nce (as demonstrated by the large statue of Queen Victoria on the central Kent and Cambridge terraces). A heritage trail will eventually mark the locations of old Māori villages. Bilingual playgrounds will incorporate Māori stories into their designs, and Māori legends will be commemorated at the iconic Mount Victoria (which may be re-anointed with the name Tangi te Keo).
Ocean Mercier, who teaches Māori Science and Cultural Mapping at the Victoria University of Wellington, describes the policy as similar to cleaning a pair of glasses: “It’s almost like there’s a colonial filter over everything that’s preventing us from accessing these amazing stories,” she said.
Perhaps the ultimate question for Wellington is whether the city name itself might, one day, be changed to something that’s not colonial. As Vini Olsen-Reeder, a lecturer in the School of Māori Studies at Victoria University, points out, there was originally no reason for Wellington to have a singular name: The various tribal villages in this location never saw themselves as parts of one whole, as we view the city now. The te reo equivalent Pōneke is currently used by the city council, but the future of this particular point is left unaddressed by Te Tauihu at present.
Wellington has a reputation as a young, progressive bastion in New Zealand, and support for the te reo policy is consistently above 90 percent. That would likely not be matched in other parts of the country. (“Yes, we are probably in a bit of a bubble,” Day, the deputy mayor, admitted.)
Even so, Te Tauihu will be no overnight revolution. For now, the policy exists mainly in the minds of its proponents and the glossy documents handed around in the offices of the city council. Very little public signage appears to yet reference Te Ngākau or Ara Moana, while there is plenty that still points the way to either “Civic Square” or “Waterfront” (new signs will be in place by 2020, according to the plan’s timeframe). Pronunciation will also take time. “We’ve still got a journey to go for people to pronounce names correctly,” Day said.
Te Tauihu has the potential to be much more than an inclusive gesture. Across the world, indigenous languages are dying out. Half of the world’s roughly 7,000 languages are expected to be extinct by the end of this century. “From a revitalization point of view, it takes one generation to lose a language and three to get it back,” Olsen-Reeder said. So a two-decade timeframe of concerted action might be necessary to drive real, lasting change to bring back this particular language.
That could help other cities, regions, and countries bring their own unique dialects back to life.