Video Activity: The Bastion Point Occupation
Video Activity: The Bastion Point Occupation · Years 7–10
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga · Learning Intentions
- Investigate a social, historical, economic, or political question using evidence
- Analyse multiple perspectives on complex social issues
- Understand how historical and contemporary forces shape society and identity
- Evaluate the relevance of Māori concepts and frameworks to understanding social issues
Paearu Angitu · Success Criteria
- I use at least two different sources or perspectives in my investigation
- I can explain how historical events or processes connect to present-day conditions
- I can present a clear position supported by specific evidence
- I connect at least one Māori concept or value to the social issue I am investigating
Video Companion · Video Activity: The Bastion Point Occupation
Use this handout before, during, and after viewing.
Before You Watch
Locate Takaparawhā (Bastion Point) on a map and identify the rohe of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. Review the timeline of land confiscations in Tāmaki Makaurau. Consider: why would a 507-day occupation be described as an expression of mana motuhake?
While Watching
Note: (1) What does the whenua mean for Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei? (2) What tikanga and strategies sustained 507 days of resistance? (3) How does the speaker describe the outcomes, and why does he say "we were right"?
After Watching
Action option: Draft a short acknowledgment of the kaitiaki of Takaparawhā, outlining what rangatahi can learn from their stand. What does this event teach us about determination, collective leadership, and whanaungatanga?
Critical Thinking Questions
1. Determination and whanaungatanga
The occupation lasted 507 days. What does this teach us about collective leadership, tikanga, and whanaungatanga as sources of strength?
2. Crown response
The Crown used a large police force to end the occupation. What message did this send to Māori communities, and how do you think the public responded?
3. Long-term change
Many activists say they "lost the battle but won the war." Identify two long-term changes that support this statement, using evidence from the video.
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Level 3–4: Investigate how historical, political, and economic processes shape societies; understand how people participate in communities to create change; analyse different perspectives on social, cultural, and environmental issues.
Level 3–4: Gather, evaluate, and synthesise information from multiple sources; construct well-reasoned arguments using evidence; communicate social science understanding clearly in written, oral, and visual forms.
Tuhia ōu whakaaro · Write Your Thoughts
Reflect on your learning. What was the most important idea? What question do you still have?
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
Social Sciences taught well in Aotearoa should be uncomfortable — because the history of this land is one in which Māori and other communities have faced injustice, and in which those injustices are not yet fully addressed. Mātauranga Māori offers frameworks for thinking about social change that go beyond Western political theory: the concept of tino rangatiratanga (self-determination), of kotahitanga (unity in purpose), of utu (reciprocity across time) — these are not abstract ideas but working tools for analysing how power has been distributed and how it might be redistributed more justly.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Resources already provided
- Source analysis framework — for evaluating primary and secondary sources
- Perspective mapping template — for identifying multiple viewpoints on an issue
- NZ timeline reference — key events in Aotearoa social and political history
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will engage with this resource to examine the history and legacy of social activism in Aotearoa New Zealand — understanding how ordinary people, particularly Māori activists and their allies, organised to challenge injustice, assert rights, and reshape the nation. This unit asks: how does change happen, and who makes it?
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can explain the causes, key events, and outcomes of a significant social activism movement in Aotearoa New Zealand.
- ✅ Students can connect historical activism (e.g., Bastion Point, Springbok Tour, land marches) to contemporary social movements and ongoing struggles for justice.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide cause-and-effect maps and timeline scaffolds for entry-level analysis of activist movements. Offer extension tasks asking students to compare two activist movements across different eras or countries — identifying shared tactics, challenges, and lessons. Students ready for greater challenge can design their own activist campaign addressing a contemporary issue.
ELL / ESOL: Social activism vocabulary (protest, tino rangatiratanga, civil disobedience, solidarity, mana motuhake, occupation) benefits from narrative anchoring through documentary footage and personal testimonies. Students from countries with histories of social struggle bring powerful comparative perspectives — honour these as relevant knowledge, not just background. Allow oral analysis before written tasks.
Inclusion: Activism history can be emotionally charged — some students may have whānau connections to historical events or share identities with marginalised groups studied. Create a trauma-informed, respectful classroom. Neurodiverse learners benefit from clear chronological structures and explicit connections between cause and effect. Affirm that understanding injustice is the first step toward changing it — this unit is empowering, not despairing.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Māori social activism is not a modern import — it is continuous with centuries of resistance, negotiation, and assertion of tino rangatiratanga that predates and follows colonisation. The 1975 land march, Bastion Point occupation (1977-78), the Springbok Tour protests, the founding of the Waitangi Tribunal, and contemporary movements like the foreshore and seabed hikoi are all expressions of an unbroken whakapapa of resistance. Hīkoi — the act of walking together with purpose — is both a spiritual and political act. Understanding this history is understanding who tangata whenua are, and what their relationship with the Crown continues to be.
Prior knowledge: Students benefit from foundational knowledge of the Treaty of Waitangi and colonisation in Aotearoa. No specialist knowledge of specific activist movements required — the unit introduces key events through accessible primary and secondary sources.
Curriculum alignment
- Aotearoa New Zealand Histories — Know: Understand how Māori have continuously responded to and resisted colonisation, asserting tino rangatiratanga through political, legal, and social activism.
- Identity, Culture, and Organisation: Understand how people participate individually and collectively in response to community and national challenges — including through protest, advocacy, and organised social movements.