ABC News ditches English name of famous city in favour of description in indigenous language
- ABC uses local Maori name for Wellington in New Zealand
- Has been ABC policy in Australia for over two years
The ABC has been praised for using a local indigenous place name during the coverage of the Women’s World Cup.
Coverage of the 1-1 draw in Wellington, New Zealand, between the United States and the Netherlands on Thursday afternoon was accompanied by the place name ‘Te Whanganui-a-Tara’, in the Indigenous Maori language.
The phrase, which is what Wellington was originally called, literally translates as the ‘great harbour of Tara’.
Tara was the son of a famous Maori navigator called Whatonga sent down from the Mahia Peninsula by his father to explore southern lands for their people to settle.
Coverage of the 1-1 draw in Wellington, New Zealand, between the United States and the Netherlands on Thursday afternoon was accompanied by the place name ‘Te Whanganui-a-Tara’, in the Indigenous Maori language (pictured)
‘Love seeing the ABC using te reo Māori for the placenames in their FIFA coverage!’, tweeted Andrew Macfarlane, Australia Correspondent for Television New Zealand’s 1NewsNZ.
It is not clear if this is an ABC policy for all foreign locations.
Daily Mail Australia approached the corporation for comment.
But in June 2021 the broadcaster announced that it would include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander place names on its flagship news program ‘7.30’.
The move meant traditional names appeared alongside the official government names for cities and towns for shows like 7.30, Play School and the 7pm news bulletins.
Two years ago the ABC announced that it would include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander place names on its flagship news program (pictured, the news bulletin in Tasmania already included Aboriginal place names in its segments)
At the time, ABC’s Indigenous lead Phillipa McDermott praised the shakeup as a step in the right direction for the national broadcaster.
‘Indigenous languages and place names are not just a means of simple identification, they express knowledge about everything we know: Family, clan, law, geography, history, relationships, philosophy, religion, anatomy, country, everything,’ she told Sydney Morning Herald.
