In 1840 after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, Ngati Whatua, chief of the Te Kawau tribe, invited the governor, William Hobson to make the new capital city of Auckland on 3000 acres of his land.

Te Kawau hoped the  crown would leave alone his tribe and the rest of his iwi’s land.

By the 1850s most of his land was gone taken by the crown for defence against a feared attack by Russians. 

The tribe was moved to a small place at Waitemata on the shores of Okahu Bay.

Soon the crown took away more of Te Kawau land in WW1 and the tribe were moved into an even smaller area.

However the government wanted the rest of Te Kawau land for its ocean views.

By 1951 the families at Okahu Bay were moved and their Wharenui and houses burned.

The government decided to build houses at Bastion Point in 1977. By this time Te Kawau land was reduced to a quarter acre.