The Wanaka Community Board resolved last week to oppose the
New Zealand Geographic Board's proposal to put a macron -
long vowel sound - over the first "a" in the place name
"Hawea".
The change has come about because the Department of
Conservation recently included a macron in the official name
for the Hawea Conservation Park.
The park name was gazetted so it is now a Crown protected
name.
That has forced the board and Land Information New Zealand to
consider altering the word Hawea in place names so it has a
macron.
The community board's submission opposing the change will
address the costs of changing signs throughout the district.
The Lake Hawea Community Association also discussed the issue
recently and has decided to write a submission pointing out
most members consider the change unnecessary and that adding
a macron was unlikely to influence the present generation of
residents to pronounce the word properly.
The board members also discussed whether a macron would
encourage district newcomers to stop saying "Hi-wee-ar"
(incorrect emphasis on the second syllable).
Hawea is supposed to be pronounced with a long "a" sound on
the first syllable and without any emphasis on the second
syllable.
Jude Battson, who represents Lake Hawea on the board, said it
could be emotive discussing changes and Maori people might
say the spelling had nothing to do with non-Maori people.
"But once you get past the emotion of it all, the cost of it
is paramount to the Lake Hawea Community Association
resisting it," Ms Battson said.
It was "right and proper" for the issue to be brought up but
she asked if people would or could type the macron.
"There could be a lot of money we could spend on this that we
could be using to reduce our debt," Ms Battson said.
Queenstown Lakes Mayor Clive Geddes said the tension that
arose recently in Wanganui occurred because the correct
spelling (Whanganui) was not used in any official sense.
But it was important to be pragmatic, he said.
"You will probably not get people to pronounce it properly,
even with a macron on top. And if other place names exist
that should also have macrons on top, you can see the
attendant cost going on and on and on.
"This is not about being counter-cultural. We are dealing
with things in 2009. This name has been in place since the
early settlers arrived and were trying to understand -
because there was no written [Maori] language - what the
meaning [of Hawea] was," Mr Geddes said.
