NCEA Level 3 History (90658) 2008 — page 1 of 3

Assessment Schedule – 2008

History: Examine a significant historical situation in the context of change, in an essay (90658)

Judgement Statement

Achievement / Achievement with Merit / Achievement with Excellence
Through her/his response to the first part of the essay question, the candidate has describeda significant situation in the context of change.
(See content guidelines for examples of relevant historical information that could be included in the candidate’s answer.) / Through her/his response to the first part of the essay question, the candidate has described inrelevant detail a significant situation in the context of change.
(See content guidelines for examples of relevant historical information that could be included in the candidate’s answer.) / Through the breadth, depth and/or range of the ideas in her / his response to the first part of the essay question, the candidate has comprehensively described a significant situation in the context of change.
(See content guidelines for examples of relevant historical information that could be included in the candidate’s answer.)
Through her / his response to the second part of the question the candidate has described the influence of the situation on people.
(See content guidelines for examples of relevant historical information that could be included in the candidate’s answer.) / Through her / his response to the second part of the question the candidate has evaluated the influence of the situation on people.
This evaluationshould involve analysis and / or a weighing up of the influences that this situation had on people.
(See content guidelines for examples of relevant historical information that could be included in the candidate’s answer.) / Through the breadth, depth and / or range of the ideas in her / his response to the second part of the question the candidate has comprehensively evaluated the influence of the situation on people.
This evaluationshould involve comprehensive analysis and / or a weighing up of the influences that this situation had on people.
(See content guidelines for examples of relevant historical information that could be included in the candidate’s answer.)
The candidate has structured and organised her/his information using an appropriate essay format.
  • Introduction
  • Relevant, structured and logically sequenced paragraphs
  • Conclusion.
/ The candidate has structured and organised her/his information using an appropriate essay format.
  • Introductory paragraph
  • Relevant, structured and logically sequenced paragraphs
  • Conclusion.
The candidate has provided an argument,ie the candidate has stated a view and supported it with relevant and accurate evidence (probably most evident in the evaluative part of her / his essay.) / The candidate has structured and organised her/his information using an appropriate and effective essay format.
  • Introductory paragraph
  • Relevant, structured, and logically sequenced paragraphs
  • Conclusion
The candidate has provided a convincing argument,ie the candidate has a clearly articulated view and has supported it with sound reasoning and relevant, accurate, and significant evidence (probably most evident in the evaluative part of her / his essay.)

Content Guidelines: Topic Two: New Zealand In The Nineteenth Century

Topic Two: Essay One

Describe the changing relationship between Māori and Pākehā during the early contact period of New Zealand history up to 1840.

Evaluate the extent to which Māori societies were affected by this relationship between 1800 and 1840.

The candidate’s response to the first part of the essay question could include:

  • The evolving relationship between Māori and Pākehā in the early contact period of New Zealand history could include discussion about the nature and development of interaction between the two groups, through the relationships between Māori and Pākehā sealers, whalers, traders, missionaries and the British Crown.
  • Much of the early Māori-Pākehā relationship was based on economics – exchange, trade and exploitation. There were a few incidents of conflict, eg burning of the Boyd, but these decreased when both groups realised that they could benefit through peaceful trade.
  • There was an increasing Pākehā – especially British – presence in New Zealand in the 1830s, especially in the north, where there was an intensification of cultural interaction.
  • A number of Māori travelled away from New Zealand and some spent years overseas and learned about the Western world, enough to mediate between Māori and European in New Zealand.
  • Officials encouraged Māori to look overseas and to think in terms of personal relationships. Some chiefs were significant in this – Te Pahi, Ruatara and Hongi Hika tried to use what they had acquired overseas for the benefit of their people and their own mana. They gained an understanding of British dominance in the world and sought Britain as an ally and protector.
  • Sealers and whalers made no specific attempt to change Māori society but came to exploit natural resources.
  • Most sealing ships operated around the southern part of the South Island. They came from Australia, Britain and USA and the greatest period of seal exploitation occurred between1803–10. Māori had some contact with sealers, providing food and sometimes labour. There were some incidents of conflict between sealers and Māori, usually due to breach of tapu.
  • Whaling caused many Pākehā to interact with Māori. The industry changed over time and encouraged a closer cultural contact between the two groups. Some Māori were crew on whaling ships and travelled out of New Zealand. They were not always well treated but they learned about the wider world. Whalers frequently used the Bay of Islands as a stopover before and after whaling for rest and supplies. Whalers wanted water, food, women, and labour from Māori, which meant considerable interaction. Whaler numbers became so great in the 1830s that they dominated the Bay of Islands and Kororareka became notorious (Hell-hole of the Pacific – Charles Darwin). Shore whaling stations developed by 1829 and close and long-term relations between Māori and Pākehā developed in and around these. These stations required the cooperation of local Māori, who also wanted to trade and increase their mana through access and proximity to valuable Pākehā. Shore whalers became partly included in Māori society, finding wives among the women, crew among the men, and buying locally produced food.
  • Many visiting Pākehā traded their goods with Māori. Some whalers became traders. Māori expected early missionaries to trade. At times Pākehā had to trade to survive, either for food or for protection. Itinerant traders who visited New Zealand seeking profit from timber and flax were increasingly common before 1840. Some traders settled on the coast, usually acting as an agent for a Sydney trading firm. Some traders lived close to Māori society and took Māori wives, eg Phillip Tapsell in Maketu, Bay of Plenty. Traders of all types were very important to the evolving relationship between Māori and Pākehā because they acted as mediators between both worlds. Māori found traders very useful and often moved to be closer to them. Māori benefited from the timber trade in the far north and they became involved in shipbuilding.
  • Pākehā-Māori were Pākehā living as Māori. They also could mediate between the two groups and sometimes gave Māori access to Pākehā trade, eg Barnett Burns.
  • Māori women who allied themselves with Pākehā men were an important link between the cultures. Sometimes the liaison was brief with sex being exchanged for Pākehā goods. There were also long-term marriages and partnerships and children born were brought up as Māori. Connection with Pākehā gained mana for the woman’s tribe and usually some material goods. The women also acted as mediators with the Pākehā culture for Māori, eg Rawinia of Te Ati Awa who married Dicky Barrett.
  • Missionaries came to New Zealand to stay and to change Māori life and society, and they influenced government policies in Britain. Māori conversion to Christianity was slow before 1830, but as missionaries became more independent and changed their approach from ‘civilisation’ to spiritual teaching, they had more success. Māori conversions increased due to many factors that include war-weariness, desire for peace, impact of disease, improved missionary work, desire for literacy, the openness of Māori society to new beliefs, released slaves spreading Christianity when they returned to their tribes. (Could discuss work of Harrison Wright, John Owens, Judith Binney, James Belich.)
  • Rivalry developed between Māori over Pākehā and trade. The musket or te pū became the key item in rivalry and conflict after 1815. An arms race and the Musket Wars developed once one hapū or tribe had enough to make a difference in warfare. The wars were widespread in the 1820s and they resulted in considerable Māori migration to avoid attack and access Pākehā and muskets. The wars caused a large number of Māori deaths – numbers range from thousands to tens of thousands. The musket changed the style of warfare and involved greater numbers in mass conflict. By the mid-1830s, Judith Binney sees the ‘balance of terror’ as reducing the conflicts, with all tribes having muskets.
  • Concerns like the Elizabeth Affair and the fear of the French led northern chiefs to petition King William IV in 1831 to be their protector and guardian. Reports from missionaries and humanitarians of lawlessness and chaos in the Bay of Islands to the British Government led to the appointment of James Busby as British Resident in 1833.
  • Material culture was exchanged first but then non-material culture was exchanged, e.g., language, religion, intermarriage, miscegenation.

The candidate’s response to the second part of the essay question could include:

  • Many Māori still had only limited or indirect contact with Pākehā and so Māori culture and lifestyle remained virtually unchanged. Māori who lived inland or away from the settlements of Pākehā had heard only rumours of Pākehā and had no interaction with them.
  • However, in a few areas, such as the Bay of Islands, the density of Pākehā settlement and the frequency of interaction had begun to have a more substantial impact on Māori life and culture. By the late 1830s, many Māori had adopted Pākehā dress, new foods, tools and weapons, and had been influenced by Christianity. The adoption of such elements of Pākehā culture seemed to have altered the lifestyle of many Māori – Māori Agency – Belich.
  • Exchange of ideas, beliefs, knowledge, and goods was a two-way process.
  • Some Pākehā saw these changes in Māori lifestyle and customs as a sign that Māori were well on their way to ‘civilisation’. They assumed Māori would willingly accept further Pākehā intrusion.
  • Māori choices about interaction and relationship with Europeans were always important, as they remained dominant – numerically and in control of resources – in most parts of the country until after 1850. Māori also continued living traditionally but adapted and adopted the elements of Pākehā culture that suited them.
  • There are two historical views / theories of the impact of the Māori-Pākehā relationship during this period –traditional (Fatal Impact) and revisionist (Acculturation, Māori Agency). The Fatal Impact Theory uses the evidence of the decline in Māori population due to introduced diseases, alcohol and tobacco, conversion to Christianity, and the Musket Wars, to state that Māori society was shocked by interaction with Pākehā, and then became dislocated and disheartened. The Acculturation Theory states that aspects of Māori life changed but Māori culture was maintained. Māori saw new opportunities and chose to adapt skills, knowledge, ideas and goods to their own culture. Māori culture developed and continued.
  • Conversion to Christianity did see the decline of practices such as cannibalism, tattooing, slavery, polygamy etc. Also creation of symbiotic religions such as Papahurihia. Māori literacy increased.
  • Changes in Māori settlement and population due to migration during the Musket Wars and migration to access trade with Pākehā.
  • Intermarriage resulted in mixed race individuals and communities.
  • The failure of Busby to bring British authority to New Zealand led to the further and more formal involvement of Britain in New Zealand through the Treaty of Waitangi.
  • The realisation by Māori that they were a collective group – development of the word Māori for themselves, which meant ordinary or normal. Ideas of Māori unity led to the Declaration of Independence.