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Overview
This poster was created to attract support for protests against the government's decision to build houses on Ngāti Whātua land at Takaparawhau / Bastion Point, Auckland. In January 1977, protesters began a 506-day occupation of Takaparawhau led by the Ōrākei Māori Action Committee.
The poster's symbol features a mangopare (hammerhead shark), symbolising strength, agility and engagement. It was designed by the leading figure of the occupation, Dr Joseph Parata Hawke MNZM (1940-2022, Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei).
On 25 May 1978, the government sent in a huge force of police and army personnel to evict the occupation. 222 protesters were arrested and their temporary meeting house, buildings, and gardens were demolished. The Bastion Point occupation became one of the most famous protest actions and infamous state interventions in New Zealand history.
In 1988, ten years after the eviction, the Waitangi Tribunal supported Ngāti Whātua claims to the land, and it was returned.