A resurgence of interest in te reo Māori has led to some confusion over the use of the macron for place names, including Wanaka.

A macron, or tohutō, is that short line written above a vowel which denotes a long vowel sound such as Lake Hāwea and Ngāi Tahu. 

Place names are made official in New Zealand by the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) and, in collaboration with Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, Lake Wānaka was standardised to incorporate a macron in 2019, NZGB secretary Wendy Shaw said.

While both Lake Hāwea and Hāwea township have been officially gazetted with the macron, the township of Wanaka has no macron - yet.

“Wanaka without a macron is still the official name of the town,” Wendy said.

The process to standardise Lake Wānaka was part of a project sought to fast track the official approval for some original Māori place names in Ngāi Tahu’s cultural heritage atlas, Kā Huru Manu, she said. 

The township of Wanaka, however, was not part of that project because it isn’t included in Kā Huru Manu. 

Also, not all iterations or duplications of a place name have the same meaning, and meaning informs whether macrons are required. 

Wendy said the NZGB might have agreed to process Wanaka through the fast track process too if there were no other known recorded place names for it, and the NZGB believed there wouldn’t be public objection.

However, Wanaka town had been earlier known as Oanaka and was named Pembroke until 1940, and with the possibility of public objection, the fast track process can’t be used, she said. 

“So, this is the reason for the inconsistency between Lake Wānaka and Wanaka,” Wendy said.

That doesn’t mean it cannot be changed in the future. The NZGB would consider a proposal which includes public consultation and Ngāi Tahu might make such a proposal in the future, she said.

“Until the town name is changed we encourage you to use its official name, Wanaka.”

PHOTO: Wanaka App