Yet strangely I noticed the name “Aotearoa” appearing alongside “New Zealand” on athlete’s singlets. But no commentator called them Aotearoans. (What a mouthful of a word anyhow.)
In any case, how many would have known where an Aotearoan came from, or for that matter where the mystical Aotearoa country was.
Where did “Aotearoa” come from?
Over the last few years it has been seized upon by Te Pāti Māori (TPM, the Maori Party) to brandish as the name to usurp New Zealand. Stealthily the name “Aotearoa” has been inserted here and there. Former Prime Minister John Key, bless his sly little smirk, sneakily introduced “Aotearoa” to our bank notes and on our passports.
He didn’t ask me, and I presume you neither. He did ask us by way of a referendum about a new flag for New Zealand, but he didn’t get his way on that; so perhaps he was smarting over the rejection of that great idea and thought he’d spitefully do something behind our backs?
In April 2010, he quietly sent Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples to New York to sign up to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, asserting that those with some Maori ancestry were ‘indigenous.’ The move and signing seemed very pussy-footed, even spookily clandestine. A conspiracy!
Then Labour leader Phil Goff protested that the declarations were signed in secrecy and that Dr Sharples had been “sneaked” off to New York.
Where did “Aotearoa” come from?
Over the last few years it has been seized upon by Te Pāti Māori (TPM, the Maori Party) to brandish as the name to usurp New Zealand. Stealthily the name “Aotearoa” has been inserted here and there. Former Prime Minister John Key, bless his sly little smirk, sneakily introduced “Aotearoa” to our bank notes and on our passports.
He didn’t ask me, and I presume you neither. He did ask us by way of a referendum about a new flag for New Zealand, but he didn’t get his way on that; so perhaps he was smarting over the rejection of that great idea and thought he’d spitefully do something behind our backs?
In April 2010, he quietly sent Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples to New York to sign up to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, asserting that those with some Maori ancestry were ‘indigenous.’ The move and signing seemed very pussy-footed, even spookily clandestine. A conspiracy!
Then Labour leader Phil Goff protested that the declarations were signed in secrecy and that Dr Sharples had been “sneaked” off to New York.
“New Zealanders should have been told first that this was the intention of the government, they should not have been told afterwards,” said Goff.
The then ACT leader Rodney Hide was “shocked and appalled.”
Had Key done his homework on the name “Aotearoa”?” After all, it’s a bit obscure exactly where it came from.
Eminent historian the late Michael King said pre-European Māori had no name for New Zealand as a whole. Polynesian ancestors came from individual islands, he said, and they named islands. So the North Island was widely known as Te Ika a Māui, although he conceded some did call it Aotea or Aotearoa. But not the whole country.
Perhaps the culprit is New Zealand historian-politician William Pember Reeves who in 1898 published a book The Long White Cloud: Aotearoa and thus sent the country into an identity complex crisis?
So “Aotearoa” as a name for the whole country was really created by a European colonist. Surely Rawiri Wikuki Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leaders of Te Pāti Māori shouldn’t want such?
Harking back to the Olympics and the commentator enthusiam about compatriot medal winners. There’s another alternative to the name the commentators used, one that’s immediately recognisable internationally and has a sense of justice in stopping the childish squabbling over a name.
Yes, sports commentators’ frequent references to “Kiwi” give rise to another option — Kiwiland.
In essence, Kiwiland significantly melds the cultures Maori (”kiwi”) and European (land) — reflecting the egalitarian ethos (all people are equal) that the 19th century pioneer settlers gifted on the new colony.
Overseas ”Kiwi” obviously gives instant recognition whereas “Aotearoa” overseas leaves many bemused or confused.
For example, Labour politician Willie Jackson has a name that is fully European in origin. He should be delighted with Kiwiland which reflects both his 20% Polynesian (Maori) and 80% mixed ancestry which I gather includes Pakistani.
Why, Tipene O’Regan will know his one 1/16th Maori side will be recognised in the name as will his 15/16ths Irish and other European bloodlines. And Rawiri and Debbie should be happy too.
Yes Kiwiland is much more logical, a touch of Maori and a touch of European reflecting the harmonious blending of two cultures.
And we might even have a referendum on a flag with a Kiwi on it instantly recognisable and invoking pride in “C’mon Kiwi” on the sporting fields.
Tony Orman has spent decades in the outdoors from as a youngster to today, mainly fishing and hunting. He is the author of several books on sport fishing and hunting. This article was first published HERE
6 comments:
As I understand it, "Aotearoa" comes from the fallacy of the great migration, according to which all Maori arrived together and Kupe's wife name the whole country Aotearoa. That just didn't happen, and NZ isn't a land of a long white cloud.
It also isn't a fish of Maui. Maori didn't know the North Island was shaped like a fish.
New Zealand means the "New land of the sea". Zealand is Dutch for Sea Land. Isn't that a far more apt name? It is noticeable that the English retained that Dutch name rather than replacing it with one of their own.
Dutch cartographers called NZ 'Nova Zeelandia' after the Dutch province of Zeeland. Cook in the following century anglicised that to New Zealand.
I understand that Aotearoa is a name made up by two settlers in the 1890s. one was Percy Reeves and the other was a chap named Smith. Can't remember his first name.
Sure. Why not call our nation after a small, inconspicuous, half blind, flightless, brown bird that pecks about in the dark and sleeps all day. Pretty well sums us up really…
Heck, how about Sheeple Land? the way things are going, we are all just lambs to the slaughter - Sir John Key saw to that, is he poking his nose in with Luxon to add the mint sauce?
Sorry, but I travel extensively and, in many countries, a “kiwi” is a small fuzzy fruit. Not “kiwifruit” as we call it, just “kiwi.”
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