Appendix - New Zealand Geographic Board - Summary of Annual Report

The New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Act 2008 came into force on 1 November 2008. Under the Act, the Board is required to report annually to the Minister for Land Information, and publish a summary in the Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) Annual Report. The Board's first report, summarised on this page, covers the period 1 November 2008 to 30 June 2009.

About the Board's work

The New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) is a statutory body responsible for official place naming in New Zealand, its territorial waters and offshore islands, undersea features of its continental shelf, and the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. The Board also reviews and concurs with the naming of Crown protected areas administered by the Department of Conservation.

Appointments to the 10-member Board are made by government. The Board is chaired by the Surveyor-General (ex-officio). LINZ administers the 2008 Act and provides administrative support to the Board through a secretariat.

Implementation of new Act

The passage of the New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Act 2008 was a significant milestone that modernised the processes and strengthened the Board's role, enabling it to create new names, change or discontinue current ones, and approve recorded names.

A number of tasks were carried out by the Board secretariat to implement the new legislation. All place name decisions being processed under the 1946 New Zealand Geographic Board Act were completed by 1 November 2008.

An interim gazetteer of official geographic names was created for New Zealand, Offshore Islands, Railway, Antarctic and Crown Protected Area names, and made available to the public on the LINZ website. Work on a more comprehensive and integrated gazetteer began, with this project due to be completed in late-2010.

Place name proposals

The Board considered 73 place names under the 2008 Act. Of these, 27 were publicly notified for public submissions, 22 were deferred (in most cases while further information was sought), one was approved and 10 were declined. Four amendments were made to previously Gazetted place names, advice was provided to the Office of Treaty Settlements on six names being proposed for Treaty of Waitangi settlements, one proposal was withdrawn, and two were noted by the Board and no further action taken.

Several significant proposals put to the Board generated high public interest. The Board agreed with a proposal to alter the spelling of Wanganui city to 'Whanganui'. A three-month public consultation was initiated in May 2009, with the public asked to make submissions for or against the proposal. The Board was to consider submissions in September 2009.

The Board also continued its consideration of another significant naming proposal to assign alternative M-aori names for New Zealand's North and South islands alongside the currently used names, North Island and South Island. Feedback from iwi is sought by the end of 2009 on known traditional Māori names for the islands. A decision by the Board will be made in 2010, followed by an extended period of public consultation on the proposed alternative Māori names, when submissions will be sought.

A number of suggestions were made to name features after the late Sir Edmund Hillary. These are on hold because it is Board practice, in line with international practice, to wait a minimum of two years after a death as a measure of respect and to allow people sufficient time to make their proposals.

Other activities

• Interim standards setting out requirements for place naming for Crown protected areas and undersea features were published.
• Consideration was given to work required on full standards for New Zealand and Antarctic place naming, as well as a code of practice for suburb and locality naming.
• The Board's 1990 oral history atlas was reprinted, and also published on the LINZ website.
• Work began on producing a revised place names protocol.

The full report of the Board is available on the LINZ website: www.linz.govt.nz/placenames/about-geographic-board/annual-report/2008-2009/