Naumai Place

For those of you who find Naumai Place a welcoming street, then it is well named. In 1973 a request went out for a Māori name “in keeping” with others that had been attached to streets in the neighbourhood. Mr George Koea, the recently appointed editor of the Taranaki Herald, came up with Naumai which is really two words nau mai meaning welcome.

George was to remain editor of the Herald until 1987 when he died suddenly. He had a distinguished career as a journalist, working in Taranaki and the Bay of Plenty. He was awarded a bursary to study in Europe during 1959. Returning to New Zealand as chief reporter for the Daily News, he was made deputy editor in 1962 before becoming editor at the Herald in 1973. George distinguished himself as chairman of the New Zealand section of the editors’ committee of the Commonwealth Press Union and sat on the New Zealand Journalists’ Training Board.

George also had a well-known sister Marama who become a familiar voice on Radio Taranaki in the 60s and later, as Marama Martin, a nationally known television personality,

George was married to another journalist who was to become well known in New Zealand literary circles.  Shonagh Koea was first published in her early thirties and her first novel, The Grandiflora Tree, was published in 1989. In 1993 she became the Writing Fellow at the University of Auckland where she produced a short story collection called Fifteen Rubies by Candlelight and the acclaimed novel Sing to me Dreamer.

The Koea’s are a family used to using words and choosing a street name probably came quite easily to George. It certainly didn’t get him a literary award, but I am sure the residents of Naumai Place would welcome the name and anyone else who might visit their street.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.