Bastion Point 47 years on – One of NZ’s most shameful days

This week in history: Bastion Point protestors evicted

The Bastion Point occupation (1977–1978) stands as a pivotal moment in Aotearoa New Zealand’s history, symbolizing Māori resistance against land dispossession and catalyzing significant shifts in Crown–Māori relations. Bastion Point, or Takaparawhā, is a coastal promontory in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) traditionally belonging to Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. Over time, the Crown systematically acquired much of their land, often through compulsory means. By the 1970s, Ngāti Whātua retained only a small fraction of their ancestral territory. In 1976, the government announced plans to develop Bastion Point for high-income housing, prompting outrage from the iwi.

On 5 January 1977, led by activist Joe Hawke and the Ōrākei Māori Action Committee, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and supporters began a peaceful occupation of Bastion Point to oppose the proposed development. They established temporary structures, including a marae, and cultivated the land, asserting their connection to the whenua. The occupation lasted 506 days, becoming one of the longest land protests in New Zealand’s history.

On 25 May 1978, the government deployed over 800 police and army personnel to forcibly remove the occupiers. A total of 222 protesters were arrested, and their makeshift buildings and gardens were demolished. The eviction was widely publicized, drawing national and international attention to Māori land grievances.

The Bastion Point occupation significantly influenced New Zealand’s approach to Māori land rights. In 1987, the Waitangi Tribunal found that the Crown had acted unjustly in its dealings with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. Subsequently, in 1988, the government returned Bastion Point to the iwi and provided compensation. This event galvanized further Māori activism and led to numerous successful land claims across the country.

I was watching the TVNZ news broadcast of the day the Police dragged Māori away from Bastion Point.

The army trucks shipping the cops in.

The smarmy pale goon perched up on an Army Jeep using a bull horn to warn the natives the Crown was going to punish them for their resistance.

The way they dragged the men away.

The way the old women barricaded themselves inside the Marae and were carried out weeping.

The way they performed a haka on the bus to the jails.

The way the Cops used bulldozers to flatten the buildings.

It was a shameful, shameful day in NZ History.

Watching the same racist hates given fresh grievance and spoken as truth highlights how little we refuse to learn from our own past.

 

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