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Story: Te ture – Māori and legislation

Eva Rickard, Raglan land occupation, 1978

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Tainui land rights activist Eva Rickard indicates her ancestral land beside Raglan harbour to Minister of Lands Venn Young. The government had claimed it for a military airfield during the Second World War and it later became a public golf course. Rickard and other members of her iwi were arrested in 1978 for protesting there. The long campaign she led resulted in the return of the land to Tainui Awhiro in 1979. The following year Rickard recorded this interview with Radio New Zealand, describing the legal and political struggle to reclaim the land.

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Reference: 24495

Image: New Zealand Herald

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How to cite this page

Rāwiri Taonui, Te ture – Māori and legislation – Restoring Māori customary law, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/speech/36547/eva-rickard-raglan-land-occupation-1978 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Rāwiri Taonui, published 13 June 2012.