It is a journey that never stops moving the earth.
On Wednesday, thousands of marchers joined generations before them in a walk across Auckland Harbour Bridge, bracing against each other for support, pushing ahead in a straight line, as the ground beneath them swayed.
“It’s just the mana,” an organiser called out, reassuring the crowds in sensible walking shoes, sunglasses, bearing Tino Rangatiratanga flags snapping in a northeasterly rarely felt in the cars driving past.
The Hīkoi mō te Tiriti has created history as, for the third time in nearly 50 years, marchers walked en masse across New Zealand’s largest bridge in support of Māori issues.
In 1975, Dame Whina Cooper led her famed land march up the island to Pōneke (Wellington) from Te Hāpua, the very point of the tail of the fish of Māui, with thousands streaming across the bridge behind her.
March 2004, 29 years later, the foreshore and seabed hīkoi followed in their footsteps.
Kea Perene’s aunty was one of the originals, walking all the way from Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Rēinga) to Wellington back in 1975.
On Wednesday, Perene, in a Swanndri and carrying a cheeky sign (“Whakarauna find out”) left home at 7.30am with her partner and two children to join the hīkoi, or as she said, “stand together with the nation and te iwi Māori”. She is from Kaitaia, but lives in Onehunga now.
The sense of history was palpable - she was looking forward to carrying on the kaupapa, she said.
The hīkoi, which is aligned with Te Pāti Māori, is opposed to the Treaty Principles Bill currently before Parliament.
ACT leader David Seymour says nothing is going to happen to the actual Treaty.
In its coalition deal, ACT won National’s support through the public consultation stage of lawmaking, for a Treaty Principles Bill. It could eventually replace the many existing principles - how we interpret the Treaty’s intentions - with a trimmed-down offering of three. The goal is equality before the law.
The Waitangi Tribunal has warned the bill could end the partnership between the Crown and Māori, and the Treaty itself.
On Wednesday, a crowd of thousands pushed southward - upwards - on a journey to the head of the fish of Māui, Wellington.
In both previous land marches, the sheer number of walkers caused the bridge to sway alarmingly.
It was no different as a stream of red and white and black poured through the two northbound lanes from about 9.30am.
The marchers were walking the biggest bridge in Aotearoa, with somewhere upwards of 170,000 vehicles crossing it every day. At the peak of its arch, it reaches close to the height of a 55-storey building above the Waitematā Harbour. When opened in 1959, it also opened up the North Shore, allowing the city to push northward.
On the bridge was Ataahua Poutai-Watts (Ngāpuhi) who travelled to Auckland from Whangārei with a group of ten. After joining the hīkoi activation at Kaka Porowini Marae in Whangārei the day before, she was now part of the group crossing the bridge.
“It’s mainly for our tīpuna that have fought for sovereignty for our Māori people and for our mokopuna, for our next generations.
“The hīkoi is for us and them, as Māori,” she said.
Police estimated more than 5000 were crossing the bridge - that’s the entire population of a town like Ōpōtiki - while others like Labour MP Willie Jackson posted on social media it could be more than 10,000 (the population of Hāwera, Taranaki), hīkoi organiser Eru Kapa-Kingi said the number was more than 25,000 (roughly the population of Queenstown).
Cheers erupted from the southern side of the harbour, at the Curran St on-ramp, Pt Erin, when the crowd of around 200 gathered there spotted the first of the marchers cresting the bridge.
By 11am the first marchers - they were sent across in groups of about 250 people - were touching down on the southern side of the harbour.
Rose Taite, 40 (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei), had joined the hīkoi from Tāmaki Makaurau.
After crossing the bridge, she felt relieved. It was a hard hīkoi and incredibly wobbly, she said.
“My mana is strong, seeing not just tangata whenua, but tangata Tiriti, it’s been amazing to see,” she said.
She would be joining the hīkoi to Ōkahu Bay, and then Takaparawhau/Bastion Point. But first, she needed a quick break.
She said David Seymour should “watch out, we’re coming”.
The hīkoi, travelling up the North Island in the coming days, will gather on the steps of Parliament on November 19 after marching from Waitangi Park, Wellington.
By Mildred Armah and Karanama Ruru of Stuff
