reuben moss /works/high tide mark

High Tide Mark, Sep 09

On October 15 2007, the New Zealand police carried out unprecedented nationwide 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 Māori, many from the Tūhoe iwi (tribe). Tūhoe is known for its long history of resistance to colonisation. They never signed the Treaty of Waitangi. Tūhoe have one of the highest ratios of native speakers of the Māori 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 Tūhoe 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 "Māori 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 of Ōtepoti 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 15th 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 22nd of October 2009.