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Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
The 1975 Māori Land March expressed deep unrest over ongoing loss of Māori land. The protest march began in the far north town of Te Hāpua on 14 September 1975 with about 50 marchers.
The hīkoi, led by 79-year-old Dame Whina Cooper, walked to Wellington gathering marchers and petition signatures on the way. Known as the 'Memorial of Right', the petition gained 60,000 signatures, and an estimated 5,000 marchers presented it to Prime Minister Bill Rowling on the steps of Parliament in Wellington a month later on 13 October 1975.
The 13th of October 2025 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of the ‘Not One Acre More’ hīkoi (land march) on the steps of New Zealand Parliament. Read this blog by then Mātauranga Māori Curator Puawai Cairns, written for the fortieth anniversary in 2015.
The Ans Westra collection at Te Papa includes photographs of the marchers and their supporters, who walked from the Far North to Parliament in Wellington to raise consciousness, and to protest about the alienation of Māori land.
This badge was worn in solidarity with the Māori Land March in 1975. The land march expressed deep unrest over ongoing loss of Māori land. The protest march began in the far north town of Te Hāpua on 14 September 1975 with about 50 marchers. They were led by the 79-year-old kuia Whina Cooper (Te Rarawa) and the group Te Roopu Matakite o Aotearoa. During the month-long hīkoi, estimates range from 30-40,000 Māori and Pākehā who supported the march.
