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Story: English

‘A new life in New Zealand’

Audio file

From 1947 the New Zealand government once more provided assistance with fares for English migrants. Over the next 28 years more than 250,000 arrived, many paying their own way. This display in New Zealand House, London, shows the promises of a new life offered to prospective migrants. However the extract from a 1947 radio broadcast, in which an English immigrant discusses the different drinking cultures of the two countries, suggests that even for the English there were things about ‘home’ that they missed.

Using this item

Archives New Zealand - Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Reference: L1, 22/2/14, part 1

Sound file from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, Radio New Zealand collection. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision (Their first New Zealand Christmas/Reference number D217).

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

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How to cite this page

Terry Hearn, English – 20th-century migration, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/speech/1906/a-new-life-in-new-zealand (accessed 11 June 2026).

Story by Terry Hearn, published 4 March 2009, updated 1 August 2024.