In part five of our video series Hīkoi: Long Shadow of the March we talk to Deirdre Nehua.
Her decision to join Dame Whina Cooper on her epic land march in 1975 led Deirdre, now 70 years old, into lifetime of activism that involved protesting at Bastion Point and Pākaitore.
Born in Whāngarei, and growing up in Whangaruru, Oakura Bay, Deirdre is of Ngāti Wai descent. Her mother was one of nine children who spent their early lives in a humble, one bedroom building clad in tin, which still stands today.
Deirdre was 25-years-old at the time of the hīkoi, living in Hamilton and working for a freight company. Her employer refused her annual leave request to join the march, so she went anyway, regardless of having no job to come back to. She describes the desire to join as a visceral pull, that meant nothing would have stopped her going.
* Made with the support of New Zealand on Air *
