Who Were the Immigrants

We New Zealanders, who are the descendants of the truly wonderful early settlers of our country, may sit back and quietly read and enjoy what has been written of their life, or some of their diary writings. We probably couldn’t even imagine the hardships they endured on the long hazardous journey out to New Zealand, or the primitive life they were forced to live. But who now, after they arrived, are those people we are thinking of — or better still, why did they come to New Zealand and from what class did they come?

I have searched whole libraries to find out more of them, but always what I have found in book form is the story of a particular class who usually were sent out to New Zealand on a special mission for a specified time. They were Governors with their wives and families, politicians and families, and missionaries sent out to churches. From records, it appears that all these came to New Zealand with money, necessities, and even comforts, and were housed well on arrival. The men, on the whole, moved about the countryside in the best possible conveyances of the day — boats or well-groomed horses and comfortable carriages. Reading into their private life stories, I found they brought with them manservants, governesses, housekeepers, gardeners, and others.

Charlotte Godley left a good memorandum of life as she found it in those very years of which I speak. She tells of the balls at Government House and the beautiful gowns and other apparel that was specially brought out for them. Also, great parties were held frequently where these people danced till as late as six o’clock in the morning.

But what of the true immigrants — those people who had chosen to come to this country to take up the wild, uncultivated land and settle permanently? They had the barest necessities, often no money, and not even shelters on the land which they had purchased from the New Zealand Land Company in England. Their privations were great, and it was indeed a hard life, but through sheer hard work and perseverance they cleared and developed wild tracts of country and helped make it the beautiful country we have today.

So, I repeat: it is the almost forgotten people who have stories of interest and great importance and should be remembered in this story. The family about which I write were just one of the many early settlers who came and left their mark for future generations.