Clarke Mound & Landsborough River

The report considered by the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) at its meeting on 27 March 2009.

• Clarke River (lower extent to be confirmed)
• Landsborough River (lower extent to be confirmed)
• Clarke Mound (spelling alteration)

Main Divide, flowing into the Haast River

General Background

During the Board’s previous processing of a proposal to change Mount Clark to Mount Clarke in 2007, a correspondent raised doubt about the extent of the Clarke River. The correspondent had also asked the Board to consider altering Clarkes Mound to Clarke Mound. These Clarke names were named after Jack Clarke who was a well known alpine guide at the Hermitage and a member of the first party to climb Aoraki/Mount Cook.

Cadastral and Topographic maps have shown the following:

Map	Edition/Date	Section of River	Mound
NZMS 1, S88	Edition 1, dated 1971	Landsborough River	Clarkes Mound
NZMS 1, S88	Edition 2, dated 1978	Not named	Clarkes Mount
NZMS 13, WST 61	Edition 1, not dated	Clarke River	Clarke’s Mound
NZMS 177, S88	Edition 2, dated 1968	Clarke River	Clarke Mound

Some early survey and miscellaneous plans show the following:

Plan	Date	Section of River	Mound
SO 5688	Dated 1887	R. Clarke	Clarke’s Mound
SO 6060	Dated 1872	Clarke River
SO 7591	Dated 1879	Clarke River
SO 2734	Dated 1928	Clarke River
SO 8998	Date unknown	Clarke River
SO 7603	Dated 1883	River Clarke
SO 7604	Dated 1879	Clarke River
SO 5621	Dated 1892	Clarke River
C(D)3	Dated 1870?	River Clarke
C(D)10	Dated 1867	River Clarke

Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu may have knowledge of original Māori names for these rivers and the mound, and so the Board may wish to consider restoring those names as dual names with Clarke River, Landsborough River, and Clarkes Mound.

The documentary evidence was found to support ‘Clarke’ as the name for the section of river in question. The change from Clarke to Landsborough appears to have been made cartographically, in 1971, and this has been repeated in subsequent mapping. The mound has been consistently shown in the possessive form (with the exception of the NZMS 177 cadastral map), usually without the apostrophe.

The Clarke River historically drained to the east coast, and over time tectonic action has changed the formation of the river, with the Landsborough River becoming the larger of the two rivers. Also, despite historical records depicting the portion of the river in question as Clarke River, the more modern mapping and usage over recent decades, correctly shows this portion as being part of the Landsborough River.

For the river name, an option is therefore to proceed to publicly consult in order to make Landsborough River, extending from the headwaters to its confluence with the Haast River, an official geographic name.

The possessive form for Clarkes Mound has been in long term usage as a recorded name, however the other related features named after Clarke, do not use the possessive form.

Map

For a larger scale version of this map please refer to the pdf version of the Clarke Mound place name report (pdf 237KB).

NZGB - Investigation Report - Clarke River - 2009-03-27, for Meeting of 27 March 2009, LINZ file reference: GES-N15-07-07/896/01.