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While a call for alternate Māori names for the North and South Island has unleashed a storm of comment, Ngāi Tahu's proposal for dual names in the Aoraki-Mt Cook region has been waved through.
The Geographic Board received only three submissions, all in favour, and the changes will be gazetted this month.
The Mt Cook Range will have the alternate name Kirikirikatata, Tasman Glacier can be called Haupapa, and a currently unnamed section of the Southern Alps will be known as the Aroarokaehe Range.
The name changes were foreshadowed in the 1998 Ngāi Tahu Treaty Settlement.
Ngāi Tahu kaiwhakahaere Sir Mark Solomon says the Aoraki area is at the centre of the Ngāi Tahu creation story and its tribal identity.
Kirikirikatata was the grandfather of Aoraki, while Aroarokaehe, the wife of Mauka Atua, was a fellow passenger on the waka Arai-te- Uru.
Mauka Atua became a peak on the Ben Ohau Range, while Aroarokaehe was persuaded by Kirikirikatata to move next to himself and Aoraki.
Copyright © 2013, Uma Broadcasting Ltd
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