Lake Kirirua Place Name Proposal Report

On this page:

• Lake O’Neill Place Name Proposal Report 27 March 2009
• Lake O’Neill (or Kirirua or Kirirua/Lake O’Neill) Place Name Proposal Report 16 September 2009

This report is available in PDF Lake Kirirua Place Name Proposal Report (PDF 1.90MB).

Lake O’Neill Place Name Proposal Report 27 March 2009

• New name
• Fiordland National Park.

General Background

The submitter is seeking to assign a new place name for a lake located on Anchor Island, a large island in the main entrance to Dusky Sound, Fiordland National Park. The submitter proposes that the lake be named after Charles Gordon O’Neill (1828-1900), an engineer, surveyor, architect, philanthropist and politician, who was part of an exploration team that went through the area in 1873. The submitter has provided evidence of reference sources which show that Mr O’Neill is credited as being the first European to see the lake on Anchor Island, and that the lake was unofficially named after him by the other member of the exploration party.

Documentary evidence of consultation undertaken by the submitter with the Southland Department of Conservation, Southland District Council, Te Anau Community Board and Te Ao Marama iwi is included with the proposal. The submitter advises that although Te Ao Marama iwi have not yet responded, the Southland District Council advises that the lake is known by the Māori name of Kirirua. The lake is a feature of Fiordland National Park, which is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Conservation. The Southland Conservancy supports the submitter’s proposal, subject to further investigation of the Māori name, Kirirua.

The name Kirirua has not been gazetted as official through the NZGB Act, however, it appears in the New Zealand Place Names Database (Archived) as:

Kirirua
District: Southland
Description: LAKE: Body of inland water
Lat: -45.7581
Long: 166.5340
NZMG: Easting: 2007327.659
NZMG: Northing: 5474803.087
NZMS 260 Sheet: A44

The index of Māori names by Henry James Fletcher at the Waikato University website refers to Kiri Rua as the personal name of a man killed during a fight at Puke tapu, Hawke’s Bay. Te Aka Māori- English, English-Māori Dictionary and Index defines ‘kirirua’ as a ‘long-finned eel’, and has a reference to Te Hāpua-kirirua (lit. ‘eel lagoon’) as a location in the Sutherland Sound, Fiordland, which is some distance from Anchor Island. Beattie (Beattie, Herries, The Maoris and Fiordland (Dunedin: Otago Daily Times, 1949), 30) notes that the lake on the Anchor Island is named after the thick-skinned eel known as Kiri-rua (two skins).

The Board may wish to consider formally restoring the original Māori name as per Section 11(1)(d) & (e) of the new Act. The Ngāi Tahu Board member may provide further information about the Māori name at the meeting.

There are two other geographical features with the name ‘O’Neill’ or “O’Neills’.

Duplication:

O’Neill Bay	Auckland
O’Neills Point	Takapuna

Topographic and cadastral maps have not shown a name for this lake:

NZMS 1, sheet S156	Edition 1, dated 1973	Not named
NZMS 1, sheet S156	Edition 2, dated 1987	Not named
NZMS 13, SND000	Edition ?, dated 1922	Not named
NZTopoOnline	Current	Kirirua

While the electronic GIS database maintained by LINZ (ie. NZTopoOnline) does depict Kirirua, there is no evidence on published maps or charts of this name or any other name. It has not been stablished when, why or how Kirirua has come to be depicted in TopoOnline, but it is assumed to have happened after 1995 when the first edition of 260-A44 was published without any name. This provides some further justification to support assigning the original Māori name.

Early survey plans do not show a name for this lake:

SO 7201	Dated 1773	Not named
SO 5446	Dated ?	Not named
SO 7983	Dated ?	Not named

Early historical maps and plans show only Anchor Island, with no evidence of any geographical features being named on the island.

Lake O’Neill (or Kirirua or Kirirua/Lake O’Neill) Place Name Proposal Report 16 September 2009

• New name
• Anchor Island, Dusky Sound, Fiordland.

General Background

At the Board’s previous meeting of 27 March 2009, the following considerations were discussed:

• the size of this lake is relatively small, like many other unnamed lakes in the area, but it is distinctive and contained within the surrounding geography;
• the lake falls within conservation estate – the Fiordland National Park and also within a designated wilderness area, where the Board has criteria that allows it to refrain from assigning new names, in order to preserve the wilderness characteristics of that area;
• the area may be where the lost tribe of Ngāti Mamoe inhabited during the 17th century; and
• an original Māori name exists for the lake, ‘Kirirua’, which is in present day use and has been recorded in official publications. The Board noted that the index of Māori names by Henry James Fletcher at the Waikato University website refers to Kiri Rua as the personal name of a man killed during a fight at Puke tapu, Hawke’s Bay. Te Aka Māori-English, English-Māori Dictionary and Index defines ‘kirirua’ as a ‘long-finned eel’, and has a reference to Te Hāpua-kirirua (lit. ‘eel lagoon’) as a location in the Sutherland Sound, Fiordland, which is some distance from Anchor Island. Beattie notes that the lake on the Anchor Island is named after the thick-skinned eel known as Kiri-rua (two skins). The submitter offers ‘big headed eel’ as the meaning.
• the Board acknowledged that Charles Gordon O’Neill was probably the first European to sight this lake, and given his early exploration of this area and the supporting documentary evidence provided with the proposal, he is considered by the Board to be worthy of commemoration in a place name.

Therefore the Board agreed to defer its decision on this proposal in order to consult and seek the views of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, on the original Māori name, ‘Kirirua’, for the lake. Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu have been asked to provide any further views or information relating to
this original Māori name for this lake. In particular the Board is interested in:

• confirming Kirirua as the original/traditional Māori name for this lake;
• confirmation of its spelling and whether macrons apply;
• what is its meaning;
• what is the history associated with its naming;
• does Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu support it being retained;
• would a dual name be supported, e.g. Kirirua/Lake O’Neill, or is there a preference to retain Kirirua solely for this lake; and
• any other relevant information that can be provided.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu responded on 4 September 2009, advising that Te Rūnaka o Ōraka- Aparima and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu prefer to reinstate the traditional Māori name only, Kirirua.
The Department of Conservation has also been asked for further comment (noting that DOC had earlier advised that the Māori name for Anchor Island is Pukenui), and any response from them will
also be provided to the Board. The Board may wish to consider altering Anchor Island to Pukenui/Anchor Island.

Map

A printable version of this map is available in the Lake Kirirua Place Name Proposal Report (PDF 1.90MB).