Poles in New Zealand
Te Ara - Encyclopedia of New Zeland about Poles in this country
Before World War 2
The history of Poles in New Zealand goes as far back as 1772, when Captain James Cook made his second voyage to New Zealand on HMS Resolution, where he was accompanied by two Polish biologists: Jan Rajnold Foster and his son Jan Jerzy Adam Foster. The Foster family originated from Scotland. In 1642 they emigrated to Poland and settled in Tczew where both JR Foster and his son were born. The next Pole to put his foot on the New Zealand soil was Edmund Strzelecki. He spent 3 months in Hokianga and Bay of Islands before continuing to Australia, where he conquered the highest peak in the country and named it Mt Kościuszko. In 1872 a German ship "Friedburg" reached Christchurch with the first group of Polish settlers on board. The exact number of Poles who settled in New Zealand during the 19th and 20th centuries is not known. For 123 years, between 1795 and 1918, Poland disappeared from the map of the world, partitioned between Russia, Prussia and Austria. As a consequence, Poles arriving in New Zealand during that time were rarely considered Polish. In most cases, they were oficially registered as Germans, Russians or Austrians, ocassionally as Prussians and only very rarely as German Poles or Russian Poles. In the 1921 census, 1620 people declared Poland as their fathers' country of birth. Between 1921-1945, 650 Polish citizens, mostly Jews, settled in New Zealand.
The Pahiatua Camp 1944-1947
In 1944, 837 Polish refugees, including 734 children, arrived in New Zealand from Persia on an American warship General Randall. They were mostly Polish orphans who lost their parents in the deportations to the Russian prisons and labour camps. These children were invited by the New Zealand Government with the intention of returning them to Poland after the end of the war. In a small town of Pahiatua, on New Zealand's North Island, a special camp was established for them. There, they attended a Polish school and were taught by Polish nuns who accompanied them from Persia. When Poland joined the Soviet camp in 1945, the New Zealand government offered the children and their caregivers the choice of returning to Poland or remaining in New Zealand. Of the 837 refugees, only 45 adults and children resolved to return to Poland. The camp was finally disestablished in 1947, and the children sent to various places around New Zealand.
The post-war period
After WW2 the children were joined by 500 family members who happened to be outside Poland at the time. Between 1949-1952 about 850 Polish refugees settled in New Zealand. The war scattered them across Europe in concentration camps and labour camps of Germany, Austria, Greece, France and Italy. Between1946-1980 further 1114 persons emigrated from Poland to New Zealand.
Post-Solidarity Emigration Wave
The steady flow of Polish settlers to New Zealand finished in 1980 with the birth of the Solidarity movement in Poland. The political and economic hardship in Poland resulted in an influx of more than 10,000 Polish refugees to Austria. They placed a huge burden on the Austrian economy. Austria turned to the United Nations for help in resolving the refugee crisis. In 1981 the New Zealand government issued a special permit for three groups of 100 Polish refugees from an Austrian refugee camp to come and live in New Zealand. Thus, 297 Poles arrived in New Zealand between 1981 and 1983.
In total, around 6000 Poles made New Zealand their home during the 19th and 20th century.Poles in Christchurch
The German ship "Friedburg", which reached the port of Lyttleton in 1872, had 92 Poles on board. They were the first known Polish settlers in Christchurch. Most of them settled in the Marshlands area, where they started many prosperous orchards and gardens. There were names among them which were undeniably Polish: Bielawski, Czarnecki, Blumski, Borkowski, Jabłonski, Jaroszewski, Grochowski, Kotłowski, Kurek, Piekarski, Szymański, Wiśniewski, Żułkowski.
The next significant group of Poles to settle in Christchurch was a group of about 20 Polish children from the Pahiatua camp, who were sent to various parts of New Zealand following the camp's disestablishment. Out of the post-Solidarity emigration wave, 16 persons settled in Christchurch. Since then, the Polish community in Christchurch has been growing steadily with sailors coming off the ships, family reunions and tourists deciding to settle here. At present there are about 120 first generation Poles living in Christchurch. The number of the descendants of earlier settlers is not known.
The above information has been drawn from a book by J.W. Pobog-Jaworowski "History of the Polish settlers in New Zealand" published by CHZ -Ars Polona- in Warsaw in 1990.
Polish Association in Christchurch
Poles living in Christchurch have always maintained close relations. For many years following WW2, right until 1990, there was an informal Polish Association led by Mrs Lidia Janiec and Mr Józef Kubiak. At that time, the Association's activities included:
In July 2001 The Polish Association in Christchurch, Inc was registered in New Zealand as a non-profit organisation.