Bastion Point, Maori Land
The local Maori (Tamaki Makaurau hapu subtribe of Ngati Whaatua iwi tribe) using their Bastion Point land as a paid carpark today. It's Waitangi Day and I can't help recalling how much these people faught to retreive the land they lost to the white settlers of the 1800's. As a child I recall the images of Riot Police facing a band of passionate people with trash can lids and cycle helmets to protect themselves. Months of physical presence onthe land ended with court battles. Maori claimed their land back using our founding law: The Waitangi Treaty which was signed by many Maori chiefs and representatives of the British Crown this day in 1840. The Waitangi Treaty had two translations , one in Maori, one in English and the meaning differed slightly. Maori aspired to a shared rule over the country and their prized possession land. The English believed they had gained total rule.
The local Maori lived in the bay below here in their own village until evicted in the 1950's by the Crown. It took a further 40 years for the and dispute to be settled.
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