Map My Waahi

Introduction

In Aotearoa New Zealand, our ancestors all came from another place. Our society is a rich blend of origins, cultures, languages, traditions, religions and foods from all over the world. Early Māori sailed thousands of miles to reach Aotearoa New Zealand. Their routes were preserved in memory or recorded in song. Upon arrival they weaved place names and overland route descriptions into oral histories. These have been passed from generation to generation. Iwi mapping was therefore an oral tradition. The pepeha, for example, is an important form of introduction. It links individuals to their tribal roots and significant landmarks. The forerunner to the Global Positioning System (GPS)!

Join us as we explore the diverse heritage of a classroom, their stories and how they came to Aotearoa New Zealand. Meet with their parents and understand some of the challenges they faced in making this country their home. Your guides will be other students who have been using digital maps to create a record of their origins and the places that support their identity. 

mapping192-introduction from LEARNZ on Vimeo.

Meet Andrew

Location

Travel to Lower Hutt Awakairangi, a city of over 100,000 people and one of four cities that make up the Wellington Pōneke metropolitan area. One quarter of Lower Hutt's people were born overseas, about the same as the national average. Although 95% of its people identify as either European, Māori, Samoan, Indian or Chinese there are significant numbers of Cook Islands Māori, Filipino, and Dutch. On this field trip you visit sites that support the identity of the diverse groups of people who live there.