“We’ve got a chance to win”: Protesters Hīkoi Through Whakatāne in Support of Ōpihi Whanaungakore

An Environment Court hearing is taking place today to help decide the fate of the sacred urupa.

Ōpihi kaitiaki Rapata Kopae (Ngāti Rangataua, Ngāti Pūkeko) said it's great to see people's support of Ōpihi Whanaungakore urupa.

He said it was the people who “brought this up, about having a peaceful march.”

“We had a wānanga a couple of weeks ago, it was about just talking about Ōpihi Whanaungakore and what it means to our people,” Kopae explained.

He said the urupa has been “kept to certain people, certain whānau who have lived with it all their lives,” to protect its sanctity.

“And this is the first time we really put it out to the people. So they've turned up.”

Haka and waiata could be heard at today's hīkoi in support of Ōpihi Whanaungakore urupa.

Haka and waiata could be heard from afar as supporters korero held up signs with the words “Ōpihi Whanaungakore sacred grounds,” and “Don’t desecrate Ōpihi Whanaungakore.”

Kopae said this is the first time since 1999 he’s heard “people say we’ve got a chance to win.”

“Our group are strong because we know our land.”

He doesn’t want the support to stop here.

“Now we've got the people, it's even stronger.”

“We, the people, are saying that we want that place to stay,” he said.

For Kopae, the people made the day special because they never had this level of support for Ōpihi Whanaunga before.

“From a pretty lonely walk and battles we went through, it feels so good now because the people are here to sing to you.”

Rapata Kopae said the people brought up the idea of the march.

Kopae said this hīkoi is also about giving mātātahi “a chance to feel good about being Māori, about being tangata whenua.”

“If they have to stand when they need to, they know that you can have a gathering like this.”

An Environment Court hearing is taking place today.

The march began at Mātaatua Reserve and ended at REAP House, Whakatāne, where the hearing is taking place.

The Ōpihi Whanaungakore kaitiaki are appealing a decision by Heritage New Zealand to approve archaeological authority consent for a 240-lot residential development on a 26.9-hectare site, known as the Ōpihi block.

Whakatāne District Council entered a sale and purchase agreement with developers in 2017 and granted resource consent for the development in 2021.

Ōpihi Whanaungakore Trustees, with Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa and members of Ngāi Taiwhakaea, took the council to the Environment Court to overturn a resource consent because of the land’s significant ancestral value for iwi and hapū.

The court found there was no right to appeal in May 2022.

Another appeal against Heritage New Zealand was heard in October 2022, but was suspended to give both parties a chance to resolve the issue.

People showed up at large to show their support for Ōpihi.

The urupa holds high cultural value to iwi tied to the Mātaatua waka. Some of the founders of Whakatāne are buried there, and it remains in use today.

Many believe the area, located at Piripai Spit, to be one of the oldest burial sites in Aotearoa.

1XX spoke to those at the hīkoi about why they're fighting to protect Ōpihi Whanaungakore.