Whakatopa ra e te kārearea hoka i ngā rangi Tāmaki Makaurau

Titiro iho ki ngā tai piataata o Te Waitematā, i hanga ai ōna kōrero;

Tāmaki pou herenga waka, Tāmaki tātai herenga tangata, Tāmaki whakapau manawa.

Ko koe ra tenei e kara kua tētahi, kua kapea atu nei e te ringa kaha o aitua, takato.

Takoto mai i te poho o to whare o Tumutumu Whenua

I te takotoranga o to waka o Māhuhu-ki-te-rangi

I tāpaea ai te korero mo tōu momo;

‘E kore koe e ngaro, he tākere waka nui

i hāua mai i Hawaiki mai rāno,

Ki Hawaiki to hokinga atu, kia okioki i te tauawhi a o mātua tūpuna,

Moe mai’

Haere atu ra e tāmara mā

Ki te Pō ka ura

Ki te Pō uriuri

Ki te Pō kākauri

Ki te Pō ao ao nui

Whakaheke tonu atu ki te Pō kerekere

Ki te Pō tāmaku

E uru ai koutou ki te Pō Tiwhatiwha.

Ka tae koutou ki ngā Waihīrere, kōutuhia e inu,

i konā kua kore koutou e hoki ake ki te taiao nei.

Ka māro ake ko te one kānapanapa

Ko te ara e ahu atu ana

Ki te ai o Rangi

Ki te ai o Papa

Ki Papakura

Ki Papamea

Ki Tū Te Kukurangi

Ki Tū Te Whatarangi

Ki te Māheu

Ki te Amo

Ki te tao i werohia ai te Pō

I kona e ruku koutou

Ki te Pō Tangotango

Ki te Pō Tukituki

Ki te Pō te whakaarahia

Ki te Pō e au ai tō moe

Haere ra, whakangaro i te tirohanga kanohi

Haere oti atu.

Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson says, Joseph (Joe) Parata Hohepa Hawke will go down as one of this generations greatest Māori leaders.

The prominent kaumātua and activist who led the long-running Takaparawhau occupation at Auckland’s Bastion Point in the late 1970s, has died, aged 82. He was surrounded by whānau.

“Joe and Ngati Whātua set an excellent example in terms of protests despite huge provocation from the state. He and his people handled things peacefully and with great dignity.

“In many ways, Joe set the benchmark in terms of how protest should be conducted. The 506 days of protest at Bastion Point is now immortalised in Māori and New Zealand folklore,” Willie Jackson said.

The Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei, kaumatua was involved in land issues in his role as secretary of Te Matakite o Aotearoa, in the land march led by Kahurangi Whina Cooper in 1975.

But it was in 1977, when he led Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei’s marched on to their ancestral land, and began an occupation that lasted 506 days.

He was among the 222 people arrested in May, 1978 when police, backed by army personnel, ejected the protesters off their whenua.

When the jurisdiction of the Waitangi Tribunal was widened to cover retrospective issues, the Ōrākei claim was the first historical claim to be heard.

In 1987, the Tribunal recommended the return of land to Ngāti Whātua, and the government agreed with the decision the following year.

Nine years later, He would become a Labour Party list MP, serving two terms, he retired from politics in 2002.

In 2008, he received the Insignia of a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

“Joe stood up for his people and was a tremendous leader and role model. He will be sorely missed. My condolences go out to his whānau,” Willie Jackson said.

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