Whanganui iwi leaders gathered at Moutoa Gardens this morning to commemorate 28 years since the occupation of the area.
In February 1995, an occupation began at Moutoa Gardens, known by local iwi as Pākaitore, where iwi fought with the Crown over restoring the importance of the land to local iwi, which was the site of a pā before European colonisation.
Jay Rerekura was there during the occupation as a teenager. He attended with his parents and cousins, and although they were "mucking around and playing around", he said the "kaupapa was much bigger".
"The reaction of the wider, mainstream community to us even just being here… lots of people just driving around and around the marae in their cars and hurling abuse and all these kinds of things."
Katrina Taura-Hiri was also a rangatahi during this time. She remembers being under revered Māori leaders such as Henry Bennett, Niko Tangaroa and Matiu Mareikura, who were at the forefront of the occupation.
"I ērā wā ka whakaaro whānui ngā rangatira me noho i a tātou whenua whakaako ai i a tātou mō āpōpō (At the time the leaders thought the best thing to do was to stay on the land as a method to educate the next generation)."
Twenty-eight years on from the occupation, Rerekura said relationships between iwi, the council and the Crown are still healing.
"For us [local iwi] it was an opportunity to heal, and for the community as a whole to get an understanding and appreciation for local iwi."
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