The Migratory Pathways of Labourers and Legislation: From Érin to Aotearoa

Abstract

This article addresses the process and consequences of colonisation by studying the migration of both legislative frameworks and one person who helped give those structures material effect in Aotearoa New Zealand. It situates the story of my great-grandfather—who migrated from Ireland in 1874, participated in te pāhua (the plunder) of Parihaka pā in 1881, and returned to Taranaki in 1893 to farmland taken from Māori—in the context of an institutional environment adapted from Irish antecedents to the particulars of Aotearoa. More specifically, I wish to (1) assess the extent to which statutory provision for the confiscation of Māori land and the establishment of the New Zealand Armed Constabulary was based on Irish templates; (2) connect those arrangements to the social and economic transformation my ancestor underwent; and (3) explore the significance of that historical legacy for descendants of my great-grandfather.