The Maori Affairs Act 1953 forced unproductive Māori land into use. Anyone who could show the Maori Land Court that a piece of good land was not being used could apply to have it vested in trustees. This act, which allowed some flexibility in land management (such as under trusts), remained the governing legislation for Māori land for 40 years.
In 1953 a reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, visited Waitangi for the first time.
The government announced that it had agreed to the Waitangi Tribunal’s recommendation that Bastion Point on Auckland’s Waitematā Harbour be returned to the local iwi (tribe), Ngāti Whātua.
Police and army personnel removed all 218 occupants of Bastion Point, above Auckland’s Waitematā Harbour, ending an occupation that had lasted 506 days. Local iwi (tribe) Ngāti Whātua were protesting against the loss of land in the Ōrākei Block, which had once been declared ‘absolutely inalienable’.
Joe Hawke leads an occupation of Takaparawhā (Bastion Point reserve), Auckland, to protest against the Crown’s decision to sell land that Ngāti Whātua maintained had been wrongly taken from them.
Protesters and police at Bastion Point during its occupation in 1978.
Auckland War Memorial Museum
Permission of the Auckland War Memorial Museum must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
