page_title: 1975 Māori land march
section_title: The March
hierarchical_section_title: 1975 Māori land march / The March
caption_attribution_description: On 13 October 1975, a hikoi of 5,000 marchers arrived at Parliament to protest the ongoing alienation of Māori land. Organised by Māori land rights group Te Rōpū O Te Matakite and led by Dame Whina Cooper, the hikoi had departed from Te Hapua, Northland, on 14 September, and arrived in Wellington after marching 1,100 kms throughout the North Island. Te Rōpū O Te Matakite regarded the land march as ‘a climax to over a hundred and fifty years of frustration and anger over the continuing alienation of their lands’. Upon their arrival at Parliament they presented a petition signed by 60,000 people from around New Zealand to Prime Minister Bill Rowling. The petition called for an end to monocultural land laws which excluded Māori cultural values, and asked for the ability to establish legitimate communal ownership of land within iwi. The hikoi represented a watershed moment in the burgeoning Māori cultural renaissance of the 1970s. It brought unprecedented levels of public attention to the issue of alienation of Māori land, and established a method of protest that was repeatedly reused in the following decades. To mark the 40th anniversary of the Land March, Archives New Zealand has created an album on Flickr to highlight key documents within our holdings that relate to the event. These include the petition with 60,000 signatures presented by Dame Whina Cooper to Prime Minister Bill Rowling, images of the Land March approaching Wellington City and correspondence related to the planning that went on behind the scenes to support the march taking place. This route for the Land March was put together by Te Rōpū O Te Matakite, the organisation behind the march. Archives Reference: AAMK 869 W3074 684/d 19/1/774 Part 1 (R11838413) This file is open access and can be seen in our Wellington Reading Room. For updates on our On This Day series and news from Archives New Zealand, follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ArchivesNZ Material from Archives New Zealand
context_page_description: The Māori Land March of 1975, arguably New Zealand's most notable hikoi, was a protest movement led by the group Te Rōpū Matakite created by Māori leader Whina Cooper. The march started in Northland on September 14, travelling the length of the North Island arriving in Wellington on October 13, 1975.
context_section_description: Fifty marchers left Te Hāpua in the far north on 14 September for the 1000-km walk to Wellington. Led by 79-year-old Cooper, the hīkoi quickly grew in strength. As it approached towns and cities, local people joined to offer moral support. The marchers stopped overnight at different Marae, on which Cooper led discussions about the purpose of the march. Leaflets were distributed explaining why the march was required titled 'Why We March.'
  The march, accompanied by two trucks and a bus, led in 29 days from Te Hapua; Kaitaia; Mangamuka; Otiria; Hikurangi; Waipu; Wellsford; Orewa; Auckland; Ngāruawāhia; Kihikihi; Te Kuiti; Taumarunui; Raetihi; Whanganui; Ratana; Palmerston North; Shannon, New Zealand; Ōtaki, New Zealand; Porirua to Wellington.
caption: Route of March
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