The immigrants: The great migration from Britain to New Zealand, 1830-1890

by Tony Simpson

The fascinating social, economic and political story of nineteenth century immigration to New Zealand.In the nineteenth century, several hundred thousand left their homeland bound for New Zealand. In this fascinating book, Tony Simpson describes what is one of the most astonishing periods of migration in history. Against the social, economic and political background in both countries, he presents the human story - the harrowing experiences of the journey and life in a new country - and looks at the importanceof immigration to New Zealanders.

Genres: History

240 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2012

Reviews

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is about immigration to New Zealand and I had thought it might mention the arrival of military settlers, which could have been a missed opportunity for the book. Still it is pretty good giving ideas and views what travel from England to New Zealand would have been like especially the experiences once the people arrived.

[David Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about the wave of mass immigration (almost exclusively Anglo-Irish with a bit of continental European) to New Zealand in the second half of the 19th century - but it doesn't talk about or cite the diaries and letters of any actual immigrants until about halfway through! This may seem a serious fault in a book so titled, but it's actually not; Simpson just sets the background to who the immigrants where - and the socio-economic-political milieu from which they came - in a very detailed way. So when we finally do hear some individual immigrants' voices, it's with a very thorough understanding of who they were in class terms and why they endured such a lengthy voyage - including a sweltering, highly unpleasant passage through the tropics - to get to faraway New Zealand. The unpleasantness and sheer boredom of the passage is made very clear. Once they arrived on almost the exact opposite point on the globe to the lands of their birth, the immigrants' experiences were mixed, some not liking it but many enjoying the opportunities and relative classlessness of the new land. Not having to defer to their class betters in the manner expected back home is a major theme of the letters and diaries Simpson cites. Despite these benefits, a lengthy economic downturn in the 1870s and 1880s affected many immigrants and contributed to the great lessening of migration towards the end of those years. Simpson's final thesis is a sound one: that the socio-economic-milieu from which many immigrants came - terrible conditions for working-class people in Britain, political movements like Chartism and the rise of trade unions - greatly influenced reforming New Zealand politicians of the later 19th century and helped shape New Zealand's political and social culture, with its egalitarianism and focus on welfare. All in all this is an interesting read.