The Franz Josef Glacier/Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere is a glacier in the Te Tai Poutini / West Coast region of the Te Waipounamu / South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand.
It has a latitude of -43.475331 and a longitude of 170.199855 and it’s status is: Official Altered.
Westland/Tai Poutini National Park, 12 km from the Fox Glacier/Te Moeka o Tuawe. Franz Josef/Waiau: The first European to discover the glacier was Leonard Harper in 1857.
Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson saw the glacier in 1863 but didn’t name it as he assumed the surveyor at work on this portion of the coast would do so. It was left to Sir Julius von Haast, who probably in 1865 christened it after the emperor of Austria-Hungary. The name was anglicised by von Haast in the form Francis Joseph.
The spelling follows the emperor’s baptismal name, as it has in other parts of the world (notably Franz Josef Land in the Antarctic and Franz Josef Fiord in Greenland).
At a very early date the small settlement at the foot of the glacier was called Waiho Gorge, a corruption of Waiau, a common Maori name meaning Swirling waters.
Since the 1998 Ngai Tahu Deed of Settlement, the township has been known as Franz Josef/Waiau, and the glacier as Franz Josef Glacier/Kä Roimata o Hine Hukatere.
An historic name for the glacier is Te Tai-o-Wawe, lit. The tide of Wawe. The ancestor Wawe fell asleep on the glacier, and was killed when he fell off the glacier. Hinehukatere, who was in love with Wawe, saw him fall but was unable to help him, and so she shed tears.
Source: Reed, A.W. & Peter Dowling, Place Names of New Zealand, 2010.
It’s geographical description is noted as: A continuously receeding glacier in the Southern Alps/Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, approx. 7km south of Franz Josef/Waiau (village). Centered at NZTopo50-BX16 736822.