Why Ihumātao truly is a piece of New Zealand's soul

In a city that has destroyed or forgotten most of its past, fragments of Auckland's deep histories still survive at IhumAtao

Until recently, IhumAtao was a quiet, rural area on the edge of Auckland that few people had heard of. Situated on a small peninsula on the west coast of New Zealand's biggest city, IhumAtao is next to Auckland airport, but locals, tourists and historians alike have tended to focus on the city's urban areas and its northern coastline. Despite, or perhaps because of, its long, complex and difficult history, IhumAtao has remained outside the consciousness of most New Zealanders.

In July however, IhumAtao hit national and international headlines when a group known as Soul (Save Our Unique Landscapes), which had been occupying land at IhumAtao for several years to protest against a planned major housing development, was served an eviction notice. The situation escalated quickly as police arrived to enforce the eviction, and thousands of people from around the country converged to support Soul. Many saw the stand-off as part of a global movement to assert Indigenous rights that includes protests at Mauna Kea in Hawaii, North Dakota and the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.