Birthday of Tuaiwa Hautai Kereopa (Eva Rickard)

Tuaiwa Hautai Kereopa (known as Eva Rickard) was a Māori activist for land rights and for women's rights within Māoridom. Her methods included public civil disobedience and she is best known for leading the occupation of the Raglan golf course in the 1970s. Tuiawa belonged to the Tainui hapū of Whāingaroa, referred to during the land struggle of later decades as Tainui Āwhiro. In 1972 Tuaiwa began petitioning the government for the return of Te Kōpua, which was supposed to have been returned when it was no longer required as an airstrip. In 1976, Tuaiwa and members of Tainui Āwhiro and Te Matakite o Aotearoa fenced off the urupā on the golf course, and performed karakia to protest the desecration of tapu. In 1978 Tuaiwa invited tohunga and supporters from across the country to gather at the Te Kōpua urupā, where a ceremony would be performed on the day of the golf club’s annual tournament. Before the ceremony could take place, Tuaiwa and 16 other activists were arrested for trespass. This incident became the defining moment for Tuaiwa in the struggle to get Te Kōpua returned. On 30 November 1983, after numerous court cases and negotiations, Te Kōpua (excluding the airfield itself) was returned with conditions. Tuaiwa refused to compromise her principles and settle, but in 1991, when the Crown withdrew its demand for payment for the land, the property was finally vested in the Te Kōpua Trust. She is buried at Te Kōpua in the urupā where she had once been arrested.