Aotearoa NZ's national identity in late 19th/early 20th centuries
The Landing at ANZAC, April 25 1915 by Charles Dixon. Archives New Zealand on Flickr. Some rights reserved.
Topic Explorer sets
These sets contain quality, curated resources — websites, images, videos, books, and more — to support and inspire inquiry. Each topic features a carefully selected set of national and international resources from trustworthy and reliable, national and international sources (e.g. Alexander Turnbull Library, Te Ara, National Geographic, and the BBC).
The following topic sets relate to the evolving national identity of Aotearoa New Zealand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries:
- New Zealand history
- Māori history post-European arrival
- Māori religious movements
- Parihaka
- Women in Aotearoa
- Women's suffrage
- New Zealand and the First World War
- Anzac
- Gallipoli campaign
- New Zealand and the Second World War.
He Tohu activities and resources
He Tohu is a permanent exhibition of 3 iconic constitutional documents that shape Aotearoa New Zealand:
- 1835 He Whakaputanga / Declaration of Independence
- 1840 Te Tiriti o Waitangi / Treaty of Waitangi
- 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition.
The following activities and resources will inspire students to understand stories and actions from the past.
Learning activities
- Explore the 'New Zealand' identity
- Impacts of actions from the past
- Key stakeholders — 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition
- The Petition: A key signatory
- Women’s Suffrage Petition – from its creation to now.
Videos
He Tohu on YouTube:
- Women's Suffrage — kicking down the door (video, 1:00)
- Te Whakamana Pōti Wahine – ko te whana iho i te tatau (video, 1:16)
- What does the Women's Suffrage Petition mean to you? (video, 1:01)
- Women's Suffrage Petition (video, 2:04).
Kōrero videos — hear discussions about the history of He Tohu documents, what they mean today, and visions for the future:
- The power to vote
- More kōrero videos — filter the videos by '1893 Women's Suffrage Petition'.
Curiosity cards
Curiosity cards use images and fertile questions to spark student inquiry about Aotearoa New Zealand.
Curiosity cards that relate to the evolving national identity of Aotearoa New Zealand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries include:
- Burning the forest CC0004)
- Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia (CC0010)
- The bicycle and women's suffrage (CC0009)
- Mere Ruiha Hakaraia/Mary Bevan’s signature on the 1893 Suffrage Petition (CC0011)
- Whakapapa (TMCC6)
- Cross-cultural identity (TMCC16).
Many Answers and AnyQuestions
Many Answers entries are designed to guide students to reliable and trustworthy websites. The following entries will help them find information on the evolving national identity of Aotearoa New Zealand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries:
- New Zealand Wars — senior secondary
- Women's suffrage (New Zealand) — senior secondary
- World War One — junior primary
- World War One — junior secondary
- Anzac — junior secondary
- World War Two — junior primary
- World War Two — junior secondary
- Boer Wars — senior secondary
- Government (New Zealand) — junior secondary
- History (New Zealand) — junior secondary.
AnyQuestions
AnyQuestions offers free online help for all New Zealand school students from 1pm to 6pm weekdays during the school year.
Students can log in to the website and chat with librarians who are specially trained to help them find answers to questions related to topics such as New Zealand history. Librarians develop students' ability to source and critically evaluate quality online information sources. Teachers can also book classroom sessions.
Lending service
Borrow books from our lending service — we have an extensive collection of picture books, fiction, and non-fiction to support and expand student inquiry into the evolving national identity of Aotearoa New Zealand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Some popular titles related to this topic include:
- Anzac Day: The New Zealand Story: What It Is and Why It Matters' by Philippa Werry, 2013.
- ‘1914: Riding Into War’ by Susan Brocker, 2014.
- ‘Finding’ by David Hill, 2018.
- ‘Gallipoli: Reckless Valour’ by Nicolas Brasch, 2009.
- ‘Kate Sheppard: Leading the Way for Women’ by Maria Gill, 2018.
- ‘New Zealand and the First World War 1914–1919’ by Damien Fenton, 2013.
- ‘The New Zealand Expeditionary Force in World War II’ by Wayne Stack and Barry O’Sullivan, 2013.
- ‘The People and the Land / Te Tangata Me Te Whenua: An Illustrated History of New Zealand, 1820–1920’ by Judith Binney, Judith Bassett, and Erik Olssen, 2018.
- ‘Remember That November’ by Jennifer Beck, 2012.
- ‘The Telegram’ by Philippa Werry, 2019.
Other National Library tools and resources
The following tools and resources can also help you find resources to capture student interest and build their understanding of Aotearoa New Zealand history.
World War 1 (WW1) resources — curated, online First World War and WW100 commemoration learning resources. Many cover the experiences and perspectives of New Zealanders at the time. The guide includes images, articles, video, events, and databases.
EPIC — gives your school free access to thousands of online resources, including magazines, journals, newspapers, biographies, reference works, images, eBooks, and multimedia. Note that you may need a school login. Some EPIC resources invaluable for Aotearoa New Zealand history studies include:
- New Zealand History Collection (BWB) — a cross-searchable eBook collection of award-winning New Zealand history and biography titles from Bridget Williams Books.
- Treaty of Waitangi Collection (BWB) — a cross-searchable e-book collection providing access to a growing collection of important works about the Treaty of Waitangi.
- Australia New Zealand Reference Centre Plus — access the largest collection of full-text New Zealand and Australian magazine, newspaper, and reference content in one place.
- New Zealand Geographic Online — access the entire archive of the 'New Zealand Geographic' magazine back to 1989, including current editions.
DigitalNZ — find, curate, and share content from New Zealand libraries, museums, galleries, media, and more. Content includes historic and contemporary items such as photographs, paintings, posters, and videos.
Papers Past — search and browse digitised New Zealand historical newspapers (including some in te reo Māori), magazines, journals, letters, diaries, and parliamentary papers.
INNZ — Index New Zealand is a searchable database that contains abstracts and descriptions of articles from New Zealand magazines and newspapers published from the 1950s to the present day.
Primary sources — how to use them — primary sources are original, firsthand, often unedited records of an event. They are a powerful teaching and learning tool. Find out where to find quality, trusted primary sources, and how to use them effectively.
Archives New Zealand
These albums from Archives New Zealand's Flickr account contain digitised records and photos about the national identity of Aotearoa New Zealand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: