Story summary
Few Swiss people visited or settled in New Zealand until the 1850s.
Dairy farming
Felix Hunger came to New Zealand in the 1860s. He loved the Taranaki plains as much as his mountain village back home, and brought out three groups of Swiss immigrants in the 1870s and 1880s. They remained an important dairy farming community into the 20th century.
Other immigrants
As well as farmers there were watchmakers, innkeepers and tradesmen. The number of arrivals surged in the 1950s, and again in the 1990s. Most were relatively young. Auckland has been home to the main Swiss community for many years. Most of its members are German-speaking.
Contribution and culture
Deer farmers and dental technicians, alpine guides, artists and authors … the Swiss have made their mark in many fields. Through bakeries and restaurants, traditional foods such as bratwurst and cheeses have been made available. The Auckland group gathers regularly at Swiss Farm, and an alpine chalet at Arthur’s Pass was run as a restaurant for many years by a Swiss. The Swiss Kiwi Yodel Group have produced their haunting music in the Southern Alps.