War heroine Nancy Wake remembered in Doubtless Bay street name

A street at Doubtless Bay has been named after World War II French Resistance heroine Nancy Wake who had family connections to the bay.

The death of New Zealand-born Nancy Grace Augusta Wake in London earlier this month made world headlines.

Obituaries described a fearless fighter whose efforts to rid Europe of the Nazis earned her the French government’s highest military honour, the Légion d'Honneur.

Nancy was born in Wellington in 1912 and moved to Australia with her parents Charles Augustus Wake and Ella Wake (née Rosieur) at the age of two.

However, her grandparents Margaret and Henry Rosieur farmed on Paewhenua Island near Mangonui in the 1920s.

Nancy visited the island at least once as a child and kept in touch with her grandparents, according to Australian Peter FitzSimons biography ‘Nancy Wake – A  Biography of our Greatest War Heroine’.

Te Hiku Community board on Wednesday (August 17) named a street in a new subdivision at Coopers Beach Nancy Wake Place in honour of the heroine’s war record and her association with Doubtless Bay.
Community board chairman Dennis Bowman says the board wanted to recognise a remarkable woman whose heroic efforts to combat the Nazis and tyranny remain inspirational and extraordinary to this day.
Nancy Wake Place is a cul-de-sac off Eagles Way and has expansive views over Doubtless Bay.
Other names surveyors suggested for the street were Panorama Place, Doubtless Vista, Doubtless Views and Doubtview Place.