#1 Ancestry
What are the main factors in my ancestors’ decision to immigrate to NZ?
Part 1
Present a family tree for at least five generations of your ancestors, in any format you like. Try to include dates and places of birth, death and marriage (if known).
Try using an online tool such as Family Echo, Geni, Ancestry (14 day free trial)
Part 2
Find out as much information as you can about one of your ancestors who immigrated to New Zealand. If your ancestors are Maori, then find out as much as you can about your ancestor’s Iwi and canoe. Your first option should be interviewing your parents or relatives. Here are some sample questions you can use to get to know your parents: Interview Questions. Once you have done this then you can branch out to stories of older relatives as you investigate further into the past.
If you can't identify one of your ancestors, investigate one of Tauranga Moana's first migrants - Tamatea Ariki-Nui - the captain of the Takitimu waka. Click this link to make a copy of the notes template.
RQ1: Who was my ancestor and how are they related to me? When did they migrate and from what country?
Add as much biographical information as you can - date of birth/death, family including husband/wife, children, brother's sisters, job etc. Try to find out what else was happening in the year of their migration. Check out world timelines for modern history. More than just the country - do you know what town or city? What more information can you add? Language they speak, other cultural things like food, sports, religion etc.
RQ 2: What was their life like at that time and how did recent events shape them? (Write a short biography of their life - be creative in places to fill in gaps)
Complete this activity to help you understand how to write a biography:
Education Perfect Task: Kate Sheppard Biography
RQ3: What were some of the challenges my ancestor faced in migrating?
Research what was happening where your ancestor was at that time in history. Consider how they would have had to travel to NZ (the challenges and difficulties). Consider factors like money, weather (climate), class systems, racism, employment, distance, leaving family, illness, age, traveling with kids, war, famine etc.
Part 3 - Push and Pull Factors
Find out what it was like where your ancestors came from. Compare and contrast the country they were leaving with what was being offered in New Zealand. Vague statements or guesses aren’t enough. Every statement you make must be supported by evidence you have found. Offer a possible explanation, supported by evidence, why you ancestors decided to leave their homeland.
You must create two climate graphs for New Zealand and the country your ancestor migrated from as part of this section. Use a web site like Climate Charts to help you.
Find out the main push and pull factors for your ancestor migration.
Push and Pull factors from Europe to the USA: These are applicable to New Zealand.
Gapminder – for information to compare two or more countries
Part 4
a) Write a formal report using structure paragraphs and detailing the evidence you have found.
b) Create a presentation and present to your class. Tell your family’s migration story and what pushed them from their country of origin and pulled them to New Zealand. (see Slides template to the right)
Pro Tips
✅ Use your family. Chances are your family will be a great source of information. If you ask enough people in your extended family you are bound to find someone that has already done some genealogy work. Cast the net wide; you may need to ask uncles, aunts, or grandparents. Someone will enjoy having the opportunity to talk to you about where you come from.
✅ Refer to the Ancestry Rubric at the bottom of your document for what you will be assessed on.
✅ Use your teachers as a resource for how to conduct your inquiry. If in doubt try to figure it out, discuss with your classmates, ask your teacher. Do not bury your head in the sand.
Resources
New Zealand historical resources:
Genealogy Links: NZ history website with lots of useful links
National Library research: Guide to researching your family history in NZ
History of Immigration in NZ: What is it and how it affected immigration
Archives NZ – a number of migration search tools
NZ History – events browser
Matauranga - an interactive resource about the first people to come to Aotearoa
South Seas - a collection of resources on cross cultural encounters in the Pacific.
Papers Past – NZ newspaper search engine
Yesteryears – Passenger list for NZ bound ships
Tauranga Peninsular Kahui Ako: resource with numerous links to local iwi resources.
Extension
Present using a Google Earth Project
Do you want a unique way to tell the story of your ancestors migration? Use Google Earth project builder to add places, street view images and full screen slides to a presentation.
See this example of a project detailing the places and stories of the first migrants to Tauranga.
Think deeper....
Try to answer these additional research questions in your report:
How did the migration of my ancestor contribute to my identity and who I am today?
How has migration contributed to a New Zealand sense of identity?
"To Musk, the parallels to the British colonization of the New World remain striking. “It’s just like America,” Musk said. “How many English ships went to America the first time? One. And then if you fast-forward two hundred years, how many ships went from England to America? Thousands. So it would be something similar. There was hope in the New World. It may as well have been Mars.”
Petranek, Stephen. How We'll Live on Mars. Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2015.