Ngāti Whātua leader and former Labour MP Joe Hawke has been laid to rest at Takaparawhau, Bastion Point.
It's the site where Hawke led a landmark 506-day occupation, which ended 44-years-ago on Wednesday, after they were evicted by police and the army.
A decade later, the Crown returned the land to Ngāti Whātua.
He was a man of great mana, and for those closest to Hawke he was the most loving and loyal family man who couldn't help but touch hearts.
"Uncle was a very humble man, and his whanau - the sacrifices that they made back then," said Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua chair Marama Royal.
Thousands descended onto Ōrākei Marae in the past four days to pay their final respects, including those who he served time with as a Labour MP in the 90s, and those he influenced.
"He wanted to grow a nation with more equitable, equal, fair and just for everybody," Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi told Newshub.
In his eulogy, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Roberston spoke of Hawke's legacy being honoured in the new Aotearoa history curriculum to be rolled out in schools across the motu.
Guests also included Māori King Tuheitia, Waikato and Marutuahu who have been battling Ngāti Whātua in court, forcing them to defend their status as mana whenua to their tribal lands.
But that tension never spilled from the courtroom to the forecourt
"I think the biggest legacy that Joe has left behind has been for the iwi not to have fear, and for the iwi not to step away from those fights with the law, where we have to," Joe Pihema said.
Ngāti Whātua today is thriving as a tribe. Evident in the health of its marae and people, a result of many, but none more so than Joe Hawke.
For the last 44 years, a memorial stood in honour of Hawke's niece who died during the occupation at Bastion Point. Now, Hawke's last wish was to lay there, making him the first and only person to be buried there.
It's a wish his own whanau and iwi want to fulfil.
