Māori place names of Banks Peninsula and the Department of Lands & Survey

The collecting and mapping of the Māori place names of Banks Peninsula dates back to the earliest period of surveying and mapping in New Zealand. In 1770 James Cook on board the Endeavour sighted Banks Peninsula and concluded it was an island. This error was not corrected until 1809 by William Stewart on board the Pegasus. In 1843 Auguste Berard on board the Rhin charted Banks Peninsula for the first time. This chart and numerous subsequent maps of the peninsula retained some Māori place names but increasingly overwrote the cartographic landscape with names of European origin.

European explorers, adventurers, scientists, and exploiters of natural resources conducted survey work and constructed maps throughout Te Waipounamu and wider New Zealand. Many were assisted by Māori who had a detailed ‘cartographic’ knowledge of the shape and form of the land long before Europeans arrived.

In 1893 the Surveyor General Stevenson Percy Smith wrote to John William Allman Marchant (Chief Surveyor Canterbury) in Christchurch directing him and his staff to actively collect and preserve Māori place names. Smith's directive led to a flurry of activity in the Christchurch office of Lands and Survey resulting in the collation of several significant lists of Māori place names in the Canterbury district that have been drawn upon by map makers and scholars ever since. A large number of Māori place names, including many on Banks Peninsula, became part of the government’s cartographic record for the first time. Some of these names are perpetuated on our maps today and others still have been afforded official place name status by the New Zealand Geographic Board. 

Māori place names collected by Revd. James West Stack

In 1894 as part of his drive to record Māori place names the Surveyor-General, Stephenson Percy Smith asked Reverend James West Stack (1835-1919) to provide him with a list of Māori place names in the Canterbury District. Smith wanted to include more Māori names on the official maps being produced by his Department. His initial focus was the Halswell Survey District which encompassed Whakaraupō (Lyttelton Harbour).

Stack sent Smith a list of names he had collected over many years of living and working with Ngāi Tahu communities. Smith shared this list with John William Allman Marchant (Chief Surveyor Canterbury) who then worked directly with Stack to fix the names at the correct points on the map. Stack also advised Marchant to make contact with Teone Taare Tikao for further checking.

A few months later, Stack sent additional lists of names to Marchant in the form of four detailed maps of areas around Banks Peninsula. These lists and sketch maps constitute the bulk of the place name data that was collated by the Department of Lands and Survey to create the Māori place names of Banks Peninsula map that features on this page.

Additional names by William Henry Sherwood Roberts

After Stephenson Percy Smith retired as Surveyor General in 1900 the Department of Lands and Survey maintained its strong interest in the preservation of Māori place names. A specific regulation in the General Instructions to Officers of the Department of Lands and Survey stated that 'the original Maori names of places are to be preserved as far as possible.'

In 1901 the Christchurch Member of Parliament Harry Ell (of Summit Road fame) publicly advocated for more work to be done throughout the country on the collection and preservation of Māori place names. Ell and other Members of Parliament raised this issue at the opening of Te Wheke, the Rūnanga hall at Rāpaki in December 1901 and at subsequent hui held at Kaiapoi and Wairewa (Little River) in 1902. The Minister of Lands, Thomas Young Duncan emphasised the importance of gathering place name information directly from 'the surviving natives' wherever possible.

The Crown's attention to place name preservation in Canterbury was widely reported in the Canterbury newspapers prompting William Henry Sherwood Roberts (1834 - 1917) to make contact with the Department of Lands and Survey in 1902 offering his services. By this time Roberts had been collecting Māori place names and associated information for more than forty years. Roberts was a pioneer in the filed of toponymy - the study of place names. His work inspired James Herries Beattie after him, though unlike Beattie, Roberts did not interact directly with Ngāi Tahu informants, but rather relied upon documentary sources. 

Roberts initially sought payment from the Department for delivery of his research but was quickly advised that there was no budget available. Instead, Stephenson Percy Smith agreed to edit Roberts material which was published as a series of articles in the Lyttelton Times between June and September 1902. 

Roberts sent annotated copies of the newspaper articles (including his corrections of numerous printing errors) to the Department of Lands and Survey for their files. Forty years later, some of these place names were subsequently added to the Māori place names of Banks Peninsula map.

Place-names of Banks Peninsula by Johannes Andersen

Johannes Andersen (1873 – 1962) started working for the Department of Lands and Survey in Christchurch in 1887 and remained there until 1915. During this period he acquired a wealth of topographical knowledge and developed an avid interest in toponymy – the study of place names, both Māori and Pākehā.

In 1902 when the Christchurch Member of Parliament Harry Ell suggested that the Department of Lands and Survey ought to develop a ‘topographical dictionary’ of the Canterbury district as a guide book for tourists, the Commissioner of Crown Lands Sidney Weetman agreed that Andersen could undertake this work at intervals when his other commitments were not pressing.

Twenty-five years passed before Andersen’s topographical history was eventually published. By this time his focus had narrowed to Banks Peninsula. Andersen’s Place-names of Banks Peninsula: A topographical history was published in 1927. At the time of publication Andersen was the librarian at the Parliamentary Library in Wellington and was a prolific author, specialising in Māori and Polynesian culture and history. Most of the Māori place name information in Andersen’s book was drawn from maps and correspondence he accessed during his tenure at the Department of Lands and Survey in Christchurch. Several of the source documents used by Andersen are featured on the Ka Huru Manu website including the map of the southern bays of Banks Peninsula by Hoani Te Hau Pere, the map of Akaroa by Teone Taare Tikao, and Revd. James West Stack's lists and maps.

An annotation on the Maori place names of Banks Peninsula map directs readers to consult Andersen's 1927 book to identify the exact locations of the place names recorded.

Contributions from William Anderson Taylor

William Anderson Taylor (1882 - 1951) was a photographer and amateur historian who had a lifelong interest in Māori history and culture. He began compiling ‘Māori history notes’ around 1910 – a practice that led to his eventual compilation of over one hundred notebooks and scrapbooks dedicated to historical subjects. His sources included early colonial records (including maps and correspondence), historic newspapers, and interviews with Ngāi Tahu people. His many Ngāi Tahu friends and acquaintances knew him as Wiremu Teira. 

The exact nature of Taylor's contribution to the Māori place names of Banks Peninsula map is unclear however the annotation confirms that he contributed to its creation. Taylor worked voluntarily at the Christchurch branch of the Lands and Survey Department in Christchurch from 1936 to 1941 classifying and ordering the records of the Canterbury Provincial Government and the Canterbury Association. In 1940 the Department of Internal Affairs sought his assistance with the compilation and checking of a map of Māori place names of Banks Peninsula for inclusion in a planned New Zealand Centennial Atlas. The Atlas project did not proceed and was cancelled later that year. Taylor was pleased that he had at least been able to contribute some additional place names that would go on the record for posterity. The Māori place names of Banks Peninsula map featured on this page is almost certainly a variant of the map that Taylor worked on in 1940.

Taylor had a particular interest in Banks Peninsula and published a booklet on the subject in 1937 (Banks Peninsula Picturesque and Historic). He wrote newspaper articles about aspects of the peninsula and its history and was a regular visitor to the Ngāi Tahu kāinga at Te Mata Hāpuka, Wairewa, and Taumutu. He also personally knew every hill, bay, and stretch of coastline, having walked or cycled its length and breadth over many years taking photographs.