Report on altering:
Bloomfield Range to Blomfield Range
A mountain range in Westland, extending southeastwards from the headwaters of Waitaha
River to spot height 2215m above McKenzie Col
Mount Bloomfield to Mount Blomfield
A mountain peak on Bloomfield Range
Bloomfield Creek to Blomfield Creek
Flows generally westwards for approximately 2.5km from the western slopes of Artist Dome on
Bloomfield Range, to its confluence with County Stream
MAP1
Source: New Zealand Gazetteer
NZTopo50-BW18
Crown Copyright Reserved
SUMMARY
The proposer is seeking to alter the spelling of three associated official
names, Bloomfield Creek to Blomfield Creek, Mount Bloomfield to Mount
1
Land Information New Zealand
NZGB meeting 28 September 2016
Linzone ID A2437361
Page 1 of 7
Blomfield, and Bloomfield Range to Blomfield Range. The features are
located in a remote area of Westland.
The proposer has provided evidence from an authoritative source to
substantiate that Bloomfield Range was named in the early 20th century
after a notable New Zealand artist, Charles Blomfield (1848-1926). Mount
Bloomfield and Bloomfield Creek are features associated with the range.
Blomfield, who specialised in painting landscapes and alpine scenes, is
mainly remembered for his paintings of the Pink and White Terraces before
they were destroyed. The artist has signed his work ‘Blomfield’.
It is likely that ‘Blomfield’ was spelled ‘Bloomfield’ because both names are
very similar, and are pronounced the same way by some English speakers.
In 1971 the New Zealand Forest Service proposed Blomfield Creek, which
the NZGB assigned as official in 1972. Mount Blomfield and Blomfield Range
remained as recorded names.
In 1978, on the advice of the Chief Surveyor in Hokitika, the NZGB
assigned as official the earlier spellings shown on maps and survey records:
Mount Bloomfield, Bloomfield Range and Bloomfield Creek.
In some instances names in long term use can take precedence over
spelling alterations. Because there is little phonological difference between
‘Bloomfield’ and ‘Blomfield’, there is unlikely to be confusion for the alpine
community or emergency services if the spelling is altered.
Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio has verbally advised the proposer that it does not
know of any Māori names for the features. Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu has not
advised of original Māori names for the features.
SECRETARIAT RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation 1
Accept the proposals to alter the official place names Bloomfield Range
to Blomfield Range, Mount Bloomfield to Mount Blomfield, and
Bloomfield Creek to Blomfield Creek based on:
- the evidence the proposer has provided,
- the correct spelling outweighing long term use, and
- the NZGB’s statutory functions under s.10(1)(c)(ii) and s.11(1)(b) of
the NZGB Act 2008 to investigate and correct cases of doubtful
spelling,
noting that Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu has not advised of original Māori
names for the features,
and
Notify as proposals to alter for one month in terms of Section 16 of the
NZGB Act 2008.
OTHER OPTION
Option 2
Decline the proposals to alter the official place names Bloomfield Range
to Blomfield Range, Mount Bloomfield to Mount Blomfield, and
Bloomfield Creek to Blomfield Creek based on long term use of the
names by the mountaineering community and on authoritative maps, and
the NZGB having previously made a conscious decision to uphold the
misspelling of ‘Bloomfield’.
NZGB meeting 28 September 2016
Linzone ID A2437361
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SECRETARIAT ANALYSIS
The proposal
The proposal is seeking to alter the official place names, Bloomfield Range
to Blomfield Range, Mount Bloomfield to Mount Blomfield, and
Bloomfield Creek to Blomfield Creek.
The proposals are based on the authoritative opinion of Johannes Carl
Andersen (1873-1962), a former NZGB member. Andersen recorded in his
notes on the origins of New Zealand place names that Blomfield Range was
named after a notable New Zealand artist, Charles Blomfield (1848-1926).
Blomfield specialised in painting landscapes and alpine scenes, including a
number in Westland and Canterbury in the 1880s and 1890s. The proposer
advises that Blomfield is mainly remembered for his paintings of the Pink
and White Terraces before they were destroyed.
The proposer advises that Johannes Andersen obtained his information from
John Barr, OBE, who was a contemporary of Andersen’s and a prominent
New Zealand librarian, author and historian.
The proposer has provided the report and map from The Geology of the
Mikonui Subdivision, North Westland published in 1908. The proposer
advises that the range and mountain were first named during this survey to
pay tribute to Charles Blomfield’s ability to capture the beauty and
splendour of New Zealand’s alpine scenery in his paintings. The proposer
advises that the location of Artist Dome on Bloomfield Range indicates that
the person the range is named after was an artist. The proposer has cited a
number of examples of features in Te Waipounamu that have been named
with descriptive identifiers to indicate the person’s occupation.
The proposer advises that ‘Blomfield’ was spelled ‘Bloomfield’ because both
names are very similar, and are pronounced the same way by some English
speakers.
Names for the
features shown on
maps and plans
Map/plan
Date
Name
G155
1874
Not named
SO 3982
c.1880s
Not named
SO 1117
1908
Mt Bloomfield
GAZ188
No date
Not named
NZMS 26
1920
Not named
NZMS 15
1935
Mt Bloomfield
Bloomfield Range
NZMS 25
1948
Not named
NZMS 15 3rd edition
1956
Mt Blomfield
Blomfield Range
NZMS 177, S64, 2nd edition
1966
Mt Blomfield
Blomfield Range
NZMS 1, S64, 1st edition
1971
Blomfield Ck (shown north of
Blomfield Range)
Mt Blomfield
Blomfield Range
NZMS 1, S64, 2nd edition
1976
Bloomfield Ck (shown southwest
of Bloomfield Range)
Mt Bloomfield
Bloomfield Range
NZMS 1, S64, 3rd edition
1982
Bloomfield Ck
Mt Bloomfield
NZGB meeting 28 September 2016
Linzone ID A2437361
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Bloomfield Range
Topographic Map 260-J34, 1 3rd eds.
1992
1996
2000
Bloomfield Creek
Mt Bloomfield
Bloomfield Range
NZTopo50-BW18
2013
Bloomfield Creek
Mt Bloomfield
Bloomfield Range
st
Location and
extents of the
features
The features are located in Westland, approximately 50km south of
Hokitika. Bloomfield Range extends northwest for approximately 6.5km
from spot height 2215m, to south of the headwaters of Waitaha River
(NZTopo50-BW18 306180 to 260214). Mount Bloomfield is a peak at the
northern end of Bloomfield Range (NZTopo50-BW18 269202). Bloomfield
Creek flows west for approximately 2.5km from the western slopes of Artist
Dome on Bloomfield Range, to its confluence with County Stream
(NZTopo50-BW18 271187 to 250193).
The depiction of Bloomfield Range on current maps has not changed from
how the feature was first described in The Geology of the Mikonui
Subdivision, North Westland2 as being ‘From a point between Mount Evans
and Park Dome a high ridge known as Bloomfield Range runs west and
north-west between the County and Waitaha rivers. The most prominent
heights are Artist Dome (7,061 ft.), a beautifully rounded mountain, and
Mount Bloomfield (6,885 ft.)’.
JC Andersen’s Place Names Index card records ‘Evans, Red Lion, Artist
Dome, Thorndike, Park Dome’ as peaks on Bloomfield Range. However, it is
evident from modern mapping that the only named features along the
extent of the range are Artist Dome and Mount Bloomfield. It is likely that
the range was seen, and the names recorded, from a distance.
The generic terms
of the features
The existing official names have the generic terms, ‘Creek’, ‘Mount’ and
‘Range’, which are appropriate and may help emergency services to identify
and locate the features. In New Zealand the generic term ‘Creek’
appropriately describes any type of small stream.
New Zealand
Gazetteer,
duplicated and
associated
features
The NZGB assigned Mount Bloomfield and Bloomfield Range as official by
NZ Gazette, 1978, p.422, to replace the recorded names, Mount Blomfield
and Blomfield Range. The official name of the stream, Bloomfield Creek,
replaced Blomfield Creek, which the NZGB had assigned as an official name
in 1972. There are no other associated features.
Dollimore3 has the entry, ‘Bloomfield. In Manawatu Gorge west of
Woodville’. However, this is a homestead so it is not within the jurisdiction
of the NZGB.
Various streets and roads are named ‘Bloomfield’ and ‘Blomfield’, but none
of them are in the vicinity of these proposals, and it is not known who they
are named after.
The NZGB’s
previous
consideration of
In 1971 the New Zealand Forest Service proposed Blomfield Creek, which
the NZGB assigned as official by NZ Gazette, 1972, p.381. Mount Blomfield
2
Morgan, P.G. (1908). The Geology of the Mikonui Subdivision, North Westland. Issue 6, Bulletin New Zealand Geological Survey:1906.
Wellington: Government Printer.
3
Dollimore, E.S. (1952). The New Zealand Guide. Dunedin: H. Wise & Co.
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Linzone ID A2437361
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proposals to alter
the features’
names
and Blomfield Range remained as recorded names.
Research, history
and references to
the features
The proposer has provided these documents as evidence that the features
were not named prior to 1896:
In 1976 the Chief Surveyor in Hokitika advised the NZGB that Mount
Blomfield and Blomfield Range had been recorded as ‘Mt Bloomfield’ and
‘Bloomfield Range’ on old maps and survey records. He also noted that
there were two Blomfield Creeks flowing from Bloomfield Range4. On that
basis the NZGB agreed to restore the earlier spellings and assigned Mount
Bloomfield, Bloomfield Range and Bloomfield Creek as official in 1978.
Bloomfield Creek was gazetted southeast of Mount Bloomfield.
- Haast’s maps dated 1867, 1870 and 1879,
- ‘New Zealand – Middle Island’ map dated 1890,
- the explorer Charles Douglas’ map dated 1896
- a map from the Annual Report of the Department of Lands & Survey
dated 1895,
- a letter to the editor of the West Coast Times from the surveyor JN
Smyth dated 1896, and
- an article from the New Zealand Alpine Journal dated 1933.
The proposer has also provided this evidence to substantiate the spelling of
‘Blomfield’:
- a copy of Johannes Andersen’s Place Names Index card,
- the obituary for Charles Blomfield in the Auckland Star on 16 March
1926,
- Platts’5 biographical profile of Charles Blomfield, and
- Williams’6 record of Charles Blomfield’s travels to the mountainous
regions of Westland and Canterbury to paint landscapes.
These references place Charles Blomfield painting scenery in South
Westland in the 1890s. However, there is no evidence of Blomfield visiting
or painting Bloomfield Creek, Mount Bloomfield or Bloomfield Range. The
books that have extracts from Blomfield’s diary refer only to Otira Gorge to
the northeast and the Aoraki / Mount Cook area to the southwest of these
proposals.
Artist Dome on Bloomfield Range, approximately 1.6km southeast of Mount
Bloomfield, first appears on SO 1117 in 1908. This supports the proposer’s
theory that the person the range is named after was likely to have been an
artist.
The proposer cites five misspellings of Charles Blomfield’s name as
‘Bloomfield’ in various media reports of his travels in South Westland in the
1880s and 1890s as being a possible reason for the feature’s names being
misspelled. The proposer has provided entries from Papers Past to
substantiate this.
The proposer has provided a copy of the entry in the Dictionary of New
Zealand Biographies for Charles Blomfield. There is no entry in the
Dictionary for anyone named Bloomfield. The historical records in
Landonline do not indicate that anyone in the area during the late 19 th
century or early 20th century was named ‘Bloomfield’.
The proposer has not provided a copy of Charles Blomfield’s birth certificate
to support the spelling of Blomfield. However, the painting Auckland
Harbour and Parnell from Grafton, dated 1924, clearly shows the artist’s
signature as ‘Blomfield’7.
4
5
6
7
NZGB Correspondence Archives, Volume 43.
Platts, U. (1980). Nineteenth Century New Zealand Artists: a Guide and Handbook. Christchurch: Avon Fine Prints.
Williams, M. (1979). Charles Blomfield: His Life and Times. Auckland: Hodder and Stroughton.
Jonathan Grant Gallery. Accessed 8 July 2016.
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The New Zealand Alpine Club8 describes Bloomfield Range as ‘consisting of
mainly severely eroded, gravelly schist, broken by more stable rock bluffs,
particularly in upper Reid Creek. It has quite an air of isolation, offering
easy climbing days high in Westland’.
Consultation with
iwi and others who
may be interested
in the proposals
The proposer has provided a copy of his letter to mana whenua, Te
Rūnanga o Makaawhio (TROM), inquiring if they knew of any traditional
Māori names for the features. The proposer has advised that he spoke to
TROM’s Administration Officer on 8 April 2014, who advised that the TROM
did not know of any Māori names for the features.
To date Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu has not advised of original Māori names
for the features.
The features are within Waitaha Forest Conservation Area and Wanganui /
Otira Catchments Conservation Area. The proposer has not provided
evidence of consultation with DOC.
Section from the
NZGB Act 2008
relevant to this
proposal
The proposer has requested that the NZGB exercise its responsibility to
examine cases of doubtful spelling in accordance with Section 15(1)(b)(ii) of
the NZGB Act 2008. Section 10(1)(c)(ii) records that a principal function of
the Board is to alter an official geographic name or recorded name by
correcting the spelling of the name.
Policy from the
NZGB’s
Frameworks v.8
relevant to this
proposal
Name Alterations: Where an alteration to a name is proposed, the Board
will consider that proposal on its merits. The Board shall not generally alter
a name, for example by correcting its spelling, if the incorrect form is in
general public use and the alteration may affect a community. However,
other criteria and legislative considerations may outweigh this policy.
The evidence that the proposer has provided and the Secretariat’s research
supports that the features were very likely to have been named after the
artist, Charles Blomfield (especially because of the Artist Dome name) and
the spelling ‘Blomfield’ is correct. The features are in a very isolated area so
it is unlikely that correcting the spelling would affect the alpine community.
Concerns or issues
for emergency
services
Because there is little phonological difference between ‘Bloomfield’ and
‘Blomfield’, altering the features’ names is unlikely to cause confusion for
emergency services.
Media
It is unlikely that there will be any media attention as the features are in a
remote area.
Online Dictionary
of New Zealand
Sign Language
New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) is an official language of New Zealand.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (UNCRPD) the NZGB is obliged to recognise the existence and
importance of geographic names in NZSL.
There is no standardised NZSL sign for Blomfield in the online Dictionary.
The NZGB may consider recommending that if Bloomfield Range, Mount
Bloomfield and Bloomfield Creek are altered to Blomfield Range, Mount
8
Climb NZ National Route Database. Accessed 7 July 2016.
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Blomfield and Blomfield Creek, that they be added to the NZSL Dictionary.
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
1. Proposal – 17 January 2014 and 8 April 2014
2. Email to Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu – 1 July 2016
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