Until 1920 only 3% of New Zealand’s Dalmatians were women. Men in New Zealand would ask their countrymen if they had young sisters or cousins back home, and many a long-distance match was made around a Northland campfire. Failing that, men would write home asking parents to match them with one of the young village women. This woman dressed up as a bride to celebrate the proposal of marriage she received in the mail. For women in poor villages New Zealand seemed a land of opportunity, but it was often a shock to arrive at the gum fields and live in a lonely shack.