What’s in a Name – Mou Waho?
Renaming place names has not been an unusual occurrence in New Zealand, and this is the case with Mou Waho Island and its features. Over time, it has been named Te Mou-a-hou, Mou Waho (which is claimed to be its original name and translates as the Outer or Far Island), Mouaho as recalled by Rawiri te Maire in 1898, Manuka Island as recorded in 1862/3 by James McKerrow on his Reconnaissance Map, and Pigeon and Harwich, before returning to the “original” name of Mou Waho.
The pool/small lake on the island is now named Arethusa Pool and not the former name of Paradise Lake, nor the apparent original Māori name of Moutimu. The highest point on the island is named Tyrwhitt and there is a Scenic Reserve gazetted, named Harwich Scenic Reserve[1]. What has Harwich, Tyrwhitt and Arethusa to do with the Upper Clutha? Well, absolutely nothing that can be discovered!
It all came about after a visit to the area by Lord Jellicoe, GCB, OM, GCVO who was appointed Governor General of New Zealand from 1920. He visited Wānaka in 1923 and went deerstalking (successfully), and the area must have “taken his eye”. Relatively briefly, with the help of Sir Frederick Chapman, a former Supreme Court Judge and member of the Honorary Geographic Board of New Zealand, it was suggested that some re-naming of what was then known as Manuka or Pigeon Island, should take place. Lord Jellicoe was reported as not being above breaching the convention of Governor Generals not interfering in domestic politics.
The first suggestion was to rename the island Syracuse after the “island of Syracuse” as Mou Waho “looked like it”. It was not chosen in the end, which is just as well. Syracuse is not an island but a city on Sicily. The island they were thinking of was Ortigia which is within the city area of Syracuse. This little island also had a pool, just like Mou Waho, called the Fountain of Arethusa. Eventually it was decided that Syracuse was not appropriate, but it would be named Harwich Island, Paradise Lake was to become Arethusa Pool and the highest point, Tyrwhitt Peak. Why were these names so important as to cause the renaming of a significant part of the geography Lake Wānaka area?
Lord Jellicoe was First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff after the Battle of Jutland (1916), and although he was dismissed by Lloyd George in December 1917, he still had influence. During World War One, the Royal Navy created a naval force called the Harwich Force which was under the command of Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt and his ship was named the ‘Arethusa’. It was quite a successful naval force but as already mentioned, there is no apparent connection to Aotearoa New Zealand.
Harwich Island was gazetted on 18 December 1924 and the other names added (Arethusa Pool and Tyrwhitt Peak), but without any apparent consultation with the locals, let alone Māori as was required under law. There were protests recorded in the newspapers of the time but to no avail. Most locals simply ignored the official change of name to Harwich Island, to the extent that in 1972, an “about face” occurred and Mou Waho was returned as the official name.
Incidentally, Lord Jellicoe had a number of places named after him in New Zealand.
[1] Changed to Mou Waho Island (Harwich) Scenic Reserve in 2011 : Source: Land Information NZ
