Heritage et AL

Beginning a narrative part way through makes for a confusing story. Yet, recollections of Auckland's horticultural histories often do exactly that. Prioritising the quaint Victorian garden and divorcing horticultural practice from other intersecting histories of war, of survival, and of immigration, has made for an incomplete retelling. This series of articles seeks to depart from that tradition, exploring the deep interconnection between the social histories of Asian and Eastern European migrants in Aotearoa, and their contributions to the horticultural sector. Tāmaki Makaurau was central to this history as so many of these migrants settled on its fertile land. To help readers understand the following articles, this first one will provide a condensed historical background. It will also explain the scope of this project and comment on the key theme of continuity and change. Image: " Martin's Farm at Auckland & Gt. South Road New Zealand." circa 1863. Auckland Mus...

“There is a belief that runs strong in the NZ Cantonese community. It’s the idea that through hard work, education and the willingness to take some risk, our children can have a life better than the one left behind in the Cantonese village. In the year 2013, Aotearoa/NZ is peopled with bright young Chinese women who take on jobs of tremendous importance for which they receive great recognition. Much of what they achieve is thanks to the hard work and sacrifices made by their mothers and the women before them.” Ref: Photograph by King Tong Ho. Most of NZ’s early Chinese settlers came from Canton Province, now known as Guangdong. The project From Guangdong to Aotearoa came about through Sue Gee’s interest in her ancestral origins. From Guangdong to Aotearoa aimed to record the life histories of six remarkable NZ Chinese women. They were chosen because their contribution in the community is noteworthy or because they had interest or knowledge of our Chinese settler history...

The 1940s were boom times for Auckland’s Dalmatian-run grill room restaurants, especially after US soldiers, sailors and nurses arrived in June 1942 - there were six grill rooms on Victoria Street West alone (Clarich, Jelich, Kosovitch, Lipanovich, Makovina and Urlich) and a further 20 in the central city. The Americans came for R and R after fighting in the Pacific, for medical attention, and for training. For the next two years about 50,000 American servicemen and women were in the country at any one time. They were often paid twice as much as local wages, and had three out of every four days free. Ref: Auckland Weekly News, US troops in Queen Street, 1942, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 7-A14390.