Tuaiwa Hautai "Eva"Rickard (néeKereopa; 19 April 1925 – 6 December 1997) was a New Zealandactivist forMāoriland rights and forwomen's rights within Māoridom. Her methods included publiccivil disobedience and she is best known for leading the occupation of the Raglan golf course in the 1970s.
Tuaiwa Hautai Kereopa was born at Te Kōpua,Raglan on 19 April 1925. She was the eighth of 15 children born to Riria Rāpana and Honehone Kereopa. She attended Raglan Primary School where she was given the English name 'Eva' and was forbidden from speaking te reo Māori.
Eva Rickard was most notably regarded for her decade long, very publiccivil disobedience campaigns to have ancestral lands alongside Raglan harbour returned to the local tribes andMāorimana (power, effectiveness) and culture recognised. During the Second World War, the New Zealand Government took land fromindigenous Māori owners by acquisition for the purpose of a militaryairfield. The land was not returned to theTainui Awhiro peoples following the war; instead, a 62-acre (250,000 m2) block was turned into a public Raglan golf course in 1969.[1][2]
Throughout the 1970s Rickard campaigned to raise public awareness about Māoriland rights. After attempting to reoccupy this ancestralindigenous land in 1978, she was arrested fortrespass along with another 19 Māori protesters on the ninth hole of the Raglan golf course. This incident was captured by New Zealand television. Their court appearances led to the return of the indigenous land. After the land was returned, it became a focus for local job-training and employment programs, as well as a focus for theMāori sovereignty movement.
TheMana Māori Movement was the largest wholly Māori political party, founded by Rickard, and contested the2002 New Zealand general election. Mana Māori incorporated the smallerTe Tawharau andPiri Wiri Tua parties. Rickard was originally a member ofMana Motuhake, another Māori party, but quit when Mana Motuhake joined theAlliance (a broad left-wing coalition).
Rickard was an ardent advocate forwomen's rights within Māoridom and encouraged other female activists to ignore traditional Māori protocol by calling for Māori women to speak at official Māori gatherings, including on themarae. At her officialtangi (funeral) where she was interred on the land she had spent a decade fighting to have returned to her people, Māori activistAnnette Sykes when attempting to speak, had to endure cries of "you sit down, you have no right to speak." Here Annette Sykes stood up and publicly challenged men to recognise the mana of Māori women.[3]
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