Te Hekenga Taikoa 紐華源流, brought to you by the New Zealand Chinese Association. Giving voice to our past for future generations.
Ships stewards, cooks, rice farmers, orchardists, craftsmen, traditional doctors, musicians and business people — the earliest Chinese settlers brought all these skills to Aotearoa. But when they arrived, it was often a case of doing the work that was available.
Chase, H., Ah Sam and Joe Quin, well-to-do market gardeners, Roxburgh (c.1903). Hocken Digital Collections, accessed 20/09/2024, https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/55210Ah Sam and Joe Quin, market gardeners, Roxburgh ca 1903.
This page will eventually contain an essay reviewing the different types of work that Chinese have engaged in up to the 1950s. It also brings together the specific essays on work and occupations up to that time period. You can see the essays relating to pre-1881 history attached below.
Kirsten Wong, August 2024
Thumbnail image for this story: Washing tailings, Australia, 1870s, Rex Nan Kivell Collection, National Library of Australia, NK6316
[1] 木耳 (muk6 ji5 in Cantonese, mù ěr in Mandarin), hakeke in Māori