The Kororā

The carved image of the Korora and the name Kororāreka were installed on the street-side of the waharoa in December 2023.

The original name of the town, Kororāreka, comes from the story of a sick chief who after being given a soup made from the little blue penguin, declared “how sweet the penguin was”.

Kororāreka translates to sweet penguin - the little blue penguin being the kororā and reka meaning sweet.

It was renamed Russell by settlers sometime in 1844 after the leader of the British House of Commons, Lord John Russell, a man who never set foot in Aotearoa. The Marae Committee installed the Kororā to share the history of the town and its name with the school children and the many visitors who come to visit one of New Zealand’s earliest settled towns where Māori and Pākehā worked within the economy prior to the Treaty being signed.

The Kororāreka marae committee are proposing that the official name of Russell be returned to Kororāreka. It has gone through the Geographic Board and consultations have been widely held across the region. As of February 2024, we await the decision from the Government.

A collaborative Community Project lead by Kororareka Marae with funding support from Creative Northland. Kaiwhakairo / Carver Tony Makiha