(BIVN) – The Hawaiʻi House of Representatives voted on Thursday to adopt a resolution, HCR27 HD1,  which requests “the United States Census Bureau to re-designate the census-designated place known as Captain Cook on the island of Hawaii as Ka‘awaloa.”

The resolution also requests Hawaiʻi County to remove all references to Captain Cook as a place name on the island of Hawaiʻi.

Kona’s State Representative Jeanne Kapela was one of the introducers of the measure. The resolution was transmitted to and received by the Hawaiʻi State Senate.

As written in the latest House Draft of the resolution:

WHEREAS, Captain Cook is a census-designated place on the island of Hawaii, within the district of South Kona and bordered by the census-designated places Kealakekua on the north and Hōnaunau-Napo‘opo‘o on the south; and

WHEREAS, the area is so named because the post office for the area was located in the Captain Cook Coffee Company during the early 1900s; and

WHEREAS, prior to being designated as Captain Cook, the area was home to a thriving Hawaiian village and royal residence known as Ka‘awaloa; and

WHEREAS, Ka‘awaloa was the residence of choice for many Kona chiefs, including King Kamehameha I; and

WHEREAS, despite the decline in the Native Hawaiian population through the late 1800s, the area was still known as Ka‘awaloa by the local populace and visitors to the area; and

WHEREAS, the area continued to be known as Ka‘awaloa through the 1920s, as evidenced by a passage in Charmian London’s memoir recalling a horseback ride to Ka‘awaloa to view the Captain Cook monument; and

WHEREAS, re-designating the area as Ka‘awaloa is vital to recognizing and honoring the rich and storied history of Hawaii; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, the Senate concurring, that the United States Census Bureau is requested to re-designate the census-designated place known as Captain Cook on the island of Hawaii as Ka‘awaloa; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Hawaii County is requested to remove all references to Captain Cook as a place name on the island of Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the United States Census Bureau, Mayor of the County of Hawaii, and Chairperson of the Hawaii County Council.