TOITŪ TE WHENUA

CELLIA JOE-OLSEN

Whatungarongaro te tangata, toitū te whenua.

DESCRIPTION Ko te Hīkoi mō te Whenua kei Kirikiriroa, 26 Mahuru 1975

MAKER / ARTIST Christian F. Heinegg (b. 1940)

REFERENCE Photographs of the Māori Land March (PA-Group-00234: 35mm-87527-2-F) Ko Tame Iti e hiki ana i te pou whenua o te Hīkoi mō te Whenua. Ko Whina Cooper, ko Moka Puru ētahi o nga kaitautoko. Kei Kirikiriroa rātou, i te wāhanga mai i a Ngāruawāhia ki Kihikihi i te 26 o Mahuru 1975.

I te 14 o Mahuru, 1975 ka wehe te hīkoi whenua i te roa o Te-Ika-a-Māui, mai noa i Te Hāpua ki te whare paremata ki Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Koni atu i te kotahi mano kiromita te pāmamao i te hiku ki te upoko o te ika, ā, kotahi marama te rerenga o te hīkoi nei. Ko te rironga o te whenua te take, ā, ka tū hoki te hīkoi whenua hei tohu i te whakahē a te Māori ki te hokonga atu o te whenua. Nā Te Roopu o te Matakite tēnei kaupapa i kōkiri, ā, ka takitakina tēnei hīkoi whenua e te Kahurangi, e Whina Cooper (Te Rarawa; 1895–1994).

I te tīmatatanga e 50 ngā tangata ka wehe i Te Hāpua. Ka haere, ka haere, ā, e kīia ana ko tōna rima mano nei te hunga mautohe ka rūpeke atu ki Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Neke atu i te 40 mano ngā tāngata i tautoko ā-tinana nei i te hīkoi i tō rātau ake takiwā. I ngā pō ka manaakitia te hunga mautohe e ngā marae maha o te motu. Kei reira rātau wānanga ai i ngā kaupapa o Te Roopu o te Matakite.

Ko tētahi whakamīharotanga ka ara ake ko te kotahitanga o ngā whakahaerenga a te Māori, pēnei nei i te Rōpū Wāhine Toko i te Ora, i te Kīngitanga, i te Kaunihera Māori me ētahi atu rōpū ngākau whakapuke. He nui ngā tāngata i emi mai ki raro i te mana o Te Roopu o te Matakite, kaumātua mai, rangatahi mai, uniana mai, hāhi mai.

Ka hainatia hoki tētahi kirihipi tikanga e tōna 60 mano kaitautoko, Māori mai, tauiwi mai. Ko te kaupapa o te kirihipi tikanga ko te whakakore i ngā ture tango whenua a te Kāwanatanga, ka tahi, ka rua te whakakao me te rāhui anō hoki i ngā whenua Māori mō ake tonu atu. I te 13 o Whiringa ā-nuku ka tukua te kirihipi tikanga ki a Bill Rowling, te pirimia.

Whai muri i te hīkoi whenua ko tētahi o ngā hua ka puta, ko te whakatūngia e te Kāwanatanga te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ko ā rātau mahi he whakawā i ngā takahitanga a te Karauna i Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ko Matiu Rata te Minita mō ngā Take Māori, mō ngā Whenua hoki i taua wā. He wāhi nui hoki tōna ki te whakatūngia o te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi.