How Manukau city got its name

Churchill City

Bruce Ringer

In April 1965 Manukau County Council and Manurewa Borough agreed to amalgamate. The first question: what to call the new city? The name 'Churchill' had previously been proposed, and somebody had even written to the British statesman Sir Winston Churchill to ask permission (he assented).

Local newspapers put it to the people instead. Members of the public suggested more than 250 different names. These included the obvious (South Auckland), the historic (Orford), the commemorative (Beaumont, Cobham, Freyburg, Montgomery, Ngarimu, Rutherford, Nash), the nostalgic (Croydon, Townsville, Dundee), and the presumably tongue-in-cheek (Disney, Ridiculous).

Text: 'Those 250 Names', South Auckland Courier, 18/8/65, p. 14.

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A joint Manukau-Manurewa committee shortlisted five names and organised a public ballot. The vote went as follows: Manukau 8085, Manurewa 5045, Akarana 2344, Rutherford 1013, and Churchill 765. Manukau it was, then. The name ‘Manukau City’ was approved by the New Zealand Geographic Board on 27 August 1965, gazetted the following month, and became official on 31 March 1966, six months after it had actually come into use.

Sir Winston couldn't be disappointed - he had died in January 1965.  

For more information: see Manukau’s Journey.

Publication history: first published in Connexions, no. 80, July 2005, p. 4. Revised for publication on the Manukau Libraries website in September 2009.

Copyright © Manukau Libraries. This text may be freely used for purposes of private study and research and for non-commercial publication providing that the author and Manukau Libraries are duly acknowledged.