Police surround protesters on the disputed land. Hundreds were forcibly evicted in May 1978. Photo / NZ Herald Archive
Police surround protesters on the disputed land. Hundreds were forcibly evicted in May 1978. Photo / NZ Herald Archive
To celebrate Auckland’s 175th anniversary, its demisemiseptcentennial, the Weekend Herald continues its series celebrating the growth of the city with a look at people who shaped Auckland. Today, Suzanne McFadden revisits the occupation of Bastion Point.
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E rua tau ruru, E rua tau wehe, E rua tau mutu, E rua tau kai.
Two seasons of drought; two seasons of scarcity; two seasons of crop failure; two seasons of plenty.
It is a Maori proverb which means persevere, keep at it, and success will follow. And as the last of the police wagons drove off from Bastion Point on May 25, 1978, carting away those who had occupied the land for 506 days, it was a proverb that resonated deeply.
The eviction heaped pain on a people reclaiming their moral rights to one of Auckland's prime pieces of land after decades of injustice. But they were determined to fight on, and in the end, were rewarded.
Bastion Point stands as a monument to a people's struggle. It stands as a defining moment in the Maori land struggles of the 1970s.
It all began in January 1977 when a young builder, Joe Hawke - destined to one day be an MP - put down his hammer and led his people in a peaceful protest to reclaim Takaparawhau (the original name for the land).
In the beginning, no one knew how dramatic a place in history the occupation would eventually inhabit, some describing the early days as being more like "a camping holiday with a billion-dollar view" than a protest.
Hawke's intention was a direct response to Government plans to develop high-income housing on the land, but the roots of the protest ran far deeper.
"It was the tipping point after a series of slaps in the face for Ngati Whatua," says Margaret Kawharu, a representative on the Ngati Whatua Orakei Trust. "From the time [leader] Apihai Te Kawau asked the land court to make their land inalienable in 1869, right through until 1977, those people were thwarted in every endeavour."
In 1840, Ngati Whatua o Orakei held large tracts of prized land in Auckland. Less than 100 years later, the hapu and its people were virtually landless; some land lost through forced sales, some through evictions.
After gifting land for the new settlement of Auckland in the 1840s, the hapu was soon left with only 700 acres (280ha), called the Orakei Block. Thirty years later the Crown took a chunk of Bastion Point for a fort; in 1908 it ran a sewer pipe across the hapu's papakainga (village) in Okahu Bay, turning it into a swamp.
By 1952 the remaining inhabitants of the village were evicted and moved to state houses; as a final insult the marae and homes were burned.
All this history was in the hearts of the group who pitched tents on the 24ha Crown-owned site in an attempt to thwart development plans. The Government wanted to erect high-income housing - Ngati Whatua protesters, under the banner of the Orakei Maori Action Committee, wanted to wrest it back for future generations.
Takaparawhau: The People's Story, a book published in 1998 to mark the 20th anniversary of the end of the occupation, brings together the human stories and memories of that time of hardship - and kinship. The stories were gathered by Sharon Hawke, just 16 when she was dragged by police from Bastion Point.
Vivienne Smits, who lived on the point during the occupation, recalled there was no power or hot water. "This was grass roots - a few tents, a couple of caravans, wood stoves, longdrop loos, Tilley lamps and candles," she wrote.
"As winter approached we grew bolder as deadlines for eviction came and went without event; a meeting house was built. Maori icons - Dame Whina Cooper, Matiu Rata, Eva Rickard, Donna Awatere etc - passed through with their spiritual and political support. Tim Shadbolt would quietly support by attending meetings. John Denver also visited, sang and shared and gave us free concert tickets which was very uplifting."
Others musicians came: the Topp Twins, Hello Sailor, the band who would become Herbs. Shadbolt and his wife Miriam brought fruit; handyman skills were in abundance from people such as "Aussie Bob", who'd crossed the Tasman to join the protest; and Margaret "Maggiebells" Peters baked scones on an old stove.
Tragedy also struck, when Joannie Hawke, 5-year-old daughter of Alec and Miro, died in a fire at the campsite. Her loss was a shock for all.
Then, in the early morning of May 25, 1978, army trucks rumbled thought Auckland's eastern suburbs as the military backed up 600 police brought in to end the occupation.
Tom Dennis, who was police liaison to Ngati Whatua during the occupation, told the Herald in 1998 he would never forget that day.
"Tears were streaming down the faces of the occupiers, and I felt so much empathy for them," said Dennis. "We were the meat in the sandwich; it was a political argument. What made it worse was I felt the occupiers were striving for something which was their right. People from my tribe were going through the same grievances over our land and I knew what the occupiers were going through."
Robin Morrison, whose incredible photographs of the protest are held by the Auckland Museum, was deeply moved too. "I certainly got the feeling of the horror. That's the only way I can really put it, of seeing those hundreds and hundreds of police descending on that small community. And whatever the rights and wrongs of that protest movement, it certainly made me feel very - almost desolate - about New Zealand's future if a government could send in the paramilitary... into that Maori marae."
Protest organiser Joe Hawke with his dogs at Bastion Point. Photo / Robin Morrison
In all, 220 people were arrested that day, as bulldozers were brought in to smash down the campsite, including the meeting house.
Writing in his Listener column about a month later, Dr Ranginui Walker said the arrests had passed into history along with the defeat of Te Kooti in 1869, the dismemberment of Parihaka in 1881, and the arrest of prophet Rua Kenana in 1916.
"We are all in some way oppressed and diminished by the fall of Bastion Point," Walker wrote. "In destroying the meeting house called Arohanui [love for all men], which gave warmth and shelter to hundreds of people who visited the point during the 506 days of its occupation, we exposed the base and dark side of our nature for all the world to see. The obscene assault on the structure by bulldozers represented the triumph of the technological society over the noble spirit of man. Is it necessary to tear ourselves to pieces as a nation to come to self-understanding?"
Yet the bulldozers and arrests failed to crush the will of Ngati Whatua. The kaumatua negotiated with the Crown through the Waitangi Tribunal, which issued a landmark report in 1987.
The Government then returned the point to the hapu and gave it a $3 million fund to develop the land; the restructured trust board received Housing Corporation land in the area. The settlement also restored the mana of Ngati Whatua.
As chairman of the Ngati Whatua o Orakei Maori Trust Board, Sir Hugh Kawharu facilitated the battle for wider Auckland claims. He saw an agreement reached in principle before his death in 2006 which was finally settled in 2012.
Perhaps the strongest legacy of the protest was the awakening of Maori - and the opening of discussion with Pakeha. Joe Hawke told the Herald in 2008 that he believed it was "the protest on which other Maori issues were launched".
"It was a learning experience for other campaigns to be mounted on. Whatever we learned, whatever we did on Takaparawhau, we learned on the run."
Maori and Pakeha eyes were opened, said Hawke, who in 2008 was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Maori and the community.
"I wanted them to look across the fence and look at their neighbours and see what they were about. I wanted them to use their own intellect to understand what we were saying. People were hungry for the message, they were hungry for history."
The occupation has taken its own place in history, and left those who rose up on Bastion Point with the lasting memories of what a momentous stand they took.
Occupier Grant Hawke wrote in Takaparawhau: "I still weep for the land but my mokopuna [grandchildren], my tamariki [children], will never ever have to mourn its loss."
Planting to regenerate the forest at Bastion Point is ongoing. Photo / Dean Purcell
On a Saturday towards the end of each month this winter, you will find a group of enthusiastic workers braving the elements to plant native saplings on Bastion Point.
The winter community plantings take place on the Whenua Rangatira " land set aside in the claim settlement as a reserve for the hapu and all people of Auckland. The project, Ko Te Pukaki, is restoring the land to its natural ngahere (forest) for all to enjoy.
Over the past 15 years, 200,000 plants have been planted - all grown in the nursery behind the Ngati Whatua o Orakei marae.
"Everyone is invited to help with the planting, and we teach as we go - empowering whanau to learn how to plant, what they're planting and what the plants are for. Our approach is to put a cloak back on Papatuanuku [the land]," says Richelle Kahui-McConnell.
She is also project manager of the Okahu Bay ecological restoration plan, to improve the health of the waters and marine ecosystems in the bay.
The mussel reef that once thrived in Okahu Bay is being replenished - three tonnes of mussels have been introduced since August last year - to filter the waters from high sedimentation and metal contamination, and to restore the mauri (life force) of the bay.
In a groundbreaking example of co-governance, the 60ha of Whenua Rangatira is managed by a reserves board of three representatives of the hapu and three from Auckland Council.
One of the hapu representatives, Margaret Kawharu, says plans for the development include a whare waka and paddling centre in Okahu Bay to promote Maori seafaring culture, a whare taonga arts centre, and more sculptures on the land to tell the story of the hapu.
"The whole Whenua Rangatira is a living demonstration of Ngati Whatuatanga and environmental sustainability. It's a template for Auckland," she says.
"One translation of whenua rangatira is 'state of peace'. We had our battles, and now this is what we are doing - for us and for all people - to enjoy."
• The next community plantings at Bastion Point are June 20, July 25 and August 22.
