Chronology for 1835-1899
The colonial redistribution of welfare: Dismantling hapū ora
This period opens with a politically and socio-economically robust iwi Māori population of around 80,000 people.[i] go to footnote Whenua and whakapapa form the basis of hapū and whānau wellbeing. W.H. Oliver argues that the first instrument of social policy in New Zealand was the system set up by Hobson in 1840 for the purchase and resale to settlers of Māori land.[ii] go to footnote Pākehā welfare was dependent on the continued dispossession of Māori land.[iii]go to footnote
The New Zealand Wars (1845–1872) either directly or indirectly impacted all iwi Māori throughout New Zealand.[iv] go to footnote Related legislative measures enabled the Crown to alienate Māori land and taonga across the motu prior to and beyond the next century via confiscation, land tenure reforms, local legislative measures and contested land purchases.
Iwi Māori assertions of rangatiratanga and resistance to the alienation of lands occurred across the motu, either physically, through the courts, via direct petitioning to the government or through the simple occupation of lands. Such measures led to some government concessions, such as the Sims Commission and South Island Landless Natives Act 1906,[v] go to footnote but after 1872 resistance also sometimes led to the government’s use of force in the later 19th century and well into the 20th century. (eg, Parihaka in 1881, Waima in 1898, Takaparawhāu in 1978).[vi] go to footnote
By the end of the 19th century Māori were a minority of the national. In 1896 the Māori population hit an all-time low of 42,650, compared to a Pākehā population of just over 700,000. Although the Māori population was recovering, their communities were reeling from land alienation, decline of resources, indebtedness, diseases and Māori communities survived on subsistence economies, with a growing dependence on paid work.
Māori were either excluded or faced barriers to accessing welfare support introduced during this period.
Chronology events
Displaying 131 - 140 of 270 events.
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Introduction of integrated schools
The separate Māori school system administered by the Department of Education was abolished. Management of the 105 Māori primary schools and remaining Māori district high schools was transferred to Education Board control. Māori high schools had been closin…
Date: 1969 Period: 1938-1971 -
Juvenile Crime Prevention Section renamed
The section was now known as the Youth Aid Section.[i]
Date: 1969 Period: 1938-1971 -
Status of Children Act
This Act eroded ex-nuptial v nuptial distinctions, dispensed with the term illegitimacy, and suggested a focus on the child as a child rather than a member of a larger unit.[i]
Date: 1969 Period: 1938-1971 -
Child Welfare Division national survey results released
Results of an extensive national survey initiated in 1967 were released. Results showed that Pasifika children and young people had started to be a disproportionate minority in child welfare services. Two or three in every 10,000 children under the age of …
Date: 1970 Period: 1938-1971 -
The Māori Purposes Act
Amended section 25 of the 1962 Act and altered the NZMC’s funding arrangements by replacing the pound-for-pound subsidy system on money raised by Māori Associations with the payment of a Minister-approved annual grant. The NZMC had raised the issue of its …
Date: 1970 Period: 1938-1971 -
Joint ‘J’ Teams
Set up to support young Māori in cities. Included Police, Child Welfare, Māori Affairs and voluntary groups (disbanded in 1980).[i]
Date: 1971 Period: 1938-1971 -
Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Housing
‘The Commission of Inquiry into Housing released its report and recommendations. This was a wide-ranging inquiry and the Commission made 114 recommendations. These included that: Polynesians should be housed in very small, dispersed groups and that large …
Date: 1971 Period: 1938-1971 -
Department of Social Welfare established
Child Welfare Division joined with the Social Security Department in a ‘forced marriage’ to become the Department of Social Welfare.[i] A 1972 report, New Zealand’s first comprehensive inquiry into child abuse, indicated there was relatively little child …
Date: 1972 Period: 1972-1989 -
Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit opened
The Unit operated for six years but children and young people may have been treated in Lake Alice prior to the unit being opened.[i]
Date: 1972 Period: 1972-1989 -
National Housing Commission
The Commission undertook its last major survey of serious housing need in 1988. This survey comprised half of New Zealand’s population representing the areas considered to have the most housing need. In these areas, it was estimated that 17,500 households …
Date: 1972 Period: 1972-1989
Footnotes
- [i] go to main content ‘The first Māori census was attempted in 1857–58’. Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney, Aroha Harris, Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 2014, p. 246. Earlier censuses were taken during the 1840s, however these were particular to regions and settlements and from there estimates were made by missionaries and colonists as to what the national population level might have been. Salmond and other prominent authors are sceptical of these figures and believe the numbers were greater. A census of Māori was attempted in 1867 but warfare prevented its completion. Tangata Whenua, Appendix One, p. 490.
- [ii] go to main content Cited in Margaret Tennant, Past Judgement: Social Policy in New Zealand History, co-edited with Bronwyn Dalley, 2004, p. 17.; ‘The April report: report of the Royal Commission on Social Policy’, Volume 1: New Zealand Today, New Zealand Royal Commission on Social Policy, Wellington, 1988, pp. 4–5.
- [iii] go to main content Tennant, 2004, p. 41.
- [iv] go to main content For more detailed information see the following link: https://teara.govt.nz/en/new-zealand-wars
- [v] go to main content For more information see: Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney, Aroha Harris, Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 2014, pp. 256–301, and https://teara.govt.nz/en/new-zealand-wars
- [vi] go to main content Tangata Whenua, pp.322-3.