The great Māori urban migration
- When
- 1945–1975
- Reach
- Nationwide
Māori went from about 25 percent urban in 1945 to nearly 80 percent by 1975 — one of the fastest urbanisations recorded anywhere.
Rural land could not support growing populations and cities had factory work, so people moved, encouraged by a government policy of ‘pepper-potting’ Māori families among Pākehā neighbours to speed assimilation. The move brought jobs and housing, and it severed daily connection to marae, hapū and te reo. Urban marae, culture clubs and eventually the protest movements of the 1970s were all responses to that dislocation.
Regions affected
Sources
Written for this project from these references rather than copied from them. Follow a link to check the account against the original.
Related
The influenza pandemic
About 9,000 people died in two months — roughly half as many as died in four years of war. Māori died at more than seven times the Pākehā rate.
Rogernomics — the economy is deregulated
A Labour government floated the dollar, removed farm subsidies and tariffs, and sold state assets — the fastest liberalisation in the developed world.
Te reo Māori becomes an official language
Te Ture mō Te Reo Māori
Te reo Māori gained official status and the right to be spoken in court, fifteen years after the language petition and following a Waitangi Tribunal finding that it was a taonga.
The Springbok tour
Fifty-six days that split the country. Protesters occupied the pitch at Hamilton and stopped the game; by the final test, police in riot gear fought crowds outside Eden Park.
Rugby Park, Hamilton