A woman who took part in the historic 1975 Land March to parliament says some current Māori MPs will be ‘cursed’ for generations.
Deidre Nehua walked from Kirikiriroa, Hamilton, to Wellington as part of a thousand-strong protest against the loss of Māori land.
She told The Hui’s host Julian Wilcox she felt compelled to take part for her whanau.
“The risk was if we didn’t go, we would lose our home. There would be nothing left for my children and my mokopuna and for future generations.”
However, Nehua and fellow marcher Rose Lazarus-Spicer told Wilcox they never imagined when they arrived in parliament 50 years ago this week that their grandchildren would still be having to hikoi in protest.
Nehua said, “I never imagined as a young girl back then that 50 years later, our mokupuna would be having to do hikoi and fight for exactly the same thing that we were, for the privilege and the right to just be Māori.”
And she said it was sad that attacks on Māori were happening despite the increased number of Māori members of parliament.
“You Māoris in Parliament, you’re selling us out. Your people will curse you through the ages.”
Rose Lazarus Spicer walked more than one thousand kilometres from Te Hapua in Northland to parliament wearing sandals.
“Sandals, going through the snow; you’re putting on two pairs of socks. And I only wore sandals because I couldn’t afford anything else.
She credited her grandmother’s traditional medicinal recipe for kumerahau with getting her through physically.
But more importantly, she was inspired by her grandmother’s korero and stories around the loss of te reo, of Māori culture and identity.
“She brought up all us mokos and hearing her stories, [about] land being taken”
Land which was taken through a series of moves from hapu land, to Lands and Survey property, to Department of Conservation land and finally private property.
Rose Lazarus Spicer was a teenager when she set out on the march.
“We were kids. We went out there with a dream and a hope that everything was gonna be okay.
“I remember walking along the Harbour Bridge and hearing the tipunas and feeling them. I remember walking down Queen Street and seeing the looks in people’s eyes; people crying... wanting to know more.
“Seeing people starting to realise, hey, this is a peaceful hikoi out there; letting people know what’s happening to our people.”
