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Story: Ngā rōpū – Māori organisations

Confronting the engineering students' haka

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Confronting the engineering students' haka

Māori student Hilda Halkyard confronts Auckland University engineering students performing a mock haka in 1978. Māori students found the students' haka offensive and attempted to prevent it by protesting through official channels. In 1979 a group called He Taua confronted students practising the haka. He Taua members were ultimately charged with a number of offences including rioting.

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Reference: Eruera Stirling as told to Anne Salmond, Eruera: the teachings of a Maori elder. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1980, p. 215

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How to cite this page

Ngapare Hopa, Ngā rōpū – Māori organisations – Protest organisations, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/29691/confronting-the-engineering-students-haka (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ngapare Hopa, published 5 November 2014, updated 1 June 2017.