The name Te Kohua, the Maori name for a three-legged cooking pot, may have been turned down for an unnamed peak between the Remarkables and the Hector Mountains, but it could now end up on a lake instead.
The New Zealand Geographic Board has sought comment on three proposed names for unnamed features in Central Otago and one alteration to an existing name. The proposed names for the two highest peaks in a range between the Remarkables and the Hector Mountains were Te Karearea Peak, proposed by the Central Otago District Council for the native falcon, for the most prominent and visible peak viewed from Cromwell, and Mt Tuwhakaroria for the peak next to it.
Lake Te Kohua had been proposed for the lake at the base of those mountains and the dual name of Tapuae o Uenuku/Hector Mountains was mooted by Ngai Tahu. After a three-month period for comment, submissions on the proposals closed at 5pm yesterday. . Nearly 100 had been received by noon yesterday, board chairman Don Grant said. Submissions postmarked with yesterday's date would still be accepted, so a final tally would not be known until next week.
The name Lake Te Kohua was proposed by Central Otago Mayor Tony Lepper as a compromise after meetings with the iwi and the board. It came from the Maori name for the three-legged iron cooking pot.
Ngai Tahu chief Reko guided Otago farmer Nathanael Chalmers through Central Otago in 1853 and was paid with the pot. The negotiation between the parties followed an outcry after the board recommended the name Te Kohua for the highest peak in 2011, despite strong opposition. Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson had the final say on the matter,
rejecting Te Kohua and asking the district council for its preferred choice of name. Mr Williamson said the process also highlighted a number of other unnamed geographic features in the area and suggested the parties work together to come up with names.
The name for Mt Tuwhakaroria came from a Ngai Tahu creation legend about the ''treading of the land'' by Rakaihautu, who was said to have formed the great southern lakes with Tuwhakaroria, his formidible digging stick.
The board said the proposed dual name for the Hector Mountains recognised the equal significance of both the Maori and non-Maori names. The area was used as a mahinga kai site where weka and mountain daisy were gathered.
Submissions will be considered at the board's next meeting, on October 18.
