Life story: Joe Hawke, the activist and politician who kept saying 'land back'

Friday, 3 June 2022

“Give our land back,” he told Robert Muldoon.

“Give our land back,” he said during the history-making land marches of 1975.

“Give it back,” he told his colleagues, at Parliament in 2002.

It was a message Joe Hawke kept on repeating.

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He said it when he followed Dame Whina Cooper to Wellington on the Land March in 1975, and again a few years later, before the army moved in to clear hundreds of supporters from Takaparawhau, Bastion Pt.

Hawke died on Sunday, May 22, aged 82. In his later years frailty had transformed a man best known for standing up to politicians, police and the army, but the respect he earned from years of activism and service was not lost.

As a highly respected kaumātua of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, he lived on its tūrangawaewae. This was land which Auckland Council actively degraded when Hawke was growing up on it, during the 1940s and 50s.

Hawke’s parents and grandparents bore witness to outright abuse of Ōrākei through the early 20th century, when the council dumped Auckland’s sewage on to the foreshore and polluted the sea, which had been a vital fishery for the hapū. When Hawke was 11, the state burned down their marae and attempted to evict his hapū from their homes – where they had lived for more than a century. While such stories of grotesque colonisation may sound ancient, this was in 1951.

And 27 years later, the Crown would send its army to try to evict Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei from its land once again. Now in his late 30s, Hawke was determined to stand up to the state’s attack on his hapū and land. He was arrested for his efforts.

Once a radical voice for Māori rights, he was also a businessman and politician.

It did not matter what role he played, Hawke kept saying “give our land back”. Sometimes, like during his valedictory speech from Parliament, he’d say it twice.

'This Parliament has got to realise right now that whatever Māori land you've got out of the legal legislation, give it back. Give it back,” he told the lawmakers, before leaving them in 2002.

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said Hawke was “always about the kaupapa”. They first met when Robertson was an aide to then environment minister Marian Hobbs, and Hawke was a backbencher in Helen Clark’s Labour Government. The aide and backbencher scheduled a fortnightly catch-up, under the guise of an environment meeting, which Robertson said was an excuse to be able to hear Hawke’s stories.

“I listened to Joe, and his kōrero struck me every single fortnight as being deeply imbued in the values of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei but also of Aotearoa New Zealand. Humble, proud, driven and loyal,” he said.

Hawke was a veteran activist, one of the leaders in a generation at the forefront of the Māori rights movement in the last quarter of the 20th century.

It was a time of monumental cultural change, known as the Māori Renaissance. During these years Aotearoa saw political and social change such as the creation of the Waitangi Tribunal and growth in te reo Māori, as discussion about colonisation and Te Tiriti o Waitangi became more common.

These discussions did not happen thanks to inertia or trust in the status quo. Understanding of land loss and Treaty rights was shocked into the nation’s collective consciousness thanks to often controversial figures such as Hawke.

Hawke knew about these injustices because he’d lived them as a child. He learned about his hapū, living on its tūrangawaewae with his kuia. Those first-hand experiences of brutal colonisation stayed with him, inspiring his later stands for Māori rights.

Hawke’s son, Taiaha, said his dad raised them at the forefront of the indigenous rights movement – just as he had been raised.

As a child, Joe Hawke would take his kids “camping” and for “walks”.

Their camping trips were to Bastion Pt, and their walks were huge hīkoi from Northland to Wellington.

In 1975, Taiaha recalled being told “maranga mai, maranga mai” and to get ready for a walk.

‘’It turned into one of the greatest escapades of our life. Being on the Māori Land March – apart from truck drivers trying to run us over – it was the greatest adventure we ever had.’’

Two years later, Taiaha was told they were going camping. “Another adventure for us kids,” he said, but he did ask his dad why they were sleeping in tents given they had relatives nearby who would have offered their couches.

“Dad put us in harm's way and if he hadn't put us in harm's way we … wouldn't have learnt anything,” Taiaha said.

“We learnt whawhai mō te pono, whawhai mō te tika. Never take no for an answer. Never be told you can't do something.”

Their camping trip at Bastion Pt lasted 506 days and ended with the arrests of 222 people, including Joe Hawke.

On May 25, 1978, the army arrived at Bastion Pt. Prime minister Rob Muldoon sent 800 police and army officers to destroy the settlement. They knocked over the marae, houses and māra kai (vegetable gardens) and arrested anyone who stood in their way.

Former MP Hone Harawira​ stood with Hawke that day. He said that had the protest not stood firm, the government would not have budged. It was one of the events which changed the course of race relations in Aotearoa, he said, leading to the Treaty claims process – which has greatly benefited the people of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.

“By Joe making a stand, and putting Ngāti Whātua into a position where they could force their way forward and force the Crown to recognise their rights, so many other things have come from that. Joe is the person who made this happen. It’s as simple as that.”

Since then, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei has transformed into an economic and cultural powerhouse of Auckland – worth more than $1 billion. It provides social services and invests in education and housing for its people.

Joe’s fight was not without significant cost. Taiaha Hawke spoke about the regular abuse his whānau and father faced. He remembered arguing with his Dad, pushing against his directive to be “rangimārie” or peaceful after a couple of gang members told them they were “a disgrace”.

They rang into trouble with gangs and police. While Joe Hawke insisted pacifism was the best way to achieve justice, he wasn’t interested in making life easy for the government. Taiaha recalled a 45-minute argument between his father and police, who had come looking for him. He spent those 45 minutes insisting that he was, in fact, not the infamous Joe Hawke.

And nine months into the so-called occupation of Bastion Pt, personal tragedy struck the Hawkes. A makeshift whare burned down, claiming the life of the young Joanne Hawke, Joe’s niece and the daughter of his brother, Alec Hawke.

She is still remembered today, with a memorial at Takaparawhau. The land is now wāhi tapu.

The grief did not end their struggle, it only emboldened more supporters to join the Hawkes and Ngāti Whātua.

Alec recalls Joe’s leadership during those days. 'He had one simple message: Give our land back.'