1986: Bilingual Egmont
May 29, 2025
By AHNZ
David Lange’s Labour 6.0 Ministry had Mr Koro Wetere as its Minister for Maori Affairs as well as Minister of Lands.
Koro’s seat was Western Maori too so he had some home bias to contend with when it came to being in “the hot seat” over the re-naming of Mt Egmont to Mount Taranaki.
The Geographic Board considered the question and advised the peak be left as “Mount Egmont.” This was unacceptable to Mr Wetere who referred the matter again until he received the answer he wanted!
“The board’s “final advice” to him to have alternative names was not its original suggestion. After the suggestion had been passed to the board for consideration, and after it had canvassed public opinion, it recommended to the Minister that the name of the peak be left as “Mount Egmont.” This was unacceptable to Mr Wetere who told the board to reconsider the matter. Having alternative names is the result” – Govt ‘copped out’ on Mt Egmont ruling, Press (1986)
Thus, today in history, 29 May, 1986, Mt Egmont received the duel name of “Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont.” It was the era of Biculturalism.
However, as we know, this was a slippery slope and not the end of the matter. Egmont is now ‘Taranaki Maunga.’
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Image ref. Paul Estcourt, Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Colorised by AHNZ (2025)
Ref. Press (1986,) Papers Past
3 thoughts on "1986: Bilingual Egmont"
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Given that Taranaki is the province, a name well established in English, and given that the mountain is the most prominent landmark of the province, it’s not surprising that it displaced the English name in popularity.
I can’t see the same happening with the obscure, polysyllabic Maori names bestowed on colonial creations such as cities. In Auckland, where Maori names have been bestowed on stations in the Central Rail Link, results will probably be mixed. ‘Waitemata’ (anglicised pronunciation) might well displace ‘Britomart’ – just one extra syllable and next to the famous harbour; likewise ‘Karangahape’ (anglicised pronunciation) for the station next to the well-known road, or it might be abridged similarly to the road in everyday speech – ‘K station’.
Ps, to hear some people, yes it was and is a duel name rather than a dual name.
We cannot know if Taranaki displaced Egmont in popularity because the outcome was influenced by government propaganda.
State schools, state maps, state media all started plugging the compelled speech and manufacturing this ‘consent’. Kids growing at school were marked wrong or scowled at for saying the ‘wrong’ names. We just don’t know what our country would be like if it were free.
Good points. Yes, of course the government etc influenced the outcomes, if indeed Egmont has been displaced, but there were language factors working in favour of the new official name which might be absent from attempts to change city names.