Name change resolution shelved: Legislation sought to re-designate Captain Cook as Ka‘awaloa

A resolution asking the Census to re-designate Captain Cook as Ka‘awaloa was shelved this legislative session.

House Concurrent Resolution 27 requested the U.S. Census Bureau re-designate the Census-designated place known as Captain Cook on Hawaii Island as Ka‘awaloa. It further requested the County of Hawaii remove all references to Captain Cook as a place name.

Introduced by Rep. Jeanne Kapela (D-Naalehu, Ocean View, Captain Cook, and Kailua-Kona) and others, HCR27, would not have had the force and effect of law, but rather it would have stated the official position of the Legislature.

The proposal cleared the House, but was deferred by the first of two committee assignments in the Senate. The Senate Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs deferred the measure “indefinitely.”

Testimony heard about the proposed measure was overwhelmingly in support of renaming the South Kona town.

Captain Cook, located between Honaunau and Kealakekua in South Kona, was so named after a post office established at the Captain Cook Coffee Co. in the early 1900s. The coffee company was named after Capt. James Cook, the British explorer and navigator, and first European to discover Hawaii, was later killed at Kealakekua Bay on Feb. 14, 1779.

Prior, the area was known as Ka‘awaloa, and was home to a thriving Hawaiian village and the choice locale for many Kona chiefs, including King Kamehameha I.

Re-designating the area as Ka‘awaloa is vital to recognizing and honoring the rich and storied history of Hawaii, according to the resolution.