Footsteps to Parliament: revisiting the 1975 Māori Land March

Wednesday, 25 February 2026

Bastion Point protesters at Parliament, 1977. Photographer: Evening Post. ATL ref: EP/1977/2494/7A-F.

Katrina Tamaira is a curator at Archives/National Library New Zealand.

One petition, 22 pā and marae visited over 30 days, more than 1000 kilometres walked, and countless number of footsteps. The 1975 Māori Land March – the hīkoi organised by Te Rōpū o te Matakite – was unlike anything Aotearoa had ever seen.

Half a century later, the powerful imagery of that march lives on through Christian Heinegg, John Miller, Ans Westra, and the many press photographers who accompanied the hīkoi. Ngā Tapuwae o te Hīkoi, an online exhibition, brings together a selection of these photographs, as well as ephemera produced by the Māori activists Ngā Tamatoa, Vivian Hutchinson – one of the hīkoi organisers – and others.

On Sunday, September 14, 1975, 40 or so walkers set off from Te Hāpua in Northland, bound for Parliament in Wellington. Unlike demonstrations we are used to seeing, the hīkoi was largely unadorned: there were no posters, placards or banners blazoning messages of protest. Just one simple white flag flown on a pouwhenua carved specially for the occasion, and its people following behind.

Whina Cooper, 1975. Photographer: Christian Heinegg. ATL ref: 35mm-87529-4.

And of course, Whina Cooper. The hīkoi would not have happened without Whina; she was the fire in its belly, pushing the kaupapa forward to halt alienation of Māori land. In Te Rōpū o te Matakite’s own words: “If there is no land, we have no turangawaewae, no soul, no mana, no identity. We become a non-people in our own country. The march is on.” (Te Rōpū O Te Matakite, 1975).

Leaving Te Hāpua. Photographer: Christian Heinegg. ATL ref: 35mm-87491-2.

The hīkoi and its petition brought Māori concerns to the fore and shifted how New Zealand discussed Māori issues. It opened the way for more nuanced conversations about Māori land, language, Te Tiriti o Waitangi and issues affecting the daily lives of Māori.

While significant, the hīkoi and Te Rōpū o te Matakite did not stand on its own. It emerged from a long history and included members from other organisations, notably the Māori Women’s Welfare League, Ngā Tamatoa, and the Māori Organisation on Human Rights. With that in mind the exhibition traces a decade of Māori activism through the 1970s. Te reo revitalisation, solidarity movements, the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal, and the occupation of Bastion Point all feature alongside newly digitised photographs of the 1975 hīkoi.

Hīkoi marchers crossing Auckland Harbour Bridge. Photographer: Ministry of Works. Archives New Zealand ref: R21604962.

Curated by myself, pictorial curator Louise Garrett and kaimahi Māori of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Ngā Tapuwae o te Hīkoi serves as a digital mihi. It is an acknowledgement to not only the hīkoi, but also the many kaupapa and people whose footsteps we follow.

Ngā Tapuwae o te Hīkoi:1975 Māori Land March is a National Library online exhibition.

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