Moving to Wainuiomata

Overview

Students investigate why rural Māori migrated to urban areas, with a focus on migration to Wainuiomata during the twentieth century. Using maps, photographs, short source extracts and oral-history perspectives, students identify causes and effects, compare viewpoints, and consider how migration shaped cultural identity, resources and community life.

Learning intentions

• WALT explain why rural Māori migrated to urban areas and to Wainuiomata.
• WALT use sources to identify different perspectives about migration and place.
• WALT explain causes and effects of migration for people and communities.
• WALT communicate a balanced conclusion using evidence.

Success criteria

• I can identify at least two reasons rural Māori moved to urban areas.
• I can explain why Wainuiomata was an attractive destination for some migrants.
• I can use evidence from more than one source and identify whose perspective it represents.
• I can describe one continuing effect of Māori migration on culture, diversity or community life.

Curriculum links

• Social Sciences — use sources to examine perspectives, analyse responses to challenges and events, engage in dialogue, and communicate understanding.
• Economic Activity — natural resources and geographic advantage, including how people make decisions about access to and use of resources.
• Geography — human adaptation to changing environments and strategies for accessing food, water, fuel and shelter.
• Civics and Society — evaluate how sources represent different perspectives and influence informed, active citizens.

The lesson develops the key competencies of thinking, using language, symbols and texts, relating to others, and participating and contributing.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–7 min · Hook: Who gets to belong? Teacher displays a historical image of Wainuiomata alongside a rural Māori community image in the opening image and enquiry question and asks, “Why might a whānau decide to leave their rural home?” Students silently jot one possible reason, then share with a partner. Clarify that migration is the movement of people from one place to another and that people’s experiences are not all the same.

2. 7–17 min · Build the context. Teacher uses the map and context slides to locate rural areas, Wellington and Wainuiomata, explaining that Māori urban migration increased particularly after the Second World War. Avoid presenting one single story: introduce possible reasons such as employment, housing, education, transport, healthcare, whānau connections and changing land or economic opportunities. Students annotate a simple map on the Wainuiomata migration inquiry sheet with arrows and two questions they still have.

3. 17–32 min · Source investigation. Teacher places students in six groups of five and distributes a source set included on the worksheet: a map, photograph, short historical account, oral-history extract, newspaper-style report and present-day community perspective. Model the questions “Who created this?”, “What does it show?”, “Whose voice is present?”, and “What might be missing?” Students record the source’s main message, evidence, perspective and reliability. Provide the Migration Stories Inquiry Organiser to structure group notes.

4. 32–44 min · Causes and effects. Teacher displays the cause-and-effect sorting instructions and asks groups to sort their evidence into causes, experiences during movement, and effects after settlement. Students decide which reasons were push factors, which were pull factors, and whether each effect was individual, whānau, cultural, economic or community-based. Groups must support one claim with evidence from two different sources.

5. 44–53 min · Perspectives dialogue. Teacher uses the perspective discussion prompts to establish respectful discussion: “How might a young person, kaumātua, employer, local council or urban whānau view this migration differently?” Students conduct a brief group kōrero, ensuring they distinguish evidence from assumptions. Each group shares one benefit, one challenge and one continuing significance, such as cultural diversity, new community networks, cultural revitalisation or pressure on housing and services.

6. 53–60 min · Conclusion and exit ticket. Teacher revisits the opening question and asks students to complete the conclusion on the evidence-based conclusion section: “Rural Māori migrated to Wainuiomata because… This affected people and communities by…”. Students finish with the retrieval practice exit ticket slips, naming one cause, one effect and one perspective they encountered.

Resources

• the migration to Wainuiomata enquiry deck
• the Wainuiomata migration inquiry sheet
• the Migration Stories Inquiry Organiser
• the retrieval practice exit ticket slips
• Teacher-prepared source extracts, photographs and maps about rural Māori migration and Wainuiomata
• Projector or interactive display
• Six sets of highlighters or coloured pencils
• Large paper or mini-whiteboards for group claims

Assessment

• Listen for whether students distinguish causes, effects, evidence and assumptions during group investigation.
• Check each group’s source analysis and require evidence from two sources during the perspective dialogue.
• Use the exit ticket to assess whether students can explain one cause, one effect and one perspective. Collect the conclusion section to identify students needing further support with historical reasoning.

Differentiation

• Provide dyslexia-friendly source extracts: cream or pale-coloured paper, sans-serif font, 14–16-point text, short paragraphs, generous spacing and key words highlighted. Offer audio reading, paired reading or teacher read-aloud without reducing the thinking demand.
• Give selected students a reduced source set, a visual timeline, a labelled map and sentence starters: “One reason was…”, “This source suggests…”, “The creator may have…”, and “A consequence was…”.
• Allow students to record an oral conclusion, use a scribe or create a labelled cause-and-effect diagram. Pre-teach migration, urbanisation, perspective, evidence, consequence and tangata whenua.
• Extension: students compare two sources that disagree or emphasise different experiences, then write a further question about how leadership, decision-making or access to housing and services affected the community.