The presence of Dame Whina Cooper can be felt as soon as you drive into Ihumātao, the Auckland site of this country’s most recent mass land occupation. Whina, whose life is portrayed in a movie opening in Aotearoa this month, brought national attention to the loss of ancestral lands by leading a historical 640km land march from Northland to Wellington.
Her influence has inspired a new generation of strong wāhine leaders, including the young Māori women who organised the peaceful occupation of Ihumātao, and in 2019 successfully stopped a major housing development planned by Fletcher Building on the Māori land that had been originally confiscated by the government in 1863.
The farmlands of Ihumātao are three kilometres from Auckland International Airport in Mangere. Since the occupation of the privately owned property ended two years ago, iwi and whānau have lived on the land and manage the roadblock and barriers that monitor vehicles driving into the area. Scattered across the landscape are giant signs and murals with messages of activism, which
