Historical Treaty of Waitangi settlement bills for Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and Ngāti Manuhiri were enacted into law late last year, while settlements for Waitaha and Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara progressed during extra sitting periods. The following article is taken from Māori Affairs Minister Dr Pita Sharples speeches to the House of Representatives.

In recent months some have been asking: What’s in a name? My response is that a name, a history, a whakapapa, a heritage: is everything!

The television programme “Who Do You Think You Are” sees celebrities rediscovering their whakapapa and family trees. For New Zealanders, the settlement of historical Treaty of Waitangi claims is our own version of “Who Do You Think You Are.” How else can we know who we are if we do not know our own names? How can we know where we are heading if we do not know where we have been?

Over the years Māori heritage was gradually removed, renamed and replaced from the official identity of Tāmaki Makaurau and many other regions. However bills such as the ones we are debating today seek to restore that identity throughout our country. Little Barrier Island was named because the explorer Captain James Cook decided that it looked like a little barrier. Bream Tail was named because Cook’s crew caught a lot of bream fish or snapper while they were anchored nearby. No one really knows why Goat Island got its name as no one can ever remember goats living on it. These are names we have grown accustomed to, sometimes attached to, but they are only one side of the story of Aotearoa.

Little Barrier in English but in te reo Māori? Te Hauturu o Toi. The resting place of the winds, Te Hauturu o Toi, centre pou of the great net of Taramainuku. The descendants of Taramainuku lived at Bream Tail or as they knew it, Paepae o Tū. Goat Island in English but in te reo Māori? Te Hawere A Maki. Taking us back to the warrior chieftain Maki, the father of Manuhiri from whom all Ngāti Manuhiri descend.

In a region like Auckland, with few modern Māori landmarks – it makes it even more important to ensure our ancestral Māori landmarks carry the names and heritage of the mana whenua of Tāmaki Makaurau.

If we are to share a nation together, and build a future together: Then New Zealanders must also embrace our shared history, and our shared place names.