New Zealand’s two new Cook Strait rail ferries will be named Kupe and Cook, with Rail Minister Winston Peters saying the names represent the country’s “two great seafaring traditions” and honour New Zealand’s maritime history.
The announcement was made at Parliament on Friday, where Peters also confirmed KiwiRail will operate the new rail-enabled ferries when they enter service in 2029.
“The first ferry will be named Kupe. The second ferry will be named Cook,” Peters said.
“These are proper names. Historic names. New Zealand names.
“They are names that speak to our maritime inheritance, to exploration, to courage, to seamanship, and to the long story of how this country came to be.”
Peters said Kupe and Cook each left “an indelible mark” on New Zealand and the Cook Strait.
The original name of the strait is Te Moana o Raukawa.
“New Zealand’s islands were settled by two great seafaring traditions: Polynesian first, European second. These names honour that history.”
Before revealing the names, Peters anticipated criticism over naming one of the ferries after Captain James Cook.
“The snivelling wokesters will work themselves into a lather over the name Cook, while offering only passing approval for Kupe.”
“It is fashionable now in certain circles to treat Captain Cook as nothing more than a symbol to be condemned, cancelled and cast out. A harbinger of colonisation, they say. A figure of division, they say. A relic to be erased.”
“We say this: a mature country does not run from its history.”
Questions over the naming process
At the beginning of his speech, Peters acknowledged iwi among the organisations involved in the wider ferry programme.
“We further acknowledge the unions, Interislander customers, iwi, and advocacy groups for freight, infrastructure and tourism.“ he told those gathered at Parliament for the announcement.
He also said he respected the tradition of previous Interislander ferry names and “the role that iwi and Māori railway workers played in their naming.”
After the announcement, with media questions, he was asked who named the ferries.
Te Ao Māori News asked whether the iwi he had acknowledged had advised on the names Kupe and Cook.
Peters did not directly answer the question.
When the question was followed up by referring to the iwi acknowledged during his speech, Peters instead challenged the use of the term “mana whenua” and interrupted before a number of questions could be completed.
Asked separately who had chosen the names, Peters did not identify a person or group responsible for the decision.
CentrePort and Port Marlborough, both key partners in the ferry redevelopment, say they each have established relationships with mana whenua as part of their work on the Cook Strait programme.
Kupe and James Cook: a varied history
Kupe is recognised in many traditions as one, and in some accounts, more than one, of the great Polynesian navigators associated with the discovery or rediscovery of Aotearoa.
While traditions differ between iwi, Kupe is widely remembered as a master navigator who travelled across Te Moananui-a-Kiwa before returning to Hawaiki.
His journeys are embedded in the histories and whakapapa of many iwi across Aotearoa and the Pacific, with numerous landmarks associated with his voyages.
Other kōrero tuku iho explain that Kupe is not a personal name, but a title bestowed upon a master navigator, inherited through traditions from across the Pacific.
Captain James Cook was a British Royal Navy officer who arrived in Aotearoa aboard HMS Endeavour in 1769.
His voyage produced the first detailed European charts of New Zealand and significantly expanded European knowledge of the Pacific.
Cook’s arrival, however, also marked the beginning of sustained British contact with Māori.
Within days of first landing at Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, members of Cook’s expedition shot and killed several Māori during their first encounters. Further violent incidents occurred elsewhere during the voyage.
Although Cook is recognised internationally as one of history’s most significant navigators, for many Māori he also represents the beginning of British colonisation, land loss and generations of upheaval.
Cook was killed on 14 February 1779 at Kealakekua Bay on the island of Hawaiʻi after a confrontation with Kānaka Maoli. Historians generally agree the conflict escalated after Cook attempted to take the Hawaiian aliʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, hostage following the theft of one of his expedition’s boats.
Tina Ngata, an indigenous rights activist, who challenges the heroic narrative of Captain James Cook and argues that he was a militarized agent of British imperialism and a “serial killer of Indigenous peoples” responded to the news by putting a question put back to the minister.
“Ask him if the launch ceremony for Cook involves shooting a Māori, stealing their bags, infecting the passengers just so they can discover Picton 5 times a day” Ngata said.
The wider ferry project
Alongside announcing the ferry names, Peters confirmed KiwiRail will operate the two new rail-enabled ferries for their planned 30-year lifespan.
The vessels are being built by Guangzhou Shipyard International in China and are expected to enter service in 2029.
The Government says the programme will cost taxpayers no more than $1.7 billion, arguing it is significantly cheaper than the cancelled iReX project inherited from the previous government.
