A Bastion Point memory

The recollection I have comes from a time several years after the occupation of Bastion Point.
I was out of the country in 1978 when the eviction occurred, returning the following year to begin church-ministry training at St John's College, which is in sight of the Point about two kilometres to the south. In 1981 a number of staff and students at the College became involved in protests against the Springbok rugby tour. When that tour ended, in September I think, there was a big meeting of all the protest groups at Orakei Marae. By then we'd had protests every week and sometimes twice a week for several months. The most recent ones had been large and had got quite rowdy too. The rowdiest was at Eden Park, and a march in Queen Street had topped 10,000 people. We were all weary from protesting and it felt good to be looking back on what had happened. So when we gathered at the marae there was lots of relief and story telling. It’s funny now to think of us all gathered there looking out over Auckland City, and talking about racism as if it was all somewhere else, far away in South Africa. While that was a place most of us had never seen, we’d all learned a fair bit about South Africa's history, economy, and its ruling elite. Yet before that meeting at Orakei, at the end of the Springbok Tour I'd never heard the names Ngati Whatua or Takaparawha. While I could have pointed out Okahu Bay I still knew nothing of Auckland’s sprawling history as it had carved and swallowed the hills and gullies right up to the edge of where we stood that day. And to those in other houses, on other hills, Bastion Point was still looking like prime real estate and their readiness to start the carving up again had never disappeared. I have since learned that Ihowa often teaches from the outside-in, gradually bringing our attention back from the horizon to what is right at our feet. When the meeting ended a group of us went up to join in prayers at the graveside of little Joanne Hawke, who had died in a fire during the Occupation. As we walked back down the hill after the service Joanne’s aunt Rene Hawke said; "I’m feeling really, really jealous". None of us said anything and we just kept walking in silence. I had no idea what Rene meant. Then she said; "I'm jealous about the protests. All over this country there've been protests. All those people marched in Queen Street last week. When are people going to start marching for us?" It took a while for us to take this in. Over the next few weeks several of our teachers guided us into understanding not only the historical picture but also where to put ourselves as that history unfolded. I came to understand what we had been asked as a very special thing – sacred really. We all found different ways of answering. Mary Kippenberger created a wonderful jigsaw display-presentation which showed the loss of land over time and she began taking it round churches and other groups in Auckland. One night it was stolen from her car, so she made another one and took it all around the country. And later in 1981 we joined in renewed protests up at the Point. There was talk of another occupation. For those still coveting beautiful Takaparawha I think it helped to remind them; “Bastion Point is Maori Land!”
No reira, ka manaakitaka a te Matua Nui i te Raki kia koutou katoa.
Na Rob Ritchie
Otautahi/Christchurch