In 1973, my Grandparents, and their children, My mum Kathy and her sister Tracy, emigrated from South Africa to New Zealand. They were part of a huge wave of migration to New Zealand in the 1970s. They left South Africa because they didn’t like what was happening with the politics at the time and they didn’t want their kids growing up with military conscription. My Grandparents chose New Zealand because of the many opportunities that it offered in jobs and because it was a nice, safe country. This inquiry looks at the push and pull factors that influenced my ancestors and many others to leave their homeland and move to the small island nation at the bottom of the South Pacific.
Push Factor 1
One of the major pushes for my Grandparents to leave South Africa was the politics at the time. The Prime Minister at the time was John Vorster. He was a strong believer in white minority rule. My grandparents did not like some of Vorster’s policies and they didn’t want their children growing up in that environment. Another reason they didn’t like the politics was the apartheid regime. This is the enforced racial discrimination against non-whites. The government let the apartheid regime and the white minority get out of hand and all of a sudden, South Africa wasn’t the best place to be anymore. The government had one more policy that my grandparents didn’t like; military conscription.
Push Factor 2
In the 1970s in South Africa, military conscription was a big problem. Conscription is where every boy from their 18th birthday had to work with the military for a year. My grandparents had two daughters, however, they wanted to have more children after they moved. If they had stayed in South Africa, their son/s would have to leave the house and work with the military. It can be very dangerous because they would mainly have to fight in border wars. These are wars with countries that border South Africa, mainly Angola. My Grandparents did not believe these wars were for the good of the country, so military conscription was not what they wanted.
Discussion of push factors
In South Africa in the 1970s, the politics and military conscription made life tough. My Grandparents didn’t agree with the politics at the time and they didn’t want their children growing up with military conscription. I think they were right and I agree with their decision to try and get out of South Africa. There are so many other places that could give them a much better life than in Johannesburg; so why did they choose New Zealand?
Pull Factor 1
In the 1970s, New Zealand was a beautiful place, a safe place with friendly people, lots of jobs, and an amazing landscape. These were all factors in why my Gran and Pop decided to move here. In Johannesburg, it is hot all year round, unpleasantly hot. In Auckland, New Zealand, the temperature is cool in winter and warm in summer, exactly what my grandparents were looking for. My Gran and Pop also looked into the language in New Zealand. They could speak English well so it was a good change. My Grandparents also saw New Zealand to have much better politics than back in South Africa. This was mainly because New Zealand is an Egalitarian society, which means everyone can get the vote.
Pull Factor 2
The main reason my Grandparents chose New Zealand was all of the Job opportunities. My Pop worked as a photo developer for Kodak in Auckland. He had studied this in South Africa and had found a job very easily once he made it to New Zealand. My Gran worked in Johannesburg as a radiographer but once she moved to New Zealand, she decided to change her path and work in early childhood care. New Zealand is such a good place for jobs because of the small population and all of the opportunities for such a small country to run. It worked very well with my Grandparents and their kids.
Discussion of Pull Factors
Today, more than 53 thousand people come to New Zealand every year. Surprisingly, the number today is similar to the number in the 1970s. By 1975, 2.9 million people lived in New Zealand, most of them having migrated from countries like South Africa or Britain. This is no surprise because of how New Zealand is such a safe country with great job opportunities and climate. My Gran and Pop also thought about Canada as an immigration option, but found that New Zealand was their best bet. I agree with this decision because at the time, not very many people realised how special this lonely country at the bottom of the Pacific ocean is.
Conclusion
All of my push and pull factors show why my Grandparents chose to leave Johannesburg, South Africa, and move to Auckland, New Zealand. They left because of the politics and military conscription, and came to New Zealand because of the climate, language, and jobs. Their decision was well educated ad I think it was the right choice. This move completely changed their life and everyone in the family has benefited from it.
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https://cloud.smartdraw.com/editor.aspx?templateId=f513f41d-9cbc-4dcd-87b1-319543794b69&flags=128#depoId=18326622&credID=-29419745 - this website helped with useful links and my set out.
\https://tbcinquiry.edublogs.org/
https://www.sahistory.org.za/ - this website helped me see what South Africa was like when my Grandparents lived there.
https://teara.govt.nz/en - this helped me find information about New Zealand
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page - I used this website because it has many useful sights that helped me write my report.
https://www.gapminder.org/tools/#$chart-type=bubbles - I used this to gather information about push and pull factors.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IIvRDyP1M7kgJRtaU_4h0zpCoaNxiEMoFbGIAujX_L4/edit - I used this for examples for my report.
I talked to my Pop on the phone to discover some more push and pull factors
I texted my Gran to ask her about her family tree
I interviewed my Mum to find out about even more push and pull factors.