Association's History

The Migration Of Indians
People of Indian origin have always looked ahead, envisaged progress, and with this in mind, their spirit to venture into an unknown world is all the more admirable today. Many of our ancestors owned land in various parts of India prior to venturing onto foreign shores. Due to the uneconomic returns on their land, they thought not to relocate to nearby villages, but travel by sea 18,000 km from their country of birth to a place they knew nothing about. The journey was a treacherous one, on cargo ships, which took over two months to reach New Zealand, after having made numerous stops at various ports. These were the early pioneers and the young men left their families in India, so to build a better life in their newly adopted homeland.

The early years were never easy, the winters were unbearable, everyone experienced the financial hardships, and the discrimination against Indians was evident. Having little or no financial saving on arriving, even accommodation was not assured, some of our ancestors slept under the open skies, whilst they travelled on horse, tram and bicycles to various towns in search of employment. Even work was not easy to obtain, as knowledge of the English language was limited, at best a labouring job was all that could be expected. Despite all these difficulties, life went on and these men tried as best they could to assimilate amidst the people of New Zealand.

As the understanding of Western culture became apparent, these men ventured into business on their own, with fruit barrows and eventually their own retail stores. They worked extremely hard, with a days work lasting, anything from twelve to eighteen hours a day. All this, would earn between one to two pounds a week.

In those days the pace of immigration was slow, with three to four people arriving into the country at a time. Those already settled would help the newcomers with meals, accommodation and employment where possible. Such was the comradeship, everyone knew each other, and the brotherly affection was evident despite the different hometowns these settlers originally came from.

From 1905 to 1927, our respected ancestors were meeting periodically at each other’s homes, to share their views, concerns and values, which were important to them all. As their material requirements were minimal, the need to preserve our culture and heritage was an important issue amongst the majority. Having arrived with a suitcase filled with very few possessions, some of these men had brought with them their own family deities of Lord Rama, Sri Radha Krishna, Lord Shiva, Sri Ganesh and Sri Hanumanji. Their puja became their source of strength, and cultural ties were always maintained, and more so as their wives, parents and other family members were gradually able to travel here and join them.

Some years passed by, whereby these dedicated pioneers took a firm decision to form a body, a mandal, as this would enable them to meet more frequently for prayers and meetings. This vision was achieved and established in 1935.