In the French town of Le Quesnoy, you will see streets named Rue Nouvelle-Zélande, Avenue des Néo-Zélandais, and Rue Aotearoa – la Terre du long nuage blanc, as well as a square called Place des All Blacks. The town has honoured the New Zealand forces that liberated them from German occupation in November 1918.

In the Bay of Plenty, we have several names with French connections.
* Borell Road: In the Te Puna area, of the French sailors who settled there, Emile Borel is the only Frenchman to have a road named after him.
* The nearby Minden has a very tenuous French connection. The hill was named after a battle fought in 1759 in Europe during the Seven Years War. An Anglo-German army defeated 60,000 French troops to recapture the town of Minden in Northern Germany. The Suffolk regiment was involved in the victory and a Captain from it named the current residential area with superb views as a reminder of the regiment’s battle honours. Anyone else tempted to start a petition for “Roses in Every Minden Garden” ? The reason ? Apparently, the British “Minden” Regiments advanced to battle with white roses in their hats, plucked from the hedgerows !

* D’Urville Way links in with the nautical/explorer theme found in the streets of Welcome Bay. It reminds us that in 1827 the French explorer Dumont D’Urville anchored off Tauranga and sent men ashore to barter for food. An officer also went ashore to take astronomical observations and to make a chart of the harbour. Astrolabe Street at the Mount, and the Astrolabe Reef are named after D’Urville’s ship that nearly ran aground on the reef in 1827.

* Tahiti has provided street names for a Beazley Homes subdivision.  After a holiday spent there, Barry Beazley chose the names for Moorea Street and Mahina Place, Tahara Crescent and Matavai Street.  Mardi Place and Gobray Crescent are named after Mlle Gobrait, whom he met in Tahiti. Tahitian born Maadi Gobrait (spelling got lost in translation) trained as a nurse in Oamaru (NZ), answered General de Gaulle’s call to arms in World War 2, and was decorated with the French Legion of Honour, the War Cross (Croix de guerre) and the French Resistance Medal.

For info about BOP Place names: https://paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/nodes/view/6727