Part Five
From Contestation to Celebration: Community Responses to Arrivals at Auckland Airport, 1965-Present
by Alexandru Cotos*
In the iconic opening line of the 2003 film Love Actually, Hugh Grant states that the arrivals section of Heathrow Airport is a place where love is all around. As a place of arrival, an airport brings people together to receive arrivals worldwide. The history of Auckland Airport proves this claim, as since its opening, the airport has served as a place for community expression. Though, unlike the idealised view of Heathrow, Auckland Airport has been home not only to love and celebration but also to anger and conflict.
The Grand Air Pageant
The first celebration at Auckland Airport commemorated the arrival of the airport itself. After a 37-year-long process of plans, proposals, and pulled funding, a state-of-the-art international airport was finally complete, albeit with an incomplete passenger terminal. In a move to symbolically usher in a new modern era, perhaps with the ulterior motive of distracting the public from the incomplete airport, the Auckland Regional Authority airport division planned a grand air pageant on Auckland Anniversary weekend (the last weekend in January) the following year.
Caption: Map of exhibitions in the Grand Air Pageant. Reference: Auckland Regional Authority Airport Division, Auckland International Airport Grand Air Pageant Programme, 1966. 07/017/008. Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT).
The grand air pageant featured 420 aircraft, including military planes from New Zealand, British, and even American Air Forces, a wide variety of civilian transport planes, agricultural planes, hobbyist planes, and even a few parachutists. These planes flew all around Auckland, including an American jet that terrified the people and animals of Kawau Island with an accidental sonic boom. Ironically, the most significant success of the weekend was on the ground in the form of traffic management. Several measures, such as redirecting domestic flights to Whenuapai, forcing the use of buses for international arrivals, and thorough traffic monitoring city wide ensured that the roughly 11,000 cars carrying 100,000 Aucklanders arrived without incident.
Caption: Auckland Airport during the pageant, showcasing the sheer number of cars and planes present. Reference: ‘Auckland International Airport, opening day’, Whites Aviation Limited. 29 Jan 1966. 14-6636. Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT).
Rugby and Royals, Arrivals in the 1980s
The first use of the airport as a venue for an active protest came in 1981 with the arrival of the Springbok Rugby Team. While in today’s memory, the dramatic scenes of the pitch invasion at Hamilton’s Rugby Park or the showdowns in downtown Auckland dominate our view of the tour, there were many smaller demonstrations, starting with the arrival of the team on Sunday 18 July 1981 at 6.30 am. With the anti-tour movement already up and running long before the arrival of the Springboks, the activist group Mobilisation to Stop the Tour (MOST) planned for a large demonstration at Auckland Airport on the landing date. Air New Zealand caught wind of these plans and prepared to fast-track the Springboks from their inbound flight from Los Angeles to their domestic flight to Gisborne as quickly as possible. One such measure was the redirection of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, who were supposed to arrive on the same flight in a tour to celebrate the sister city relationship between Auckland and Los Angeles.
Caption: Comic featured in the Auckland Star, joking that Mickey Mouse’s arrival in Auckland is well suited to the ridiculousness of the period. Reference: Bromhead, Peter, ‘Mickey Mouse Right at Home’, Auckland Star, 23 July 1981, p.6.
While Mickey Mouse avoided being on the flight with the Springboks, as fate had it, Mary Baker, the chairman of Christchurch Coalition Against the Tour, discovered that she was departing from Los Angeles on the same plane as the Springboks. The protest against the Springbok tour started en route to Auckland Airport. First, she went to them and told them simply that they were not welcome in Aotearoa, accompanied by a flurry of slogans. After threats from flight staff of being booted off at Honolulu, Baker devised a different plan, waiting for the passengers to be locked in their seats to eat before walking around holding a sick bag with the word ‘SHAME’ written on it. Baker faced abuse from fellow passengers, all of which were other New Zealanders, yet the Springboks themselves remained silent.
Caption: Film reel of images from the Airport demonstration Reference: Hanly, Gil, ‘Anti-tour protest at airport, Springboks arrive at Airport’, Gil Hanly Photographic Archive, PH-2015-2-GH101, Auckland Museum Collections.
After landing, the Springboks were greeted by roughly 2000 demonstrators, including a contingent of staff and students from St John’s Theological College, led by Reverend Andrew Beyer. Of these, 25 more radical members removed part of the fence and moved into the restricted area. The police stationed there quickly reacted, arresting all 25. It was noted the police ignored standard procedure and forcefully photographed the protestors before charging them. After the demonstration, Auckland Airport initially demanded $200 from the protestors to pay for repairs to the cut fence and the cleaning of spray painted slogans, a figure which one day later inflated to $10,000. In the end, the bill was paid by the Auckland Regional Authority.
Caption: Clipping from Dominion with a photo of police clashing with protestors at the fence separating the airport security zone. Reference: ‘No one’s sitting on this fence’, Dominion, 20 July, 1981, p.2.
The spectre of the Springbok Tour protests haunted authorities two years later when Prince Charles, Princess Diana, and the infant Prince William were scheduled to tour New Zealand. The police and the Department of Foreign Affairs worked hard to ensure a smooth landing at Auckland Airport, with police Chief Superintendent Berriman making clear that the public should expect security measures ‘along the same line as those for the Springbok tours’. Police expected protests at the landing and filtered any would-be troublemakers at the gate before the observation area.
On arrival, a crowd of roughly 100 protestors carried signs and banners regarding Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori rights, British involvement in Northern Ireland, abolition of the monarchy, and, reportedly, one banner proclaiming Argentina’s rightful claim to the Falkland Islands. The protestors were far enough removed that the royals could not hear their chants despite one man’s speech using a loudspeaker. Authorities like royal liaison officer Dick Butler ensured the protests were suppressed by threatening to remove the license of any photographers who dared document disruptions. Butler told journalists that they would ‘get a rocket from the Prime Minister [if there was] the least sign of public discontent on tour’.
The Royal couple were not just greeted by protest. A much larger crowd welcomed and celebrated their arrival in New Zealand. While organisers planned for a quick, well-guarded transfer of the royals from plane to car, the People’s Princess had a different idea. The couple walked away from the cars and bodyguards towards the crowd of loving supporters. Police had to quickly adapt to the changing situation, with all available staff, including the Commissioner of Police himself, helping control the crowd. Most police personnel focused on regulating photographers desperate to get a good view of the royal couple. Arriving at the height of ‘Dianamania’, the crowd relished their opportunity to meet the Prince and Princess, including a group of British-born Aucklanders who were ecstatic to meet the royals. The contrast of protest and celebration on the arrival of the royal couple in 1983 represents the importance of the airport as a place of connection between Auckland and the world. In this case, the responses to the royal arrival bring forth positive and negative feelings about the relationship between New Zealand and Britain, with both royalist support and anti-monarchy sentiments present.
Caption: A collage by the New Zealand Herald of photos of the Royals arrival at Auckland Airport. Reference: ‘Harae Mai’, New Zealand Herald, Monday, 18 April 1983, p.24.
Northern Runway and Ihumātao, Community Responses to Proposed Developments
Auckland International Airport became a site of protest once more from the late 1990s to mid-2000s, this time focused on the airport itself. Since opening, airport planners anxiously wondered whether the 3-kilometre single runway would be enough for Auckland’s future. In 1995, the Airport Company requested consent to build a second runway north of the terminal. This news struck fear in many communities in South Auckland, especially those in Papatoetoe due to increased air traffic and increasing noise. Passionate citizens banded together to submit in opposition to the proposal, forming the group Residents Against Airport Noise (RAAN). In late 1996, RAAN gathered signatures on a petition to the Manukau City Council to stop the northern runway. RAAN’s petition was popular, boasting a total of 5583 valid signatures, mainly from Papatoetoe but with a handful from surrounding districts.
Caption: RANR Members protesting near Auckland Airport. Reference: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections Footprints 03878.
Over the next two years, the Manukau City Council deliberated and considered its position until May 1998, when it decided to allow the second runway. While RAAN had been effectively defeated, a successor group called Residents Against the Northern Runway (RANR) cropped up. While RAAN opposed any second runway, RANR wanted the new runway south of the existing runway, as this site would affect far fewer communities with noise pollution. RANR protested the Council’s decision, but with no success. Luckily for RANR and RAAN, almost thirty years later, the northern runway has still not been opened due to its long planning process and the unfortunate timing of earthworks beginning right before the Great Recession and again with the COVID-19 pandemic. At the moment, the airport estimates a completion date in 2041, with the reassurance that Auckland Airport is not projected to need the additional infrastructure until the latter part of the twenty-first century.
The site of the airport has also made it a target of protest due to its proximity to a place that represents Auckland’s complicated history. In the previous article, I discussed how the airport site is adjacent to Ihumātao, an area that was wrongfully confiscated by the Crown from Māori on charges of rebellion in 1863. In 2016, activism around the confiscation was ignited when a large portion of the confiscated land in Ihumātao was sold to Fletcher Building to become a housing development. In response, activists occupied the area over the next three years. This escalated in July 2019, gaining wide attention and backlash by authorities, including an eviction order on 23 July. While the movement grew, the Government did not halt the development, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stating that the Government would back the view of local Iwi, which at the time had different views from the activists.
The occupation of Ihumātao spilled over into the nearby airport on 25 July when seven activists from Organise Aotearoa blocked the northbound lanes of State Highway 20A George Bolt Memorial Drive. The police were quickly notified when the main artery of the airport was blocked, and what followed was another instance of clashing between activists and police, similar to the situation in 1981. Newshub reported that bystanders witnessed police dragging activists from the road and arresting them, with some having their clothes ripped. Organise Aotearoa described the event as a mass arrest, arguing that targeting the airport was essential to raise awareness of the dispute.
Caption: Police presence at the 2019 Ihumātao occupation. Reference: Gail Orgias (02 Aug 2019). Ihumatao protest, 2019. Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira. PH-2020-5-12.
The story of Auckland Airport is intertwined with several important threads in the wider, long history of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. The story of early airports tells us of innovation, isolation, and poor planning. The proposal process showed the price of delays, debates, and funding issues. The prehistory echoes many of the themes in the colonisation of Tāmaki, with a changing landscape from Māori gardens to farms to housing. Finally, the community use of the airport tells a story of global connection and the people of Auckland’s positive and negative reactions to these connections. In essence, the saga of Auckland Airport demonstrates that even seemingly practical buildings that house a transient population can be home to a deep history that enriches the stories of our people and places.