Skip to main content

Story: Exotic forestry

Relief workers’ camp, Kāingaroa

Image
Relief workers’ camp, Kāingaroa

This is the Kāingaroa relief workers’ camp in 1927. Although temperatures could be freezing, unemployed men engaged in tree planting were accommodated in tents. One worker in the 1930s recalled having to get up several times each night to shift snow off the canvas.

Using this item

Archives New Zealand - Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Reference: AAQA 6400 3279

Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any re-use of this material.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Michael Roche, Exotic forestry – The first planting boom, 1925–1935, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/16532/relief-workers-camp-kaingaroa (accessed 11 June 2026).

Story by Michael Roche, published 1 March 2009.