Polish Visitors and Settlers Prior to 1872

The Palmerston that carried the first and largest contingent of Polish immigrants to the Otago Region and the second group from Hamburg to New Zealand in 1872

In 1870 in order to help New Zealand connect all its major cities, Julius Vogel sought to bring in immigrants from Europe with the skills to help build the infrastructure which required large areas of land development. German agents, employed by the New Zealand Government in the region, gave positive descriptions of the new colony as they were seeking settlers and labourers. Of course “Emigration was not favoured by Prussian authorities at this time. Mr Julius Matties who had lived at Hokitika and was a sponsor and promoter of immigration for the New Zealand Government, when visiting the country for the purpose of selecting farm workers, was imprisoned and died while in prison”. In spite of the danger many Poles were seeking the freedom they much desired for their children, they decided to risk it all and embark on a sea voyage of three months with the prospect of starting over again with literally very little. ”The bulk of these were from Pomerania, chiefly from the Polish regions of Mieszane, Kaszuby, Kociewie, Wielkopolska & Poznan”.

Polish Visitors And Settlers Prior To 1872

History of Polish visitors and settlers in New Zealand started exactly 100 years prior to 1872 with the arrival of Captain James Cook during his 1772 voyage aboard the Resolution.

Johann Reinhold (Jan Rajnold) Forster & Johann Georg Adam (Jan Jerzy Adam) Forster

Appointed as naturalists, they sailed with Captain Cook to New Zealand. During their journey they kept detailed diaries of everything they saw on the voyage and made extensive collections of both natural history specimens and artefacts. Based on his father’s journals, Georg (Jerzy) published “A voyage Round the World” in 1777.