The Polish Heritage of Otago and Southland Charitable Trust (POHOS)

Established 16^th November 1998

NZ Companies Office Certificate of Incorporation No 915548
         Charitable Commission Registration No CC31359

Winner of Trust Power Dunedin Community Award
Heritage & Environment Section in 2001 and 2007
www.facebook.com/polesdownsouth
www.polesdownsouth.org.nz

April 2025

June 2024

June 2024

We are proud to announce that the third Board Member of POHOS was the recipient of Queen’s & King’s Birthday honours (Carolina Meikle, QMS in 2006 for Service for Community and Paul Klemick QSM in 2022 for Service to Historical Reaserch).

Lisa Jadwiga Valentina Warrington/Wawrzynczak was made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the arts.

Lisa has worked in Dunedin’s theatre scene since moving to the city in 1981. She directed nearly 40 plays for Dunedin’s professional theatre company, the Fortune, as well as many other plays and projects, and is a founder member of WOW Productions. She was an associate professor in the Theatre Department at the Otago University where she taught for 37 years. She fostered a successful theatre programme that was well regarded for its support of New Zealand theatre including Māori and Pacific theatre. She has published three books and many articles, and played a leading role in the revival of Allen Hall as a working theatre space. She created the Theatre Aotearoa database, entering over 20,000 records of productions in NZ since 1840.
Well done Lisa, we are very proud of your achievements and are privileged to know you and have you a part of our organization.

July 2024

Cecylia Klobukowska in Poland

During her stay in Poland, Cecylia visited Starogard Gdanski, and donated copies of the book about Polish emigrants from this area to Kociewie LandMuseum (Museum Ziemi Kociewskiej) and the Public Library (Bioblioteka Publiczna).

She also gave a copy of the book to the Director of the Emigration Museum (Muzeum Emigracji) w Gdyni.

Dr Joanna Bramley presented the book to the Marshal of the Pomerania Region, Mr Mieczyslaw Struk

September 2024

In September 2024, extreme, prolonged rainfall led to widespread flooding, particularly in Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. In Poland most affected were voivodeships of Dolnoslaskie, Opolskie, Slaskie and Malopolskie. Rivers like the Morawka overflowed, and some dams collapsed. Damage to countryside, towns and cities was extensive, and a number of deaths were reported.

POHOS launched an appeal and matched private donations with POHOS funds. As I was going to Poland, I donated the money directly to Flood Appeal organized by Jerzy Owsiak’s Wielka Orkiestra Swiatecznej Pomocy (WOŚP). The Foundation is focused on human aid and rebuilding affected areas, as well as funding projects to prevent future flood damage.
We are happy that our small contribution went to a good cause.

October 2024

Ewa Rozecka-Pollard in Poland

While in Poland I visited the University of Gdansk. A meeting with Dr Arkadiusz Janicki, the dean and other academics of the Faculty of History was successful beyond my expectations. After the examination of the gifted copy of Poles Down South, all present were very impressed with the depth of its content and the presentation. The university is located in the northern part of Poland in close proximity to the area where the majority of Polish families who came to New Zealand originated, so this was a special interest for them.
Joanna Bramley, Polish historian (who organised the meeting) has connections to New Zealand. Her PhD focused on the history of Polish father & son team Johann Reinhold & Johann Georg Foster, who as scientists accompanied Captain Cook on his second journey to NZ. Joanna undertook the job of translating the book into Polish and Gdansk University and Voivodeship of Pomorze are very keen on publishing it.

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Tuesday 15th October 

Visited the New Zealand Embassy in Warsaw and presented the book Poles Down South to Tom Fitzsimons, NZ Charge d’Affairs.

Wednesday 16th October 

the 80th anniversary of the arrival of the 733 Polish refugee children to Pahiatua, New Zealand – was marked by opening the exhibition in the Sejm, the lower chamber of the Polish Parliament followed by a celebratory dinner. Representing POHOS, I joined the Speaker of the Polish Parlament, other parliamentarians and invited guests on this momentous occasion. The New Zeland Embassy in Warsaw had curated an exhibition, Tom Fitzsimons, NZ Charge d’Affairs, represented New Zealand and one of the other speakers was a Pahiatua Child, one of the very few that found a parent and returned to Poland, but who remembers New Zealand for ever.

Main picture: on my left Tom Fitzsimons, Charge D’Affairs NZ; on my right Szymon Holownia, Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland

During my visit to Krakow, I met Dr Dariusz Zdziech. Author of numerous publications on Australia, New Zealand and Oceania countries, as well as the history of Poland. Creator of the projects Pahiatua – Little Poles (New Zealand) and Poland helps Poland (Kiribati). Author and curator of exhibition on the cultures of the Pacific Ocean region.

In his book Polska Nowa Zelandia Emigracja lat 1945-2006 his coments about POHOS are very complimentary.
It is worth emphasizing that the newer wave of Polish emigrants who came to Aoteroa are systematically changing the leadeship style of Polish diaspora organizations from “Polinia for Poles” to “Polonia for New Zealand”. One of the youngest organizations in the Antipodes has made particularly great contributions in this field: Polish Heritage of Otago & Southland Charitable Trust from Dunedin. Such actions give hope for the survival of Polish organization in New Zealand…..
I presented him with our book Poles Down South

Saturday 19th October “Working Bees” worked hard to prepare the garden at the Broad Bay church for coming summer season. We worked hard, had a very good ‘team time’ and celebrated the 20th anniversary of establishing the ROSE GARDEN.

November 2024

Thursday 14th November. Oamaru Library asked POHOS to organise the presentation on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the arrival of the Polish children in Pahiatua, their tragic past, growing up in NZ, and starting their own families here.
The speaker, Michael Jarka, member of POHOS, and member of the Broad Bay community is the son of Jan Jarka QSM. Jan survived the forced exile to Russia, deprivation, disease, and brutal living conditions and was one of the 733 Polish children who came to New Zealand and lived at Pahiatua camp,
The event was well attended by the general public, as well as by the family of another Pahiatua child, daughters of Pani Czesia Panek-Wierzbicka. Michael’s presentation, in which he shared his family history, (difficult but with some light anecdotes), richly supported by photos and documents, was very interesting and moving. The audience was enchanted.

December 2024

Tuesday, 10th December, the annual Carol Evening event at Mary Queen of Peace, was the usual joyful event. Master of Ceremonies Peter Hayden read  one of his hilarious, scary stories about Christmas, carols were sang in several languages and tea and cakes were shared afterwards in the church, which was spruced up for the occasion by a group of dedicated volunteers, led by Anna & Corran Munro. A Christmas raffle was organised by Cecylia Klobukowska.

January 2025

Saturday 18th January, Jackson Bay, West Coast.
More than 100 people gathered at a remote West Coast location to mark 150 years of the first landing of immigrants in the bay in 1875. A number of Polish families had been part of the failed government-sponsored Jackson Bay settlement, during the late nineteenth century. They were among Irish, Italians, Scandinavians, Germans, and English, who also tried their luck here.
Descendants of the first settlers came together from across the country to commemorate the hardships of their forefathers and celebrate ongoing research into a forgotten history.
Paul Klemick was invited by the organisers to share his deep knowledge of the history of Polish settlers.

Monday 20th January, Dunedin
Cecylia Klobukowska, Dr Joanna Bramley (University of Gdansk), Sean Brosnahan (Toitu Settlers Museum) and Ewa Rozecka-Pollard got together to discuss the prospects, possibilities and financing of the production of a documentary film about Polish settlers in New Zealand. Dr Bramley was very supportive of the project and promised to introduce the idea to the Polish authorities (History Department of University of Gdansk and the Regional Council) and ask for the help in organising the filming in Poland.

February 2025

Wednesday 5th February Dunedin Public Library

The New Zealand Society of Genealogists in Dunedin hosted an evening of Polish Genealogy and an introduction to the Polish website www.polesdownsouth.org.nz.
Paul Klemick’s presentation and subsequent question and answer session added to existing knowledge or (for some) introduced a new and fascinating part of New Zealand history, which captivated the audience.

March 2025

7th to 16th of March, Fifth Annual Art Exhibition “From Dunedin with Love”

This year’s exhibition featured 29 artists presenting 78 works, the quality of which surpassed those of previous years. The meticulous organisation and impeccable display were, as usual, a credit to the hard work of Anna McCreath Munro.
This year proceeds from the sale went to a cause close to our hears: cancer research. Specifically, to the recently established Department of Medical Laboratory Science – the hidden heroes of healthcare. The Department will focus on training future experts and advance research. One of the most exciting areas of their work is precision medicine, which tailors treatments to an individual’s unique genetic makeup. This means more accurate diagnoses, better-targeted therapies, and improved patient outcomes.

After the Sunday Mass I had the pleasure to pass on to Marek Tomaszkiewicz Honorary Medal of Merit for Polish Culture, which is awarded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland to persons for distinguished contributions to Polish culture and heritage Marek’s medal was awarded as recognition for his work and professional expertise in restoring the historic Church built by Polish Settlers in the 19th century and for his participation in the Trust’s activities as a former Board Member.
Marek was responsible for the design and construction of the church belfry next to the church and as a POHOS Board member he represented the association to the local church authorities.

Thursday 27th March, Christchurch
Anna McCreath Munro (Secretary) and Ewa Rozecka-Pollard (Chairperson) represented POHOS at this event hosted by Winsome Dormer (Honorary Polish Consul for the South Island) welcoming the new Head of Mission of the Polish Embassy to the South Island.

His Excellency Patryk Blaszczak
The Polish community in Christchurch was well represented, as were senior figures from the Christchurch business and government community, including Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger.

,This year, special thanks go to all board members involved in the successful organization and work on the above-mentioned events:

Notably:

– Anna McCreath Munro – for her time and effort spent organising another successful exhibition and for her excellent secretarial work
– Paul Klemick – for continually sharing his deep knowledge of history & genealogy at numerous public events, raising the profile of POHOS.
– Cecylia Klobukowska – for promoting POHOS in Poland

Future projects and work in progress:

 Marketing/distribution of the book Poles Down South has been a great success, and it is now out of print. We need to order a second edition as soon as possible.
 The book impressed the University of Gdansk and Pomeranian Voivode, who have expressed interest in translating it into Polish and publishing it in Gdansk.
 The POHOS website is always a ‘work in progress’;  The “150yearsPolesDownSouth website needs to be updated and changed with the co-operation of all other Polish societies in New Zealand,
 Organising the 150 Anniversary plaque to be displayed in Port Chalmers
 We continue to maintain close cooperation with other Polish organisations in New Zealand.

I would like to acknowledge the support we received from:
General Support

1. The Toitū Otago Settlers Museum
2. The Dunedin City Council for facilitating and supporting our initiatives
3. The Broad Bay community
4. The Polish Embassy in Wellington
5. The Honorary Polish Consul for the South Island and Honorary Member of POHOS, Winsome Dormer from Christchurch
6. All the members and friends of the Polish Heritage of Otago & Southland Trust specifically:
          – Anna McCreath Munro for her tireless work as the POHOS Secretary;
           – Bozena Haug for the sterling work on our Facebook Page; and,
           – Paul Klemick for his dedicated hard work on our website
7. Peter Tait for maintaining and updating our website: polesdownsouth.org.nz; and,
8. Lastly, but not least, a heartfelt thank you to the families of our board members, who stood by us, actively and physically, helping us throughout our projects.

This year was very challenging and heart breaking for some of the POHOS Board Members. Our sincere condolences go to the families of the following:- Graham Bain, Life Partner of Carol Meikle who passed after a long illness, and Christopher Haug, son to Bozena & Alfred Haug, who died suddenly.

May They Rest in Peace – A minute of silence was observed by all present at the meeting

Finally, my great gratitude goes to the current POHOS Board Members

Finally, my great gratitude goes to the current POHOS Board members:

– Ina Bercinskas, Co-chairperson
– Secretary, Anna McCreath Munro
– Treasurer, Cecylia Klobukowska
– Carolina Meikle
– Paul Klemick
– Bozena Haug
– Nathalie Wierdak
– Lisa Warrington

I am very proud of the Trust’s considerable achievements, which have been as a result of the challenging, conscientious, and, at times testing voluntary work of all our Board Members and, the wider Polish Community.
I look forward to the year 2025/2026.

Thank you,
Ewa Rozecka-PollardRecipient of Gold Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland
Co-chairperson, Polish Heritage of Otago and Southland Charitable Trust
Dunedin, 6 May 2025