Bastion Point matriarch to be laid to rest today with husband Joe Hawke

Kaupapa Māori Editor·NZ Herald·

19 Mar, 2024 07:55 PM3 mins to read

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei matriarch Rene Hawke with an image from the Bastion Point occupation.

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei will this morning farewell matriarch Rene Hawke, who died on Monday, only a few days after her 84th birthday.

Daughter Sharon Hawke said her mum would be remembered as a kind and loving mother who was the backbone of their whānau.

She said Rene would visit her dad’s grave site daily weather permitting, planned how his grave would look, and planted roses “almost in preparation”.

Sharon Hawke and her mum Rene, who died on Monday, aged 84.

“Mum just loved people and had so much manaaki for everyone. She cared about the world, but didn’t suffer fools,” Sharon said.

“Mum had a smile for everyone, but watch out if you got on the wrong side of her,” she said with a laugh.

In her last few days, Rene was still thinking and worrying about her whānau, Sharon said.

“She asked for forgiveness and said to us ‘I’m sorry if I caused you any pain’.”

“That was so humbling to me because Mum was in so much pain and I would not wish that sort of pain on anyone.

“Mum was just so humble and never wanted to be in the limelight.”

Rene’s husband, Joe Hawke, who died in 2022, was a Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei leader and 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 Hawke family struggled after the occupation, with Hawke blacklisted from re-establishing his building business and unable to obtain significant employment for many years.

But he continued to fight through the Waitangi Tribunal, eventually leading to the Ōrākei Act 1991 and the restoration of the marae land to the hapū.

Their stand laid the foundations for the social and economic development of the hapū, which now has more than $1 billion in money and assets.

Hawke went on to become a Labour MP for two terms.

“We have had a lot of kōrero over the past two days and many have described mum as Dad’s tuara (back) of the whānau.

“Pat Sneddon in his whaikōrero (speech) said Mum put in the fuel so Dad could do what he had to do for our people,” Sharon said.

“What I will remember Mum for is her unconditional love for us.”

Rene Lillian Hawke, nee Noda-Thomson, is lying at Ōrākei Marae, where her nehu will be held at 11am today, and she will then be interred with her husband on Takaparawhau (Bastion Point), the land the Hawke whānau fought so hard to return to the Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei iwi.