Hiikoi

Ko tēnei wāhanga kiriata mō te hīkoi ki Waitangi o 1984 he mea whakaputa nā Merata Mita i pirangi ai ki te mahi i te pakipūmeka mō tēnei hui nui whakaharahara. I tīmataria i tētahi wā i kī puru ki te mahi; i rongonui ā-ao a Mita mō tāna pakipūmeka whakatutū puehu a *Patu!* (1983) mō te huri haerenga o te kapa Springbok i te tau o 1981, ā, ka whakarewahia ētahi atu hinonga tae atu ki tōna kiriata nui a *Mauri* (1988).

He wahine kakama ki te hopu i ngā kōrero mō te haukāinga e mahi ana ki te tāone, inarā ko te Māori, ka mutu ka mōhio pai a Mita i taua wā, ko te pakipūmeka te huarahi ki te tauaki i ngā kōrero ā-waha Māori. E ai ki a ia he honotanga ahurei to te pakipūmeka ki te whakapapa, arā ko te aronga tahi ki te tangata me te hapori, ehara ki te mōhiotanga ōkawa ā-tari. Ehara tēnei i tāna kiriata tuatahi i Te Taitokerau – i tīmata tōna huarahi kiriata i a ia e mahi ana hei kaitakawaenga ā-ahurea, hei kaimahi i ētahi atu mahi hoki i *Waitangi: The Story of a Treaty and Its Inheritors* (1977), i ara mai ai i tētahi tirohanga nonoi ki te hautūtanga kiriata o te Māori, i tāna pakipūmeka tuatahi tonu, a *Karanga Hokianga* (1979). He wā kauhuri te wā o te hīkoi. Kua kotikotihia e tāna tama a Heperi Mita ēnei wāhanga kiriata, he mahi tahi a te whānau; kei te kawe mai ia i tōna tirohanga ake ki te wāhanga kua kotikotihia, ka mutu kua puta tētahi tirohanga hou ki te whakahirahiratanga o ēnei kaupapa.

This footage of the 1984 hīkoi (march) to Waitangi was made by Merata Mita with the intention of producing a documentary about this historic occasion. It was begun during an incredibly busy time for Mita – who had achieved international attention for her groundbreaking documentary *Patu!* (1983) about the 1981 Springbok tour – and launched several other projects including her feature film *Mauri* (1988).

No stranger to acting quickly to capture stories of local urban working people, particularly Māori, by this point Mita had firmly established her view of documentary as a way to foreground Māori stories and oral traditions. She saw documentary in unique relationship to the traditions of whakapapa (genealogy) with its focus on people and society rather than institutional knowledge. Neither was this her first film in Northland – her film career had begun working as cultural liaison and other roles on *Waitangi: The Story of a Treaty and Its Inheritors* (1977), from which she began an urgent exploration of Māori-led filmmaking and her first documentary *Karanga Hokianga* (1979). The hīkoi itself was a watershed moment. Her son Heperi Mita has edited this footage as a type of whānau (family) collaboration, bringing his own view to the piece and a new interpretation of these events and their importance.

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