Maungatapu School students understand the importance of a name more than most. For two years they've been working to rename a local park to recognise its Māori heritage.

Now, their mahi (work) has paid off and Rotary Park in Maungatapu will be named Ōpūpū – Rotary Park.

The Commissioners approved the dual naming of the park at a Tauranga City Council meeting on Tuesday. Maungatapu School student Kaida-Miharo Weti, 10, told the meeting the local hapū know the park as Ōpūpū named for the abundance of pūpū or periwinkle sea snails.

Fellow student Frankie Te Kani, 11, says: 'Our school of the often uses Ōpūpū as a place of study and learning”. Work to change the name started with the students writing letters to council in 2021, says Frankie.

Easy decision

Those students had since left the school but they were continuing on their work, he says. 'We've come too far to not carry on with our mahi.”

Commissioner Shadrach Rolleston says the dual naming was an 'easy decision to make”. Speaking after the meeting, Frankie told Local Democracy Reporting getting the park renamed was 'cool as because we could rename it back to the name that our tīpuna (ancestors) gave it when lived over there”. 'We could acknowledge our history.”

Kaida-Miharo says it was great they were able to carry on the work started in 2021 and 'improve things”.

Maungatapu School principal Tane Bennett says: 'It's a beginning of how we can shape and add value to our communities”.

All 560 children at the school know the park as Ōpūpū but they questioned why the sign didn't reflect the name, he says.

Empowering

'The dual naming can go down in history as well.

'And these students are the ones that pushed this kaupapa across the line and they are the voices of those that have started this mahi.

'It's empowering them and giving them a good feeling that their voice is heard and they feel value in themselves. They are the future generation that's important to me. They probably don't realise it, but later they'll understand how important today was for the community as a whole.”

Deputy principal Teraania Ormsby-Teki says elders and hapū leaders had attempted to get the name Ōpūpū recognised in the past.

'It takes the kids to move it, that's a memorable part for me today. It's all part and parcel of the unified effort.”

The signage of the park will now be changed and storyboards will be displayed sharing the history of the park.

The Maungatapu School students hope to be involved in designing
the storyboards.

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