- So, I'm someone from a small place called Wainui in Lower Hutt. Believe it or not, I actually grew up in Asia, moved back when I was about 11. I had, like, a real buzzy accent after I came back. And what does everybody think when they see someone with a buzzy accent, looks like me? He just came straight from the Islands. (LAUGHTER) And it's hard to convince people that you're not from the Islands when you're from a place called the Hutt. (LAUGHTER) So they come up to me, and they'd be like, 'Hey, um,... where you from?' And I'd be like, 'Oh, I'm from the Hutt.' And they'd be like, 'Nah, I know. But, like...' (LAUGHTER) 'Like, which one?' (LAUGHTER) Kia ora. I'm Joe Daymond. You may or may not have heard of me. My friends call me Joey D, but really hot girls call me, 'New phone, who dis?' (CHUCKLES) But that's not important right now. What is important is that I've teamed up with Kara Ricard, and, together, we're like the ultimate search engine. - We're going to leave no stone unturned as we try and find the real story behind our country's place names. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2022 (FUNKY, UPBEAT MUSIC) - The Hutt ` my hometown. I grew up here and know pretty much everything about the place... except how it got its name. (UPBEAT RAP MUSIC) Why Hutt? Is it named after pizza or Jabba? And what was it called before that? I'm determined to get to the bottom of this... after I get a pie. (CAR HORN TOOTS) That's my mum. What's up, Mum? (CAR HORN TOOTS) (LAUGHS) That's my mum. So, come with me, as we get the name right for the Hutt. The Hutt is made up of Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt, and it's directly across the harbour from our capital city, Wellington. I'm very curious to find out what's behind the place name of where I grew up. So far, my investigation has uncovered that this place is named after a guy called William, who lived here ages ago, which makes it history, so, being pretty smart, I'm going to go ask a history teacher. - Mr Green. - Hello. - Good to see you. And so tell me about William Hutt and how his name ended up all over here. - Well, William Hutt was a wealthy English gentleman who was also a parliamentarian. He was an MP. William Hut never actually came to New Zealand, but he became interested in the New Zealand Company sometime in the 1830s. He was a very wealthy man, and he invested in the New Zealand Company. He became a director and also the chairman of the New Zealand Company. - So you mentioned the New Zealand Company. - The New Zealand Company was Edward Gibbon Wakefield's brainchild, and the idea was that investors would provide the money to enable settlers to come out to New Zealand. So, he was in Newgate Prison` (RECORD SCRATCH) - 'Um, sorry?' (JAIL BARS CLANG) - The hell? He was like a hustler ` hustling up plans in prison. - What was he in prison for? Being a scumbag, I bet. (LAUGHS) - He got this idea whilst he was in prison. - Yes. For abducting a 16-year-old girl and then tricking her into marrying him. - Honestly, it just gets worse and worse. - And we know that it was while he was in jail that he came up with his scheme for organised settlement of New Zealand. - Our man, eh? Locked up, they won't let me out, and here he is, coming up with these ideas to colonise people. - So the Hutt was the first to be sold? - Absolutely, yes. The decision to call the area after William Hutt, it's unclear if it was Edward Gibbon Wakefield who made that decision or his brother, William Wakefield, who was the man on the spot at the time. - Well, was it even theirs to sell? - I'm not quite sure what you mean by that. - (CHUCKLES) I think you and I both thinking the same thing, Mr Green. - So, they're just, like, a bunch of prisoners that found a massive plot of land. Well, that's pretty much Australia, right? - Because you were living in a time where those people had a lot of power and things didn't change that quickly, those names have stuck. But when you look at it from this distance, it's... laughable at best and pretty sinister and cynical at worst. - OK, so the New Zealand Company's business model, do you think somebody could pull that off, you know, today? - I don't think that would be possible today. No. Absolutely not. - You sure about that? - Absolutely. Talking to Mr Green has made me think ` if Edward Gibbon Wakefield could come up with a plan to get rich from behind bars in the 19th century, maybe I could try something similar today. (CHILL POP MUSIC) First things first, I sent my brother Ilai a message ` 'Meet me in the town centre. I've got the meanest idea.' (UPBEAT ELECTRONIC MUSIC) - (KARA SPEAKS TE REO) - (SPEAKS TE REO) (TENSE STRINGED MUSIC) - I'm meeting with my brother Ilai in the middle of Lower Hutt, and for once, this dude's on time. I can't wait to tell him about my plan. G, do you know where the name Lower Hutt comes from? - Do I look like I know where the name Lower Hutt comes from? MURMURS: All right. - Didn't need the attitude. Anyways, where the Hutt comes from is there's these two brothers ` one of them actually started this business in prison, then they moved here, and then basically just, like, colonised all this land and named it after themselves. Guess what we're doing today? - Not that. - Yeah, nah, we're going to the movies. (CHUCKLES) Yo. Nah, we are doing that. We are doing that. And we're gonna start right now, baby. People of Lower Hutt, are you guys looking for a place with a better tomorrow; a place that's way meaner ` way meaner than all this` all this rubbish; a place where it's way easier to get land? Far, if you come today, you might even get a road named after you. You guys like roads? Anyways, we're building something ` Daymondville. Who's in? (EPIC MUSIC) I'll shout you guys free lunch too. (CROWD MUTTERS HAPPILY) - ALL: Yeah! - (CHUCKLES) All right, sweet. Let's go. Does anyone, um` Anyone have their license? Cool, yeah. We'll need one of you to drive. (CHUCKLES) Just cos there's passengers, you know? (EPIC MUSIC SWELLS) So far, I'd say my plan is going pretty well. I've never colonised anything before, but I'm thinking of doing a lot more of it, and Waitangi Park seems like a good place to start. What we're doing today is we're gonna set up a colony. We're gonna set up a community right here. Now, someone already owns this land, and we've just rocked up. We've come from outta town; we need the space ` it's ours now. That's kinda how things work around here. (WOOD CLATTERS) - Yeah. I mean, if you turned up into my backyard and started, you know, with your measuring tape, I'm gonna give you a hiding; that's what's gonna happen. And then I'm gonna go to jail. And hopefully while I'm in jail, I'll think of a way to recolonise the world. Jail's not good. Stay out of jail, kids. (DING!) - But it's funny. So, the name the Hutt comes from` basically the New Zealand Company came and obviously, (CHUCKLES) ongoing theme, there were already heaps of Maoris there. (LAUGHS) But they named it, but I don't think they planned for what the Hutt became. I can't imagine all these high-ranking British officers standing around a table and being like, 'All right. This new city that we're gonna create, 'I hope they start scraps at little kids' rugby league games on Sundays.' (LAUGHTER) 'I hope everyone rocks up to the supermarket in their pyjamas.' (LAUGHTER) And if they did plan for that, then genius, cos that's what they got. (LAUGHTER) - (KARA SPEAKS TE REO) - What are you on about? - It's Wellington! The Hutt. So cold. (SEAGULLS CAW) Were you aware of the ingoa Te Awa Kairangi growing up? - Kao. It wasn't until I started playing in the Maori League tournaments. They created a team called Te Awa Kairangi, and it was basically the real name for it. - Cos I tipu ake koe ki konei ` you grew up here. What was that like? - (SPEAKS TE REO) The Hutt was the big smoke to us. Yeah. It's a pretty mean little community and love it. - Does the name 'The Hutt' have any kind of hononga or connection for the people who live here? - Oh... (SUCKS TEETH) Nah, not really. Everyone will say, like, Nainai or Taita or Wainui rather than just The Hutt. You getting any nibbles on that? (BICYCLE BELL RINGS) - Nah. - My one's stuck on the log over there. I keep pretending that it's bending. 'Fish on! Oh no, that's a log.' - Just the log from the awa. - (LAUGHS) - So if you could name this place, what would you call it? - Te Awakairangi. It's not a bad sort of` - It's not a bad name. - Nah. - It's way better than Lower Hutt. (BOTH LAUGH) I hate fishing. Should we go and get a pie instead? - (LAUGHS) - Yeah, yeah, right in the middle there. Yeah. Nice, nice. 'So far, my colony is doing really well.' Nah. That's not moving. 'You know they say ` starts at the top.' I've assembled the best team available, basically. - It's amazing. Good on you, Joe. You're smashing it, mate. (LAUGHS) - It's really reflecting the leadership the quality of the people that we have here, and I'm really happy with it. Yeah, good job. Good` Good job. - The settlers taking of the land started almost immediately. They settled first here in what they had called Britannia. So that was what` the name for the Petone settlement. And they started looking very quickly towards Wellington, towards Poneke, and by 1842, they were moving very quickly to lease our land and to move us off that land. - Hey. Good job, everybody. I couldn't ask it to be any better. Maybe a tiny bit better, but it's still pretty good. I'm gonna go see how much I can sell this for. - (KARA SPEAKS TE REO) Feels like I'm gonna get told off. - No, I'm pretty friendly. (CHUCKLES) I'm not too bad. - Hey, I wanna congratulate you on changing the name of this kura. It used to be called Maori Bank, and now it's called Te Hau Karetu. Can you tell me a bit about how that change came about? - There was a Pa called Te Hau Karetu down on the corner of the Te Awa Kairangi river. And the reason it was named Maori Bank was because it was the bank of the river where the Maori lived. - Racist. - Oh, absolutely. - (LAUGHS) - It is absolutely racist. - Well, cos I doubt, back in the day, any Maori were given the task of naming towns. - No. - It would have been all Pakeha. And so whoever got to name the suburb might have been, like, 'Hey there's a whole bunch of Maori sitting on a bank over there.' - Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. - 'Shall we name it Maori Bank?' So, your kura used to be called Maori Bank Kura, and now it's changed to Te Kura O Hau Karetu. How do you feel about the name change? - I like it better because it was originally called Hau Karetu, but then the Pakeha people changed it to Maori Bank, so we changed it back. - I like that the new name's in Maori. - Te Kura O Hau Karetu has a better meaning, cos it's the sweet smell of the grass. - Because we live by the Rimutaka hill and the wind blows down the mountain and brings the fragrance of the grass. So much prettier and so much more appropriate. - This is one small step. Do you think your next step might be, like, starting a petition to get Upper Hutt changed? - Ooh, yes. - H-U-T-T, eh? Hutt Valley. It's gonna be like that for generations, and eventually, Te Awa Kairangi will` no one will know unless we as, you know, as people go there and go, 'All right, man. Let's make` Let's put both names here.' - We see the names as giving us pointers to how they connect with this landscape. Hutt, in particular, is not a name that feels like it gives that many pointers. I don't think that they are connection points that are` that come from the history of that name. - Upper Hutt means nothing to people. - Yeah. Who` Who even is Hutt? Like, I don't even know what the korero was behind him. (SPEAKS TE REO) - He's this man from a long time ago, and this town was named after him. - Had Mr Hutt ever come to New Zealand? - No. - Nope. - Do you think it's OK for someone to name a place if they've never been here? - CHILDREN: No. - Well, it's not really fair on the people who live around there. - The name that we have now doesn't really resemble what it actually is. - If you go over and name a place when it's already named, it starts into arguments, then it turns into fights, and the fights turn into injuries. - That's a true story. - Kia ora. My name's Joe Daymond, and I'm a, uh... property developer. Just wanted to get somebody down to, um... a property I've just developed, just to get a bit of an appraisal. A dual commercial residential hub. We've got a school, there's a dairy, an on-site medical centre. It's actually right down by Te Papa. Yeah, yeah. What` Yeah. Nah, nah, not by Waitangi Park. Um... It is Waitangi Park. - He hasn't learned the lesson of colonisation at all. It's not gonna end well. - 'I can't wait to show the agent my new development. They love those.' (DING!) - It's just, like, everywhere. Racism was tough to grow up with in the Hutt. But it's` New Zealand racism's really hard, cos it's not super overt, you know? It's not super obvious, eh? It's not real out there. Like in America, you can make a movie about their racism. It's very obvious and clear. I can't really make a movie... three hours long about getting followed around in Whitcoulls. (LAUGHTER) I can't really make a movie three hours long about Uber drivers cancelling on me. (LAUGHTER) I'm in Wellington and have decided to take a leaf out of the New Zealand Company's book, so I've colonised someone else's land, and now I'm selling it. Today, we get rich, baby. - Uh, I'm here for Joe Daymond. - Hey! Kia ora. - Yeah` Oh, you're Joe? - Yes. - Oh. - Sorry. - (LAUGHS AWKWARDLY) - Um, Sharon, was it? - Uh, Sherry. - Sherry. Oh, sorry. - Yeah. - Obviously, as I said on my call, I was keen to get an appraisal on` - Yeah. - We just kinda built these` for lack of a better word, a colony. And pretty much I just wanted to see, like, how much, you know, how much would this be worth? - The New Zealand Company was exploitative in many ways. Not only were they selling land that they didn't own, they were also exploiting their clients who were committed to moving to the other side of the planet only to find that this land that they'd committed to, this future that they'd committed to, was a lie. - So, yeah. Just` Just loosely, off the top of your head, what do you think the general value of all of this would be? - I mean, it's council land. You` You can't sell it if you don't own it. See ya. - Yeah. Well, that was what the Empire was all about, wasn't it? Just, like, spreading the Empire and siphoning... the resources. - 'Well, that wasn't very friendly. 'I wonder how the New Zealand Company would have dealt with it. 'Luckily, I can rely on my colony.' - G, can I go home now? You promised us lunch. I'm hungry. (CROWD EXCLAIMS ANGRILY) - Where's our free lunch? - Where's our food? - You said we'd get free lunch! (TENSE, DRAMATIC MUSIC) 'Man, maybe colonisation doesn't work after all. 'I could've used the money too.' - I hate to say I told you so, but I... I told you so, Joe. (BLUESY WESTERN ROCK MUSIC) The demise of my colony has got me walking the streets of Wellington, wondering, 'Where did I go wrong?' Maybe Mr Green can tell me how the Cubans managed to do it so successfully. Kia ora, Mr Green. Good to see you again. - Gidday. - How you going? - Good. And you? - Nah, not too bad. Just thought I'd come for a walk down Cuba. (JAUNTY MUSIC) - So, Mr Green, clearly we're out here on Cuba Street, the famous Cuba street, and, um... tell me about the history of Cuba Street and when the Cubans got here. - Well, Cuba Street is not named after the Cubans. - What the Havana is he on about? - I thought it was named after Cuba. - I think that Fidel came down, couple of cigar in his mouth, you know. 'Viva la Revolution!' - It's named after Cuba Gooding Jr and his wonderful performance in Jerry Maguire. - It is, in fact, named after the second New Zealand Company vessel to come to the region, which was The Cuba, which arrived in January of 1840. The Cuba was actually the vessel that came out to survey the area that was going to become the township of the Hutt Valley and Wellington. (PERCUSSIVE MUSIC) So Cuba Street has absolutely nothing to do with Cuba but was named after a ship? Surely I can't be the only one who didn't know this. Do you know where the name Cuba Street comes from? - It's from one of the ships. - Is it named after, like, a ship, I think? Some, like, old, colonial ship for, like, transporting stuff. I dunno. Yeah. - Shit, bro. You know a lot. - Yeah. - (BOTH LAUGH) - There are streets named after all of the New Zealand Company ships, both here in Wellington and the Hutt Valley. - One of the things that Pakeha did when they set up their streets is they named them after things like settler ships, and it has the effect for us of hiding` hiding our presence in the landscape, of making us less visible on the landscape and highlighting the visibility of those people arriving. - So it seems the New Zealand Company had a big influence on place names in this part of Aotearoa, which when you think about it, is not the greatest legacy for our country. - It's, like, ridiculous that that actually happened on such a large scale here. - I think we hold on to a lot of those colonial names because no one questioned it for so long. - The English did it very well. I mean, it's a brilliant business model, dude. It is. Like, how` how they managed to do it is second to none. - To think that a` that a business model could somehow have an effect on whenua which is a completely different framework of thinking, is, uh, sad. - Ownership, I guess, as a foreign concept to Maori is because the land is our mother. We all descend from Papatuanuku. How can you own your mother? How can you own something that is everybody's? - I'm in Dunedin, famous for cheese rolls, student drinking and as the birthplace of Six60. If you wanna learn about the locals, dress like the locals. - Joe, we can actually do this with your pants on. - Oh. (SERENE MUSIC) www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2022 - Ko te reo te take.