WANG-AREE
Sir,-Querying the pronunciation of Whangarei, A. H. Reed remarks that residents 60 years ago called the town Wangaree; he also quotes Marsden’s spelling in 1820. Might I observe here that the pronuntiation given by residents to place names is not always correct. For instance, my eldest sister, born in Auckland over 96 years ago, still persists, despite my objections, in calling Remuera "Rem-you-error" (a very common error, by the way). Like Mr. Reed, I’m no Maori scholar; but my father, the late Edwin Fairburn, was. Born in Paihia in 1827, the youngest son of the Rev. W. T. Fairburn, one of Marsden’s missionaries,\ he spent the early part of his life in close touch with the Maori race at mission stations such as Paihia, Puriri, Maraetai, etc. Later, as a civil engineer, he surveyed many of the roads north of Auckland up to the Victoria Valley. Incidentally, his eldest sister, Elizabeth Fairburn, married the Rev. W. Colenso. However, to come to the the point: his pronunciation of Whangarei was neither Wanga-ray nor Wangaree. It was Whanga-r-e-i (approximately, Wangarayee), and he was a pedant in the matter of correct pronunciation of Maori. I have in my possession some of my father’s recollections of those times written a few years before his death. With these are some sketches and maps of the old missionary stations, including a very clear one of the Paihia settlement, showing the location of the houses of the various missionaries; also the exact spot where the first game of cricket _ was played in New Zealand (in 1833)., In these recollections, which he entitled "Maharatanga," he describes the arrival of Robert Maunsell at Puriri, in 1834 and shows how closely this famous missionary began the study of the» Maori language immediately after his arrivalhow natives were brought into the room to give the correct pronunciation of place names and so on. My father also helped, and in return Dr. Maunsell gave him lessons in Latin grammar.
ARTHUR
FAIRBURN
(Mt. Eden).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 399, 14 February 1947, Page 5
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332WANG-AREE New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 399, 14 February 1947, Page 5
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