"Toitu he kainga whatungarongaro he tangata."
People pass on but our home on the land remains.
Apihai te Kawau, the Ngati Whatua rangatira, gave 3000 acres of land to Governor Hobson in 1840 that became the Auckland that we know. Seven hundred further acres were set aside for Ngati Whatua at Okahu Bay, but were whittled over the years to leave just a nub of land before the iwi were forcibly resettled to Kitemoana Street, Orakei. When it looked as if their presence was in danger and a housing project was going to be established at the Orakei Headland, an occupation ensued.
In this Te Ahi Kaa special Maraea Rakuraku explores the occupation.
Heard in this programme
Patu Clark remembers her time at the Okahu Papakainga as one of warmth and aroha surrounded by her whanau. Yet she says that for most of her childhood her people were hounded by the crown and various government agencies. She recalls an experience in 1948, when she was seven, that shaped her world view and led to her whanau prominence during the occupation.
Precious Clark, Patu's daughter whose beginnings date back to the occupation, and who was named for her cousin who died tragically in the occupation village.
In an archival recording Patu Clark's younger brother Joe Hawke, who was a key figure in the occupation, responds to the events.
Tigilau Ness was arrested at Bastion Point. At the time he was a member of the Polynesian Panthers, modeled on Malcolm X's Black Panther movement. He revisits the day of his arrest and describes how he thinks the event has shaped modern New Zealand.
