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Cooper's first involvement in politics was in the form of a land dispute over an area of leased mudflats in around 1914. The farmer, Bob Holland, who rented the land, wanted to drain the estuary for farming. That would have obstructed current use of the land by local iwi for gathering seafood and racing horses during the drier months. Heremia challenged the lease in court, and Cooper led a group of protestors to fill in Holland's drains. The protesters were eventually charged with trespassing, but they had stalled events long enough for Heremia to be successful, and the lease was withdrawn by the Marine Department.<ref name="DNZB"/>
In 1916, she returned to work at the co-operative store, and around this time, met her first husband, Richard Gilbert, of [[Ngāti Wai]]. She married him on 10 May 1917, with only her parents' knowledge, which led to some unhappiness with her wider family and community, who felt they should have been consulted. After her parents died, they left the family home, and moved to family land at Te Karaka, where they had to build their own home. By 1920, they had two children, and were able to borrow money from a local priest to purchase her father's home and farm at Whakarapa and the local store. There, she played a leading role in business and the community, including in 1923 calling a [[Hui (Māori assembly)|hui]] that led to the name of Whakarapa being changed to Panguru. Her community leadership impressed politician Sir [[Āpirana Ngata]], who invited her to a national
She moved to [[Auckland]] in 1949 when her second husband, William Cooper, died. Her political activity changed from local to national. In September 1951, she was elected first president of the new [[Māori Women's Welfare League]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Ministry for Culture and Heritage|title=Dame Whina Cooper|url=http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/people/dame-whina-cooper|access-date=17 April 2011|date=6 May 2010}}</ref> "which was able to improve things notably for Maori women", working on health, housing, education, and welfare.<ref>{{cite book|last=Grau|first=Marion|title=Rethinking Mission in the Postcolony: Salvation, Society and Subversion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRMEDZe31DwC|year=2011|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9780567280886|pages=58–59}}</ref> In 1957, she stepped down as president, and the annual conference rewarded her with the title ''Te Whaea o te Motu'' ("Mother of the Nation"). During the 1960s, she worked on a local level around Auckland, but kept largely out of the national spotlight. This changed in 1975 when a coalition of Māori groups asked her to lead them in a protest against the loss of Māori land. She agreed, proposing a [[hikoi]] (a symbolic march) from the northern tip of the North Island to Parliament in [[Wellington]] at the other end of the island.<ref name="DNZB"/>
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