Occupation of Bastion Point begins

Led by Joe Hawke, the Ōrākei Māori Action Committee instigated an occupation of Takaparawhā (Bastion Point reserve), a promontory on the southern shore of Auckland’s Waitematā Harbour. Ngāti Whātua maintained that this land had been wrongly taken from them and were bitterly opposed to the Crown’s decision to sell it.

In 1840 Ngāti Whātua chief Āpihai Te Kawau invited Governor William Hobson to move the capital of the new colony to the Waitematā. This gesture bolstered Ngāti Whātua’s standing in the area – but also made its land even more attractive to Pākehā. Land at Takaparawhā was taken by the Crown for defence purposes in the 1850s and 1880s, and then in 1898 the Native Land Court partitioned the Ōrakei block. By 1900, Ngāti Whātua was left with just 16 ha at Ōkahu Bay as its papakaingā.

During the 20th century the government and Auckland City Council worked together to force Ngāti Whātua out of Ōkahu Bay. A pipe laid across the front of the village in 1912 discharged untreated sewage into the bay and prevented storm water draining away. The community was refused a connection to the municipal water reticulation system. In 1951 the last inhabitants were evicted by force and their houses and meeting house were demolished.

In late 1976 Prime Minister Robert Muldoon announced plans for a housing development at Takaparawhā. Days before work on the subdivision was due to begin, the land was occupied. The Action Committee was supported by radical Māori and Pākehā organisations, but some Ngāti Whātua elders disassociated themselves from it.

In April 1977 a disused warehouse was re-erected on the site as Arohanui Marae, but facilities were rudimentary and in winter the exposed site was a bleak place to live.

In February 1978 the government offered to return some land and houses to Ngāti Whātua, but the iwi would have to pay $200,000 in development costs. The protesters stayed put.

In April 1978 the Supreme Court ruled that the occupied land belonged to the Crown, which was entitled to an injunction to prevent trespass. Police evicted the occupiers on 25 May, 506 days after they had arrived. 

When the jurisdiction of the Waitangi Tribunal was widened to cover retrospective issues, Joe Hawke’s Ōrākei claim was the first historical claim the Tribunal heard. Its 1987 report recommended the return to Ngāti Whātua of land taken under the Public Works Act, and a settlement was reached in 1991.

Read more about the eviction of protesters and the return of the Bastion Point land.

Image: Bastion Point protest