I just wanted to make a post about what’s going on here in Ihumātao, Aotearoa (New Zealand) because I’ve seen absolutely nothing about it here on Tumblr. Just like in Hawaii, with Mauna Kea, we are fighting to protect sacred indigenous land. ✊🏽
Ihumātao is sacred Māori land that was confiscated by British colonisers in the 1800s, through ways of lying, premeditated invasion and attack on the native Māori people. A lie saw the British accuse the Māori of a planned massacre on settlers (even though they’d been the ones feeding and protecting those settlers) eventually leading to the Māori being attacked, their homes and property destroyed and their cattle and horses stolen but then they were also punished by confiscation of their lands for a rebellion that actually never actually took place. Only in recent years, 260 of the 1100 acres of land that was confiscated at Ihumātao, was eventually restored to Māori. A settler named Gavin Wallace bought a piece of land named Ōruarangi in late 1800s from the crown and it’s been in his family since. In 2016 the Wallace family sold it to Fletcher Building as they proposed to build 480 new houses on it. This land has not only historical significant as a Stonefields but cultural and spiritual significance as it is a burial ground for the native Māori.
I went there on Wednesday night to show my support. Here are some photos.