Why does West Coast have four Darkie’ place names?

Place and road names containing racist slurs can cause harmto ethnic minorities but nobody is doing anything to change them, a professor says.

Three North Canterbury landmarks containing the ‘‘N-word’’ were renamed in 2016, but four place names on the West Coast containing the word ‘‘Darkie’’ remain.

The West Coast’s Darkies Creek, Darkies Terrace, Darkies Terrace Track and Darkies Terrace Rd, north of Greymouth, were apparently named after African-American prospector Arthur Addison, a freed slave who came to New Zealand in the 1860s.

Camille Nakhid, a professor at the Auckland University of Technology’s school of social sciences and public policy, said the names were offensive and racist.

Nakhid – who is from Trinidad and Tobago and of Kalinago (indigenous), African and other heritages – said the names referred to ‘‘the lack of intellect among Pākehā that restricted their vocabulary to colour or appearance when referring to people physically different from them’’.

She said there was no question the names should be changed, but she was not surprised they had not been yet.

‘‘Aotearoa is considerably a long way behind in understanding and addressing issues of racism and ethnicity. Surely, Arthur Addison’s Track is amore appropriate name?

‘‘The harmto people of colour is the continued perceptions of us as people to be feared, it maintains the inaccurate assertion that there is an aversive link between skin colour and intelligence, behaviours, values etc, and it is a message to us that white supremacist colonial practices will be maintained at every step,’’ she said.

Buller mayor Jamie Cleine said Darkies Terrace Rd in Charleston was a Buller District Council road, but the council had not received any complaints about it.

‘‘It wouldn’t be high on council’s priority list out of all the things we need to do but if there is a desire in the community to change it, then we would take a look.

‘‘I’mnot a big fan of rewriting history. Who knows, itmay have been named in [Addison’s] honour when he was still alive and he was comfortable with it.’’

Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa New Zealand Geographic Board secretary Wendy Shaw said the board had not received any proposals to change the names Darkies Creek, Darkies Terrace Track, Darkies Terrace, and Darkies Stream.

Darkies Terrace north of Greymouth and Darkies Creek were official names, but Darkies Terrace in Charleston was an unofficial name. The board did not have jurisdiction over tracks or roads.

During the consultation on the North Canterbury place names, one submitter indicated they were

interested in proposing changes to Darkies Creek, Darkies Terrace Track and Darkies Terrace, Shaw said.

‘‘Following media coverage at the time, we received correspondence from another party that [those names were] ... offensive. However, we did not ultimately receive any proposals to change the names.’’

Darkies Terrace Rd resident Anthony Black said he had lived on the street for 30 years.

‘‘I’m a geologist and I came here to go gold mining. Not far from here is Addisons Flat, which was named after Addison, who was called Addison the Darkie. He used to be funded mainly by publicans to go out prospecting,’’ he said.

‘‘He was a very renowned prospector throughout the Coast. Addison was well regarded and a prominent figure.’’

Black said he was not in favour of changing the name.

‘‘I don’t think these days we would name it Darkies Terrace but if you PC everything you erase the history. We have to sanitise so much.’’

Massey University linguistics senior lecturer Julia de Bres said nicknames could be bestowed upon people with affection but could make them or other people uncomfortable.

‘‘Thankfully, language and how we talk changes over time but it’s also important to reflect on that and how we choose to name things gives a certain authority to those perceptions.’’

She said the Darkies name conveyed a one-dimensional view of history.

‘‘Many people would agree it is definitely a racist slur. We don’t know how Addison felt about it, he’s long gone, but there are other people alive today that would be hurt by that name. Place names and language can have symbolic power and what it reflects is problematic for sure.’’

She said it should be changed, with a new, more positive, name picked.