Kororāreka was used by Māori and Pākehā alike for the bustling whaling port north of the original Russell.

In 1844, however, two years after the original Russell burnt down, Governor Robert FitzRoy officially designated Kororāreka as "part of the township of Russell".

The name came from the Port of Russell, which was used to refer to the wider waters around Kororāreka.

As for the origin of the name Kororāreka, Rewiri said it came from the words kororā, or little blue penguin, and reka, meaning sweet or delicious.

"What I've been told is that one of our chiefs, he was ailing. And so the soup of the kororā was brought to him. And so he said, 'kororā reka', or 'how sweet is that kororā broth'."

The minutes from the June 2023 Geographic Board meeting stated that both Russell and Kororāreka had a unique place in New Zealand history, and both names were well-known to many New Zealanders.

"Although a substantial number of submitters object to an outright change, quite a number support alternative or dual names.

"This indicates that they don't want Russell dropped but also support Kororāreka being restored, and this demonstrates fairly strong support for Kororāreka to be recognised somehow," the minutes stated.

"The option of having Kororāreka and Russell as alternative official names would allow both names to be used in much the same way that the board had done for the North Island and South Island - Te Ika-a-Māui and Te Wai Pounamu."

"This might also provide for a natural transition to the original Māori name over time, although this could not be guaranteed. It would also address Whangārei District Council's concerns about the cost of transitioning."

The minutes stated there were similar numbers of public submissions for and against the proposal. Two "very abusive" submissions had been removed from consideration.

Speaking to RNZ after the decision was made public, Rewiri said she would continue pressing the government to change the town's name.

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