🤔 Bastion Point 🤔

Kia Orana readers and welcome back to my blog! Today I would be doing a late blog post about Bastion Point. Here is the writing.

Bastion Point is a beautiful place in Auckland. Its Maori name is Tarawa. The land used it belongs to the tribe of Ngati Whatua. 

In 1840 the crown (government) wanted to buy the land from the Maori so that they could make a new town for Auckland. The government decided to push the pressure on the chief of Ngati Whatua to sell the land. So he sold about 1200 ha (land) to the government before he had died he got back 280 lands for his tribe. The government kept the rest for themselves. 

In 1887 Bastion Point was taken for a fort, it guarded the entire entrance of the Waitemata Harbour.

In early 1950, Auckland wanted the land to make a park. The government asked the Maori to evicted (asked to leave) from the Marae. It made them tenant that they made a home nearby the land. The government pulled down their buildings and houses and burned them up into pieces since they were angry. 

In 1976 the crown said that they were going to build a luxury housing on the land. Ngati Whatua wanted their land back but the government refused. A young Ngati Whatua and 150 people occupied Bastion Point in January 1977. They put a few tents and caravans on the sites. Several hundred of people join in the protesting. They put up a meeting house, gateway, and watchtower. They planted grass and grew a lot of food. The Maori and Pakeha visited to give them support as well.

The protesters said for 506 days. The courts ruled the protesters were trespassing. In May 1978 the government sent in 600 police to backed up by the Army. They arrested nearly over 200. They also destroyed buildings and gardens.

In the early 1990s, the government decides that it was time to give back the land to Ngati Whatua. 

In Conclusion: My highlight about this story in the article that I've read told today had taught me a lot of Bastion Point and that there were lots of historical things that had to happen in there. What I think about this historical article I've thought that there were lots of protesting happening in the Bastion Point because the Ngati Whatua are fighting for their land since it wasn't fair that they were using their land for other things that the government has been using it for. I really loved learning about Bastion Point because I got to learn something interesting about Auckland history.

Thanks for reading!

Cya at my next blog post!

Cilck this link to my pixton about Bastion Point !
https://share.pixton.com/px8yeeg