Taranaki Street, Okato Place and Patea Place

When a new street was constructed off South Road in 1978 the Masterton Borough Council approached “a local group” to find a number of Maori names suitable for use in the area. After receiving no reply the Council named the streets themselves, deciding to use “well-known Maori geographic features or place names.” They elected to name the first street Taranaki Street, after the mountain.

This policy was followed up and two other streets were given names of towns in the Taranaki region - Patea Place and Okato Place.

Pic: The near perfect form of Taranaki, Mount Egmont.