Māori land march

Māori Land March
Māori Land March
Part of Māori protest movement
	The Land March arriving at Parliament
Date	14 September to 13 October 1975
Location	New Zealand
Caused by	Land alienation and cultural loss
Methods	Marches, direct action

The Māori Land March of 1975 was a protest led by the group Te Rōpū Matakite (Error: {{language with name/for}}: missing language tag or language name (help)), created by Dame Whina Cooper. The hīkoi (march) started in Northland on September 14, travelled the length of the North Island, and arrived in Wellington on October 13, 1975. The purpose of the march was to protest the loss of Māori rights and land through the actions of Pākehā (Europeans). Over the 1,100 kilometres (680 mi) course of the march it grew from 50 to approximately 5,000 people.^[1]^[2]

Background

Why We March

In 1953, the government under Prime Minister Sidney Holland forced the Maori Affairs Act to use so-called unproductive Māori land. Anyone who wanted could now report unused land to the Māori Land Court and apply to borrow the land through an appointed trustee. The Maori Affairs Amendment Act 1967 introduced compulsory conversion of Māori freehold land with four or fewer owners into general land. It increased the powers of the Maori Trustee to compulsorily acquire and sell so-called uneconomic interests in Māori land.^[3] Māori worried that the law would result in further alienation of what land remained. As the protests increased, Māori realised that the New Zealand Māori Council, which had existed since 1962, and the Māori Women's Welfare League, founded in 1951, were not strong enough to represent their rights and political demands as their previous advocacy groups.^{[citation needed]}

In early March 1975, a hui (congregation) was called at Te Puea Memorial Marae in Māngere Bridge, with 79-year-old Whina Cooper present. Cooper had earned much recognition and respect over the many years of her social and political engagement among Māori people and was one of the few women in the Māori community recognised as a leader. The purpose of the hui was to discuss the idea of a march from Te Hāpua, a community at the top of the North Island, to Parliament in Wellington. The purpose of the march was to gain public attention and raise awareness of Māori concerns, particularly of the "twin themes of landlessness and cultural loss", and it would be led both by the young activist group Ngā Tamatoa and more traditional elders like Cooper; in this way, it was hoped the march would be able to attract support from a wide range of Māori.^[4] The following four months were used for planning and fundraising. In August all preparations were made and support and accommodation provided at various marae along the route.^{[citation needed]}

The March

Māori Land March crossing Auckland Harbour Bridge

On 14 September 1975, the march began at Te Hāpua. It was initially made up of around 50 people led by Cooper, but grew in numbers as they walked through different towns and cities and stayed at local marae. By the time the march reached Wellington, around 1,100 kilometres (680 mi) from its starting point, it was made up of around 5,000 people.^[2] Cooper led discussions at marae along the way about the purpose of the march and along the way people gathered signatures for a petition which would be presented at Parliament.^[1] A key slogan for the march was "Not one more acre of Maori land".^[3]

Route of March

The march, accompanied by two trucks and a bus carrying supplies, took 29 days, and followed a route from Te Hapua; Kaitaia; Mangamuka; Otiria; Hikurangi; Waipu; Wellsford; Orewa; Auckland; Ngāruawāhia; Kihikihi; Te Kuiti; Taumarunui; Raetihi; Whanganui; Ratana; Palmerston North; Shannon, New Zealand; Ōtaki, New Zealand; Porirua to Wellington.^{[citation needed]}

Impact

Upon arriving at Parliament, Whina Cooper presented a petition signed by 60,000 people from around New Zealand to Prime Minister Bill Rowling. The petition called for an end to monocultural land laws which excluded Māori cultural values, and asked for the ability to establish legitimate communal ownership of land within iwi. The hīkoi represented a watershed moment in the burgeoning Māori cultural renaissance of the 1970s. It brought unprecedented levels of public attention to the issue of alienation of Māori land, and established a method of protest that was repeatedly reused in the following decades, such as the occupation of the land at Bastion Point.^[2] This action brought treaty issues to public attention more strongly than at any time since the 19th century.^{[citation needed]}