Madak makes it as Benmore island name

Press, 23 September 1987, Page 6

Madak makes it as Benmore island name

PA Dunedin The New Zealand Geographic Board will recommend that the name of Madak (short for mum and dad and the kids) be retained for a small island in Lake Benmore. In a letter to Mr John Armstrong, the owner of the boat the island is named after, the board said that after considering the weight of evidence in favour of keeping the name it would recommend to the Minister of

Internal Affairs, Dr Bassett that Madak be retained. . Earlier this year the board had made a provisional decision to change the name to Whanau, which Mr Armstrong said was the Maori equivalent of family. Mr Armstrong said his family were among many who made strong recommendations to the board over the proposed name change. “The reason given for

the change was they did not like acronyms although several were used already,” he said. “Why change a name which had been used for 13 years?” Mr Armstrong said historically the area was not a strong one for Maori names as it-was used just as a route to the greenstone country. Mr Armstrong said he was pleased with the board’s decision to retain the name.