![]() That was very sad and hard for us all, may they both rest in peace. It made it hard too that Joannie passed away a week later, in the fire on Bastion Point. You cannot replace that sort of motherly love and that brought us closer together. I give full credit to my wife Constance, for doing what she did. When she passed away that was very hurtful and hard for us, a sad moment. Little things, like taking our baby away from the Point and doing things with her as a father, kept me going. I was too busy with Bastion Point issues and there were times when Connie felt a lot of stress. Being involved with the Point took a lot of time away from having to care for her and Connie used to bring her up to Bastion Point. One of the hardest things for me at the time was when Connie and I had our baby Bernadine who had brain damage. These people swayed our kaumatua to accept what the government were offering and so the media wrote that we were not listening to our kaumatua and there seemed to be a rift.Īt the end of the day, we were given the blessing by our kaumatua to continue with what we felt was the right thing to do. But there were a couple of our whānau who were in paid government positions. We discussed our position with the kaumatua and told them the stand we were going to make and in the end we got their full blessing. The government strategy was to talk our kaumatua into siding against us and one by one they swayed some of them to their way of thinking but that did not alter our stance. At the same time we were meeting with our whānau here and our kaumatua were giving us heaps of support. The public were hearing the truth from us and rallied to support. We were able to create a hell of a lot of support which turned the tide on the government. I give credit to Joe who did all his homework. ![]() They were offering their experience on how to deal with the government. There was the likes of Jim Anderton, Bill Anderson, and Cath Tizard. We had a lot of support from different people. We would explain to these people that we were not squatters, we were standing up for what we thought was our right. I also attended meetings around Auckland with Joe and others. In the early stages, it was my role to help set up the camp site. Joe Hawke and I told all those who came up, “No matter what group you have come from we only fly one banner”, and I am glad to say that saw us through and I am proud of what took place. One of the good things about it was that support came from many diverse groups and organisations. I felt I was doing something for our hapu and our iwi. When it stood up along side about four other tents, that was a proud moment for me. I made sure the owner’s name was on the inside, for obvious reasons. I couldn’t make it stand up properly and rather than having a box shaped tent, it ended up looking like a wigwam. I had this large container box and a large tarpaulin I had acquired when I was with a particular company. Pitching our tents on the first day caused a few problems. In the end everybody wanted to be heard but not seen. Everybody agreed we should occupy the land in protest. At the Māori Committee meetings we spoke about the issue of the government planning to move in and take control of what land we had left. What we were doing gave me the shivers because ordinary people taking on the government just was not done in those times. I remember the first day I walked onto Takaparawhau I had a feeling of awe, an awesome sensation. Ko Matepuri Maihi toku ingoa, ko Pateoro toku Papa, ko puti toku Mama. ( Read part one here.) Matt Maihi (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei deputy chair of the Ōrākei Māori Action Committee) The following extract is from a commemoration book produced and edited by Sharon Hawke in 1998. In 1977 Joe Hawke, with the Ōrākei Māori Action Committee, led an occupation to protest the loss of Ngāti Whātua’s land rights. May 25 marks 45 years since the arrest of more than 200 people at Takaparawhau, Bastion Point.
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