The Haka Party Incident

In 2021 Katie Wolfe's play The Haka Party Incident opened at Auckland's ASB Waterfront Theatre to immediate acclaim, followed by a successful national tour. Wolfe returned to the topic when she made this documentary on the events of 1 May 1979. That day, a group of Pākehā Auckland University engineering students commenced their capping week 'tradition'; a drunken, mock haka. Māori and Pasifika activist group He Taua challenged the students, events escalated and violence broke out. In the first of two excerpts, activist Hilda Halkyard-Harawira describes the motives behind her group's actions.

...Māori people have been using official channels for years and years now and have always taken a passive approach, a humble approach. We've been taught to be humble, to be whakaiti, all the time, and I think the young people in the city now...they want some new order, they're not going to play by those rules any more.

– He Taua activist Hilda Halkyard-Harawira, talking in 1979 about how Māori protest has changed

Key Cast & Crew

Katie Wolfe

Director, Producer

Kingsley Spargo

Composer

Tim Balme

Producer

Phoebe Shum

Archive Producer

Carly Turner

Editor

Nīkau Balme

Kaitito Haka