A Hamilton street named after a New Zealand land wars general will no longer be after Hamilton councillors voted to rename it today.
That came after a debate in which one councillor argued that history could not be cancelled.
Von Tempsky St, named in honour of General Gustavus von Tempsky will be changed to Pūtikitiki St, a name that reflects the original name of the area in the city.
Long-time activist Taitimu Maipi, who launched a petition in 2021 to have the name changed says the outcome of Tuesday's meeting was significant for Waikato to no longer have a street named for a member of a "murderous group" of people who led the invasion of Waikato.
He told teaomaori.news the timing of the council's decision happened to coincide with the reopening of the trenches at Rangiriri at the weekend, which had an impact on the councillors' votes.
"It brought back a real reminder of the issues our people faced in the 1863 wars. It seemed to coincide with today, and with Anzac in the one weekend. It was very interesting to discuss this at this particular time where we're just opening up Rangiriri.
Committed atrocities against Māori
"It reminded us of the atrocities that these guys did to our people."
The council today only discussed Von Tempsky St but Maipi's petition also called for Bryce St and Grey St to be changed. He now expects this change to be the beginning of wider changes.
"Bryce St is on the agenda, Grey St is on the agenda, and Russell Road in my town is on the agenda - all of those were the monsters who came in and slaughtered our people. We need to be making sure that not only are the names removed, but the history be told to our kids in the future."
"They believed that they had every right to come into our rohe and take over. It was brutal."
Von Tempsky, born to a Prussian mobile family moved to Aotearoa in 1862. By 1863 he was given command of a unit of the Forest Rangers, a military unit created to fight Māori. He was involved in campaigns in Waikato, including Rangiaowhia, Pāterangi and Ōrakau.
He also took part in action in Bay of Plenty and Taranaki. He was killed during a skirmish with Tītokowaru at Te Ngutu o te Manu in Taranaki in 1868.
Not all councillors agreed to remove the name. Ewan Wilson argued that history "can not be cancelled".
'B****** of a human being'
"I celebrate bilingualism, I celebrate mana whenua celebrating, and putting their own memorials and describing their views of the world. That is a partnership, not cancelling our history."
Another councillor, Angela O'Leary, said changing the name isn't cancelling history but is an opportunity for history to be shared and told, and acknowledged the process taken to make changes.
"I will never cancel things, I don't like that but the thing that swung me today is we talked about interpretation boards, we did talk about the story, and boy if nobody knew about von Tempsky, if this goes through, they're going to know today.
"And that is actually a good thing. He was a b*****d of a human being, people should know that. I didn't know that before we started down this journey. We're not cancelling anything but we're not celebrating either."
Councillors also voted unanimously to officially name a recreation park previously unofficially known as Dawson Park on the corner of Grey St and Dawson Park as Te Wehenga Park.