Matakite

The 1975 Māori Land March
a 50th Anniversary Memoir

by vivian Hutchinson

download as a PDF

“Who will trust me in a time of Spring when flowers clamour for

the yellow and the blue, the red the green of the life-giving earth?”

— Hone Tuwhare

I WAS ONLY 19-years old when I first met Whina Cooper, and was invited to join her new land rights action group called Te Roopu o te Matakite.

Even though I was a young Pākehā man, I had spent a significant part of my teenage years growing up and helping out at the Māori community of Parihaka, in coastal Taranaki.

It was unusual for this time, but my experiences at Parihaka had made me very familiar with the history of the Taranaki wars over land, the legislative confiscations that had followed the wars, and the non-violent campaign of resistance by Taranaki Māori to this land-grab.

So it is perhaps no great mystery that, in early 1975, I found myself in Auckland with Whina Cooper as she was shaping up the strategy behind her new land-rights group.

What is perhaps a greater surprise was that, during her inaugural meeting to establish this group, I was able to suggest to Whina the idea of the Māori Land March — a 1000-km protest walk from the top of the North Island down to Parliament Grounds in Wellington. It was envisaged as a non-violent demonstration against the ongoing theft of Māori land, and a way to shift the political indifference that surrounded land rights issues.

In the next six months following that inaugural meeting, I had the privilege of working within Te Roopu o te Matakite to make the land march a reality. And I was also part of the core group of marchers who collectively walked from Te Hapua (near Cape Reinga) down the North Island to Wellington.

The 1975 Land March has since been recognised as one of the catalysing events of the modern Māori renaissance. It brought the issue of Māori land back into the public spotlight, and connected a new generation of activists to a much longer history of protest and peaceful resistance over land rights issues.

It also built a much wider public mandate for action over land grievances, and in so doing has proven to be a turning point in reshaping both Māori and Pākehā culture.

This is my memoir of how the land march was created. It is obviously an inadequate account. It is one person’s perspective on what has been a collective endeavour for justice and reconciliation. The land march was also part of a movement for change that stretched well beyond Whina Cooper’s own remarkable leadership, and the activities of Te Roopu o te Matakite in the 1970s.

It may seem unusual for a Pākehā man to be so centrally involved in what was essentially a Māori-led initiative. Yet at the time, while I was often challenged about my role in the organising of the land march, I never felt I was in the wrong place.

My participation was encouraged and well supported by friends and mentors, from both within Te Roopu o te Matakite and elsewhere. These people fostered in me the strong conviction that our human capacity to address issues of justice, to solve problems, and to create the communities we want to live in, is at its best when we find ways of working together.

Fifty years later, despite the ups and downs of a lifetime of community activism, this basic conviction continues to drive my work as an active citizen.

But back in 1975, I obviously had a lot to learn. As perhaps did all of us involved with Te Roopu o te Matakite. This memoir shares some of the stories of what that learning journey had in store for us, as we worked together to create something that hadn’t been done before.

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