Rare collection of photographs from 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand up for auction

A rare slice of early 1980s New Zealand history goes under the hammer in Auckland today.

It's a collection of original photographs taken during the protests that accompanied the 1981 Springbok Tour to New Zealand during South Africa's apartheid era.

The pictures document the unprecedented civil unrest that saw grandmas and patched gang members linking arms and battling the police.

Many New Zealanders opposed the tour of South Africa's national rugby team (the Springboks) due to the team's policy of not selecting non-white players. Many other New Zealanders thought politics should stay out of sport and supported the tour.

The photographs will be auctioned at Bowerbank Ninow gallery today.