The Te reo masthead running from June 14 on the Dominion Post. The newspaper's full title - Te Purongo o te Upoko-o-te-Ika - translates loosely as 'the report from the head of the fish'.

And so Māui's magic fishhook went deeper and deeper into the sea. He hooked a huge fish and pulled it up … and to this day the North Island is known to Māori as Te Ika a Māui – or Māui's fish.

It's a charming and powerful myth, and gave rise to our reworked masthead, which coincides with today's launch of the Wellington City Council Te Reo Māori policy and tomorrow's start of Matariki.

This newspaper's full title – Te Pūrongo o te Upoko-o-te-Ika – translates loosely as 'the report from the head of the fish' (of Māui) and was created by the council's iwi partnerships, Taranaki Whānui and Ngāti Toa.

STUFF We're helping mark Matariki, with a new masthead.

It is a small yet significant symbol that this newspaper – headquartered at the very 'head of Māui's fish' – is the voice of everyone, irrespective of race, gender, ethnicity and all the other factors that can make us strangers rather than neighbours.

READ MORE:

* Wellington City Council cancels Guy Fawkes and moves fireworks Sky Show to Matariki

* Matariki: Everything there is to know about it

* Te Papa's four-year plan to put Matariki on the calendar of all New Zealanders

There are still many divisions and disagreements among us, and we may even differ on ways to solve and settle those, but hopefully we'll all agree that dialogue is always preferable to other means.

ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF Wellington Mayor Justin Lester and Deputy Mayor Jill Day with a mockup of the 'Welcome to Wellington' sign made for the new Te Tauihu Te Reo Policy that will see Wellington City signs go bi-lingual.

That dialogue can take many forms, but speaking each other's language – even when stilted, broken and far from perfect – is a good place to start.

The council's policy aims to enhance mutual understanding and bilingualism, and we support that wholeheartedly.

Our support is not, as some may claim, a political statement. It is simply affirmation that we are all citizens of this great city, region and land – and getting to know each other a little better can only foster better understanding and tolerance.

Tihei Matariki. Yay Matariki.

Eric Janssen

Editor