- Eva Rickard
Eva Rickard (1925-1997) was a
New Zealand -Aotearoa Māori ofTainui ancestry; a mother of 9, a grandmother, a spiritual guardian of New Zealand Māori traditions, a politicalland rights activist and a valuable member of the (Te Kòpua) Raglan community where she was born and raised. [ [http://www.raglan.net.nz/mrs_eva_rickard.htm Mrs Eva Rickard 1925 - 1997 ] ]Eva Rickard (born Eva Kereopa) was most notably regarded for her decade long, very public
civil disobedience campaigns to have ancestral lands alongside Raglan harbour returned to the local tribes, and to haveMāori mana and culture recognized. During the Second World War, the New Zealand Government took land from indigenous Māori owners by acquisition for the purpose of a militaryairfield . Instead of these being handed back to its former owners (the Tainui Awhiro peoples) when no longer required for defence purposes, part of the land, a 62 acre block was turned into a public Raglan golf course in 1969. [ [http://www.radionz.co.nz/popular/treaty/events-1980s Radio New Zealand Content by Genre : Treaty of Waitangi : Events - 1980s ] ]Throughout the 1970s Rickard tirelessly campaigned to raise public awareness about Māori
land rights . After attempting to reoccupy this ancestral indigenous land in 1978 she was arrested fortrespass along with another 19 Māori protesters, on the ninth hole of the Raglan golf course. This incident was captured by New Zealand television and was a defining moment in her public life. Their court appearance set off a chain of events which trailed through the courts amidst bitter argument at local and national level, but finally led to the return of the land to local Māori people. After the land was returned it became a focus for local job-training and employment programs, as well as a focus for the Māori sovereignty movement.The
Mana Māori Movement was the largest wholly-Māori political party, founded by Rickard, and contested theNew Zealand general election, 2002 . Mana Māori incorporated the smallerTe Tawharau and Piri Wiri Tua parties. Rickard was originally a member ofMana Motuhake , another Māori party, but quit whenMana Motuhake joined the Alliance (a broad left-wing coalition).Rickard was an ardent advocate for
women’s rights within Māoridom itself and encouraged other femaleactivists to ignore traditionalMāori protocol by calling for the rights for Māori women to speak at official Māori gatherings, including on theMarae . At her official Tangi where she was interred on the land she had spent a decade fighting to have returned to her people, Māori activist Annette Sykes, when attempting to speak, had to endure cries of “you sit down, you have no right to speak.” Here Sykes stood up and publicly challenged men to recognise theMana of Māori women. [http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:paNoC0ASjnYJ:www.dhushara.com/book/tane/marae.htm+Eva+rickard+pakeha&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=au]See also
* Raglan
*Rua Kenana Hepetipa
*Treaty of Waitangi
*Tainui
*Māori protest movement
*Bastion Point
*Waitangi Tribunal
*Land rights
*Protest
*Pakeha References and Sources
Listen to Eva Rickard and other
Māori activists on Radio New Zealand'sTreaty of Waitangi - Te Tiriti o Waitangi Focus program, describing their long campaigns for Māori land rights and self-determination. [http://www.radionz.co.nz/popular/treaty/events-1980s]Eva Rickards' letter to the Queen of England, 13 September 1995. [http://aotearoa.wellington.net.nz/imp/whai.htm]
External links
* [http://www.raglan.net.nz/mrs_eva_rickard.htm Mrs Eva Rickard 1925-1997]
* [http://www.cws.org.nz/About-Us/ethos-4.asp If Christ came to Raglan]
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3757/is_200509/ai_n15353449/pg_26 Rickard on Māori women]
* [http://www.kersplebedeb.com/revolutionarywomen/index.html Revolutionary Women Stencils]
* [http://www.monumentalstories.gen.nz/bio_63.html Rickard biography]
* [http://www.dhushara.com/book/tane/marae.htm Marae Protocol and Gender]
* [http://www.treatyofwaitangi.govt.nz Official Treaty of Waitangi Information Site]
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