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The First World War through place names. Tyrwhitt Peak, Lake Wanaka.

The call to arms for the First World War saw New Zealand men from all walks of life enlist, leaving our shores to fight and in many cases die.

Names like Gallipoli and Passchendaele are almost as well-known as that of the First World War itself. They are synonymous with the hardships that New Zealanders experienced in the war.

Stories behind New Zealand’s First World War place names. Commanders at sea could tip the balance between defeat and victory, which often meant the difference between life and death for the soldiers on shore.

Final determination to assign Alternative Geographic Names to the North Island / Te Ika-a-Māui and the South Island / Te Waipounamu.

Discover the stories behind many of New Zealand’s place names.

Assigned and altered geographic names

New and altered Crown protected area names and geographic feature names, and a new Undersea feature name.

This whakataukī - ko taku iwituaroa tēnā - speaks to how geographic features, place names and stories combine to create a foundation for all New Zealanders

Proposals to alter, approve and assign geographic names.

Final decisions on assigned, altered, approved, amended, validated and discontinued names.

Proposed, approved and altered geographic and undersea feature names.

Proposed, assigned, altered, discontinued, amended and corrected geographic feature names

Amended and corrected geographic feature names

Alex Graham, Jack Clarke, Tom Fyfe, Alfred Fitchet (Alf) Grenfell, Robert Low, Malcolm Ross, George Moir, Ebeneezer Teichelmann and Hugh Francis (Frank) Wright.

Endeavour Inlet, named for Cook’s HMB Endeavour, is one of many memorial names scattered throughout Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui.

Cook named this Te Waipounamu South Island feature as the HMB Endeavour departed New Zealand for Australia in March 1770.

The volcanic peak Putauaki rises from the plains of the Bay of Plenty. Important to local Māori, Putauaki has many stories associated with it.

Find out how Cook’s name for this bay affected its people.

This important waterway to tangata whenua was later named after its similarity to London’s River Thames.

Tolaga Bay is one of the great linguistic mysteries of New Zealand’s place names.

A tale from He Korero Pūrākau Mo Ngā Taunahanahatanga a Ngā Tūpuna (Place Names Of The Ancestors) - A Māori Oral History Atlas

The First World War through place names. Features named after Hubert Girdlestone.

Ships of the His Majesty’s Royal Navy became home for many New Zealand sailors.

The First World War through place names. Sturdee Peak, Main Divide.

Soldiers looked to their commanders for inspiration, confidence and leadership.

The First World War through place names. Features named after Admiral John Jellicoe.

Find our guiding legislation, standards for place naming, our place naming strategy and policies, and our Annual Report.

The official alternative names for the North Island and South Island.

Learn about Cook’s voyages, the men who served under him and the New Zealand places they named.

Proposed, assigned, altered, and discontinued geographic names