A Place to Stand
By Kiwi ana
8 February 2008
I'm not Maori but I feel an affinity for the culture that is closest to the first of humankind upon our isles.
At high school I voluntarily studied Te Reo (the language) and after I graduated I spent a year studying further on a Marae (meeting place for a subtribe or people of the area). The Tribe under whom I studied were Ngati Whaatua (the people of the four gods). They were historically a warring people, strong and strategic. I studied to the North of their territory but I hail from Auckland, which is home to the tribe's southern-most people, Ngati Whaatua Ki Orakei and their Marae on Bastion Point.
It was to that Marae that I was drawn this Wednesday. 6 February each year is the closest we have to a National Day. Issues that surround indigenous peoples can feel highly political, but for me this essay is more about the spirit of a people.
Waitangi
On Waitangi Day New Zealanders remember the day the British Crown and several Maori leaders signed a treaty in a small Northern bay named Waitangi in 1840. The treaty was designed by the Crown to bring stability and structure to their further settlement and rule over our land. They had the treaty translated into Maori, the problem was the two translations differed. Maori leaders believed they were agreeing to a co-operation. Maori have felt wronged ever since. Such feelings were only exacerbated as the Governments of the following years took possession of Maori lands for the purposes of the Crown. At times, sadly this was simply to place mansions in places of beauty instead of for the public good.
Land
Maori have a very close cultural tie to their land. It is rarely seen as owned by one person. Instead it is owned by the whole people. Land is associated with 'Mana' or feelings of pride, esteem and bearings. It is described as 'Turangawaewae' literally a place for my legs to stand or a home, it is roots, it is an anchor. Without land one is without those things and without a place to stand.
The Location
I chose Bastion Point because it is the place I remember images of modern land wars. In 1977 and 1978 the people of Ngati Whaatua Ki Orakei in Auckland stood up and demanded their land back. I was 5 years old. I remember the black and white images of men in leather vests, jeans and motorcycle helmets holding battered trash can lids as protection against heavily shielded riot police. Type 'Bastion Point' into a search engine and you will find archived footage. The stand off lasted weeks, maybe months I don't recall. All I know is the sense of pride I feel in knowing they won their land back.
Their story is one that goes further back to the 1950's when their people were evicted from their own bay side village and forced into government houses far back behind the point. The village was flattened and made into a park in preparation for the Queen's 1953 visit to NZ.
Bastion Point, above the bay had a history even deeper. It was used as a battlement with a huge hidden gun to protect Auckland against the Russian Scare of the 1890's. It has been home to a monument to and crypt housing Michael Joseph Savage since 1943. He was architect of the Welfare State in New Zealand, a first in the Western World.
The monument still stands. These days though, far back, on the edge of the government housing estate there is another grouping of more modern, more comfortable homes and a great Marae complex. These are the evidence of a victory won.
The Shoot
This year there was a free music concert on in the park in the bay. Local Maori were charging $5 to park on the grass on the point. A huge operation was underway and to me it felt good. There was 'mana'. The park was packed full of peaceful happy people (which is pretty much a triumph for a Waitangi Day event). There were many there in the park who were not Maori, celebrating, like myself.
I took my time away from the crowds and wandered the point and took some photos to commemorate the different angles of Maori in Auckland. Some show the continued 'poverty' of those who still live in the government estates. There are some of the Marae which I could not enter without a formal welcome so stood at the gate and tried hard to get a good angle. There are some of the monument and some of other Maori iconry around our local tertiary institutions.
This is my visual salute to the land and the people of Ngati Whaatua Ki Orakei.
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