Hawea follows Whanganui in spelling scrap

Whanganui had its furious "h" debate and now the Central Otago settlement of Hawea is ready to scrap over a macron.

The Wanaka Community Board has resolved to oppose the New Zealand Geographic Board's proposal to put a macron - long vowel sound - over the first "a" in the place name Hawea, the Otago Daily Times reported.

The small holiday settlement of Hawea is at the southern end of Lake Hawea and is about 17km northeast of Wanaka. It has a population of about 1000.

The Department of Conservation recently included a macron in the official name for the Hawea Conservation Park, which has now been gazetted. That forced the board and Land Information New Zealand to consider altering the word Hawea in place names.

The community board opposed the change primarily because of the cost of changing signs throughout the district.

Board members also debated whether a macron would encourage district newcomers to stop saying "Hi-wee-ar" rather than correctly with a long "a" sound on the first syllable and no emphasis on the second.

Queenstown Lakes Mayor Clive Geddes said it was not about being counter-cultural, but it was important to be pragmatic.

"You will probably not get people to pronounce it properly, even with a macron on top. And if other place names exist that should also have macrons on top, you can see the attendant cost going on and on and on."

- NZPA