This Land is Ours

Ko tā *This Land Is Ours*, circa 1978, he tohutoro ki te hīkoi o te tau 1975 i ārahi nei e Kahurangi Whina Cooper (Te Rārawa) tētahi rōpū iti Māori me Tauiwi i tapaina ai ko Te Rōpū Matakite; nō Te Hāpua taua rōpū, ka mutu he hīkoi 1,100-kiromita te tawhiti ki Pāremata i Poneke – i te taenga atu ki reira he 50,000 te tokomaha o te rōpū. He porotēhi tērā ki te tango i te whenua Māori – he whati i te Tiriti o Waitangi te take.

Ko ngā ara he rīpene te āhua a Buck Nin he tohu mō taua haerenga me ngā wawata mō te wā hou e heke ai mā te Maori. Kei te hīkoikoi te rōpū kaiporotēhi a waenganui i te peita; kei te pupuri te tangata kei te waengapū i tētahi haki e tohu ana i te pirihi Mihingare, kaipāpāho hoki, a Tā Kīngi Matutaera Īhaka. Ko te kōkō o taua tangata, ko ngā kupu rongonui: ‘Kāore e whakaaetia kia kotahi eka anō o te whenua Māori’. Nā taua hīkoi i tīmata ai tētahi wā hou ki te porotēhi, ki te whakahou i a Aotearoa, arā ko tētahi hua ko te Ture Tiriti o Waitangi 1975 me te whakatūnga o te Taraipiunara o Waitangi i taua tau anō. Ariari tonu ai te whakapātaritari me te ohomauri i roto i te taitara o te peita a Nin – *This Land Is Ours*.

*This Land Is Ours*, circa 1978 recalls the 1975 hīkoi (land march) in which Dame Whina Cooper (Te Rārawa) led a small group of peaceful Māori and non-Māori protestors named Te Rōpū Matakite from Te Hāpua on a 1,100-kilometre trek to Parliament grounds in Wellington, where the group then numbered 50,000. They were protesting the loss of Māori land resulting from breaches to the Treaty of Waitangi.

Buck Nin’s ribbon-like pathways and gates represent this journey and the sense of Māori working into a new future. A procession of protestors march down the centre of the painting with the central figure holding a flag that is thought to represent Anglican priest and broadcaster Sir Kīngi Matutaera Īhaka. The figure’s open mouth chants the famous slogan: ‘Not one more acre of Māori land’. The hīkoi ushered in a new period of protest and reform in Aotearoa New Zealand, with one outcome being the creation of the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975, which allowed for the formation of the Waitangi Tribunal that same year. The title of Nin’s painting – *This Land Is Ours* – powerfully encapsulates this provocation and action.

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