The Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum is poised to be rebranded as Rokowhiria.
Ashburton’s art gallery and museum have shared a building since 1995, moving into the current purpose-built facility in 2015, but only merged as an in-house activity of the council in June 2021.
To complete the merger of the Ashburton Art Gallery and the Ashburton Museum, the Ashburton District Council requested Te Rūnaka o Arowhenua for a te reo name in 2024.
Councillors will be presented with the new name for approval on Wednesday.
According to the report in the meeting agenda, the name Rokowhiria has been created Ūpoko of Te Rūnaka o Arowhenua by Tewera King in consideration for the significance and role of the art gallery and museum.
Roko is the Kāi Tahu (Ngāi Tahu’s southern dialect that uses k instead of ng) spelling of the word ‘Rongo’ which is the name of a Māori god, Rongomātāne, who was the god of agriculture, abundance, creativity and peace and “King has expanded on this as the god of ‘peaceful arts”.
Whiria comes from the word ‘whiri’, which means to twist, plait, weave, spin.
In the report, Art Gallery and Museum director Shirin Khosraviani states that “together, the word ‘Rokowhiria’ gives expression to the function and purpose of the Art Gallery and Museum as a peaceful place of inclusion and abundance where many forms of knowledge and learning (artistic and non-combative) are braided and embraced in peace under the realm of Rokomātāne”.
“The bestowing of this name upon the Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum honours mana whenua, acknowledges the role the facility plays in protecting and caring for not only objects and art, but the knowledge held by these taoka (treasures) and the special relationship between Te Rūnaka o Arowhenua, Council and the Art Gallery and Museum”.
The report’s option analysis states the risks of approving the name is “there may be sectors of the community who do not wish to see a te reo Māori name given to the Art Gallery and Museum”, but declining the name would negatively impact the relationship with Te Rūnaka o Arowhenua.
Arowhenua also gifted the name to the council’s library and civic centre – Te Whare Whakatere.
Initially, the council was gifted two names in 2021, Te Pātaka o kā Tuhituhi (the storehouse of publications) for the library and Te Waharoa a Hine Paaka (the gateway of Hine Paaka) for the civic centre.
After a tour of the under-construction facility in 2023, Te Runanga o Arowhenua Ūpoko, Te Wera King, decided the previously gifted names didn’t fit. He gifted a new name, Te Whare Whakatere (the House of Ashburton) for the whole facility. The library will be known as Te Kete Tuhinga, which means a basket of script. The council chamber will be called Hine Paaka, an ancient matai (beech) tree that once stood at Alford Forest.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
