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Salient. Official Newspaper of Victoria University of Wellington Students Association. Vol 40 No. 17. July 18 1977

The Present Struggle

The Present Struggle

Joe Hawke has had a long association with the struggles of the Maori people. He presented submissions to the Royal Commission on Maori Reserve Lands, to the Waitangi Tribunal as well as the recent Maori Land March and the Matakite O Aotearoa movement. His involvement in these issues led him to take a ading role in the fight to regain the land at Bastion Point, "All of the Auckland isthmus was under the control of my great, great grandfather and to come from that to a position where all your land has been completely alienated is a very hard blow". Given that the Europeans had been able to acquire all of the tribal lands with little or no opposition it was not surprising that a time had to come when the Ngati Whatua realised that they would have to struggle to get the land back. In Joe Hawke's words the turning point came in 1950

— "At that time they had killed the right of our tribal land by evicting us from our marae.......then the elders began to sink into obscurity. It was just like wringing out a wet towel......they were wringing out the spirit of the Maori people and they went into a trance.... I think that gave incentive to the young people to really appreciate what had happened and made them relate to their own situation".

As a consequence the young people soon became more active in such bodies as the Maori District Councils. This has taken a long time to happen, however —; "27 years for that small spark to catch on and blossom into the formidable force which it is today". The task and responsibility of the young people has grown as the years have gone on. They have shown a willingness to become involved with the activities of the marae and that they are playing a leading role in the reappraisal of the situation of the Maori in New Zealand Society. It is in this context that Joe Hawke sees the significance of the Bastion Point land struggle for the Maori people today, especially the young Maoris, "Rastion Point has had an impact upon a lot of Maoris. Figuratively speaking they can apply it to their own situation and this is giving them an example of actually struggling for something..... for the preservation of their land".

One of the barriers to such an awareness in earlier years was the shift of the Maori to the city — a European stronghold totally foreign to Maori culture and values: "with the many temptations (of the city) there has resulted an assimilation programme fostered by many Europeans to domesticate the savages, and we have become used to the 7 - 5 job hours .... we have become domesticated and tamed like chucks". Nationally, the turning point came with the Maori Land March in 1975. The March was perhaps the culmination fo the growing awareness that was present among the Maori people, especially the Maori youth: "I think that the Maori Land March made a lot of Maori people aware, even European people aware of the situation regarding Maori Land. It had a strong impact of social awareness and of the message it portrayed. Everywhere we went on the March, out of the 25 maraes that we stayed at, it was like hearing the same record over and over again — the problems of land, culture and our heritage".

Photo of people looking through a window

While the Land March may have achieved much, there have also been problems that have been deep seated within the Maoris themselves. For a long time the young people were not encouraged by the elders of the tribes in many areas to take an active role in their own affairs. The lack of direction and incentive on the part of the Maori elders may have accounted for the willingness with which many of the young took up the cause of the Land March. — "one of the terrible things that is happening these days is that the young people are not allowed to speak on the maraes. Now its fair enough if the elders are playing their game, if they are playing the right role.

Map of Bastion Point

Above we see the proposals of the Bastion Point protestors for the use of the land while at right we see the Government's proposals for carving up the land.

Joe Hawke.

Joe Hawke.

Photo of people looking through a window

[unclear: agree] that the young people should sit behind [unclear: eir] old people but again if the elders are not [unclear: ing] their job of creating awareness on the [unclear: arae] and being in day to day contact with [unclear: e] young people they can't expect just to [unclear: in] the limelight".

A further result of the Land March and [unclear: istion] Point is that the Maori people have [unclear: come] politically active. The feeling of [unclear: 'termination] has been strengthened and [unclear: ere] is a new positive attitude amongst the [unclear: ople] to regain their land and to reassert their [unclear: vn] culture and heritage."Let's face it, we [unclear: e] Ngati Whatua) can't lose because we have [unclear: eady] lost everything so that we will win in [unclear: e] end, and anything that we gain must be [unclear: improvement"].

[unclear: Joe] Hawke sees the struggle at Bastion [unclear: int] and the recent events at Raglan as being direct results of the Land March. At Raglan Maori land had been seized during the war for use as an aerodrome, and was subsequently used as part of the local golf course. However, very recently it was announced that because it was not used for the original purpose for which it was seized that it would be returned to the true owners.

Map of Bastion Point carve-up

As for Bastion Point Joe Hawke knows that the Ngati Whatua will be ultimately [unclear: successful.] He point to the history of the tribe as an indication of their spirit: "We were not conquered by muskets or gunpowder. We were conquered by promises, treaties, promised legislation, protective legislation. This is a different warfare".

The sides to this "battle" have been drawn quite clearly. On the one hand is the Ngati Whatua and a large number of groups supporting the return of Bastion Point to the tribe, and on the other is the Government, attempting to use the land to provide high-class accommodation (with fine views of the harbour etc.)

The Ngati Whatua took the initiative in the "battle" and moved into the site of the proposed subdivision. This occurred after the Government had ignored the repeated requests from the Ngati Whatua for a return of the land: "basically what it boils down to is the continual annoyance of our people in regard to these basic issues and this has forced them to take direct action. The government has shown a complete arrogance and non-committal attitude to action any solution to the Maori problem in Orakei and to the people of the Ngati Whatua of Tamaki Makaura..... On Bastion Point our campaign has been one of insisting that the Minister of Maori Affairs, the Minister of Lands, and the Prime Minister be informed of the urgent need for these grievances to be understood without evading the issues .... we will continue to occupy the land until the Government is prepared to face the issues fair and square ..."