Rene Hawke, the wife of the late Ngāti Whātua Ōrakei leader Joe Hawke, died yesterday morning.
Her daughter, Sharon, says arrangements will be announced later.
While Joe Hawke was seen as the face of Māori protest from when he carried the pou over the Auckland Harbour Bridge at the front of the Māori Land March in 1975, and through the 1978 occupation of Takaparawhau-Bastion Point, Rene was recognised as the backbone of the struggle.
The family struggled after the occupation, with Hawke blacklisted from re-establishing his building business and unable to obtain significant employment for many years.
They continued to fight through the Waitangi Tribunal, which eventually led to the Ōrākei Act 1991 and the restoration of the marae land to the hapū.
