Ōrakei kaumātua return home, decades after settlement was razed by the Crown

It’s been 40 years since Kathleen Tia Grey returned to Ngāti Whātua land to stay, after the Crown evicted occupants of the central Auckland settlement in 1951 and then torched it, Stuff reports. The settlement was razed a year later ahead of a visit by Queen Elizabeth II because it was considered an eyesore and potential disease hub. Grey was 3 years old when Ōkahu settlement was razed to the ground. “It’s always been my desire to come back home. When I had my own mokopuna, that urge was stronger.”