reuben moss /works/hightide mark

      Name                           Created            Description
      Parent Directory                           -   
      hightide mark >                sep 09      -      Image, Crnr of Liverpool & Bond st, Dunedin, New Zealand 
     

High Tide Mark, Sep 09

On October 15 2007, the New Zealand police carried out unprecedented nation-wide raids arresting 17 
indigenous rights activists and anarchists and raiding some 60 different locations. The arrests were
based on surveillance and interception warrants obtained under the Terrorism Suppression Act. This 
was the first time that the police used this Act, a law passed immediately after 9/11 and a direct 
result of it.
Of the 17 arrested on 15 October, 12 were Maori, many from the Tuhoe iwi (tribe). Tuhoe is known for 
its long history of resistance to colonization. They never signed the Treaty of Waitangi.  Tuhoe have 
the one of the highest ratios of native speakers of the Maori language (called 'te reo') among tribal 
groups and have a strong cultural identity that is intimately linked to the land in an area that they 
call 'Te Urewera,' land of the mist. There are about 20,000 people who claim Tuhoe ancestry, many of 
whom are still living in relatively isolated communities within Te Urewera.
In September 2009, without permission, I installed a typical Edwardian park bench in Dunedin, 
New Zealand at the location marked on town planning maps as "Maori canoe landing site"; the corner of 
Liverpool and Bond streets. On the maps the site was allocated as a government reserve, it was the 
former high tide mark for of Otepoti harbour, prior to land reclamation. 
On October 15 2009 the naming rights for a small bronze plaque to be attached to the bench were 
auctioned in Wellington to raise money for those who were arrested during the October 15'th terrorism 
raids. The naming rights were sold but I never received a name or statement to engrave onto the plaque. 
The park bench was removed by the city council on the 22 of October 2009.