"Lake Hay", "Lake Hays" or "Lake Hay’s" should be the name of this beauty spot, especially splendid this time of year as autumn dabs the vista in reds and golds.
Reader Cameron Hay emailed to express his annoyance on behalf of explorer Donald Hay.
Cameron, not a relative as far as he is aware, says the lake’s name evolved as Hay’s Lake, Lake Hays and now Lake Hayes.
Scottish-born Donald Hay was from Western Australia.
He crossed the Hector Mountains in July 1859 and found a hidden Māori-style raft, made of bundled reeds, near modern-day Kingston. He proceeded to explore Lake Wakatipu in what would have been a frigid August, using a blanket as a sail.
He continued on foot, after beaching the raft, to where Arrowtown is today.
When he travelled to Dunedin to stake his claim to land, he found it already allocated. He returned to Western Australia.
Donald Hay has been more properly honoured each year since 1979 by Wakatipu Yacht Club events. The Donald Hay Classic this year was on February 15.
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The use of the name "Hayes" has been challenged.
RNZ reported in 2020 that an Akaroa restaurant named after infamous slave trader Bully Hayes was changing its name. However, the owners of Queenstown’s The Hayes, in the suburb Lakes Hayes Estate, said it would not be doing the same.
Writer and academic Scott Hamilton said the names honoured slavery. William "Bully" Hayes was the most notorious of all the Pacific’s slave traders.
Bully Hayes briefly lived in Arrowtown in the 1860s.
Mark Latham, The Hayes’ director in 2020, said The Hayes had used Bully Hayes’ "story for branding as we are heavily family-based, and kids love pirates — it was that simple".
"We were aware of his chequered past, but he was a horrible man living in a horrible time, and in the end he got what was coming to him in a gruesome mutiny. In no way do we condone his actions or hope to glorify his way of life."
David Clarke, the Lakes District Museum director in 2020, said the association of Bully Hayes with Lake Hayes — and features that took their name from the lake — seemed to be a local legend that developed over time.
It was unclear when or why the "e" was added to Hay’s Lake, he said.
Mr Clarke said people at various times had suggested returning the lake to the original name.
A Queenstown Lakes District Council spokesperson at the time of this debate said the council had not had any issues raised about the name of the lake nor any discussions about reverting its name to acknowledge Donald Hay.
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Long-time member of the New Zealand Geographic Board and longtime Dunedin resident David Barnes chipped in with a collection of place name inconsistencies.
David, who these days lives in Lower Hutt, says the Routeburn Track follows the Route Burn (stream). The falls near the bush line are mapped as Routeburn Falls.
"The stream near Mosgiel is Silver Stream, yet we have Silverstream School, Silverstream Dr, Silverstream Valley Rd and more. The Upper Hutt suburb is Silverstream."
The nearby Silverpeaks as two words or one is a proper schemozzle.
"Despite clear evidence of long historical use of the names Silver Peak and Silver Peaks, the county formed when Taieri and Waikouaiti merged was named Silverpeaks.
"The county then applied to formally name the range that separated the former counties Silverpeaks.
"The Geographic Board favoured Silver Peaks, but the minister of lands at the time overruled it, and so the range is officially The Silverpeaks.
"However, the high point is mapped as Silver Peak."
