Key People and Groups
Joe Hawke is seen as the figurehead of the Bastion Point protest and embodied immense fortitude throughout the ordeal of leading his people to retake their land. Joseph Parata (Joe) Hawke was a young boy around the age of nine or ten when his iwi, Ngāti Whātua's papakainga was removed by the Crown. His childhood was spent on the land, fishing for seafood and playing hide-and-seek with his cousins and brothers in the long grass. This land was seized in a bid by the government to secure prime real estate for the growing Auckland population. His family home was burned to the ground deliberately and his family was moved out of the sight of the public into state housing up the hill. Twenty six years on, Joe Hawke led his family and supporters to protest as an action against the government's raupatu (confiscation). The event in 1977 was a pivotal movement in terms of Māori land rights. Previously, Joe's involvement of Māori activism was the 1975 Land March. He assisted Dame Whina Cooper as secretary of Matakite during the hikoi. In 1987, Joe Hawke had a substantial role in addressing the Waitangi Tribunal with the grievances regarding Ngāti Whātua land. From 1996-2002 Hawke was a member of the Labour Party.
Ngāti Whātua are the iwi (tribe) who have occupied the Tamaki area since the seventeenth century. Ngāti Whātua o Ōrākei are the hāpu (sub tribe) of Ngāti Whātua, based in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland). Within five years after signing the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 Ngati Whātua lost thousands of acres of land to the Crown and were left with 700 acres. The Ngāti Whātua people were involved in the occupation of Bastion Point in 1977 to reclaim the land that was stolen from them. Today, Ngāti Whātua o Ōrākei have regained the land and rebuilt their marae called Tumutumwhenua. The hāpu owns a property asset base of about over $500 million, this is in contrast to the $3 million they received as compensation from the government. "Its annual report for the year to June 2013 reveals assets of $593 million and a pre-tax profit of $107 million, five times last year’s $21.3 million. It gained almost $99 million from property revaluations and $20 million from ground rents from tenants such as Countdown, Vector Arena, and banks, offices, shops and apartments built on former railway lands."(http://www.waateanews.com/Waatea+News.html?story_id=NTk3Mg==) The hāpu are involved actively in the community of Auckland and partake in various local and government affairs.
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