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TO GO OR TO STAY 

A Study of Decision-Making by Italian Workers 

and Their Families in Turangi 

A thesis submitted to 

The Department of Sociology 

Massey University 

in partial fulfilment of the 

requirements for the degree of 

Master of Arts 

by 

Elizabeth Millicent Ponter 

1984 



i 

ABSTRACT 

With the termination of their contracts on the Tongariro Power 

Development in 1982-83, Italian workers in Turangi were faced with 

the problem of deciding whether to return to Italy, stay in New 

Zealand or go elsewhere. All had permanent residence status and were 

entitled to stay. This study is concerned with the problems 

surrounding decision making and what influenced some to decide to 

return to Italy, some to become permanent settlers in New Zealand, 

while yet others found any decision making difficult. 

Orthodox theories of migration were inadequate for the 

examination of the problem. Italians had not made conscious 

decisions to migrate permanently to New Zealand. Yet some had become 

permanent settlers and others had that intention in 1982. The 

problem was examined as one of commitment. How had some Italians 

become committed to New Zealand, others remained committed to Italy 

while others had conflicting commitments? Two areas of commitment 

were of special importance in decision making, the material and the 

sentimental. 



ii 

Two thirds of the Italian men in the study had a commitment to 

New Zealand wives. This alone was not sufficient for them to become 

committed to permanent residence here. If they had property in New 

Zealand, or/and if they spoke English well, the likelihood of a com­

mitment to stay in New Zealand increased. 

Those who had strong commitments in Italy, to family and in 

investments in real estate, returned there. A return was more likely 

if they were married to an Italian and did not speak English well. 

However for many, commitments were not so clearly defined. 

Commitments frequently conflicted, contributing to indecision about 

the future. Indecision was not easily resolved. In some cases 

supposedly final decisions changed as new circumstances resulted in 

compromises or modifications of plans. 



iii 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

This study would not have been possible without the assistance 

of many people. Firstly, Hazel Riseborough who encouraged my 

enthusiasm and gave me my first introductions in Turangi. 

Many people helped me in Turangi but above all I must thank the 

Italians and their families who were so kind to me, who gave me so 

much of their time and without whose co-operation this study would 

not have been possible. To single out individuals for mention would 

be very difficult and would contravene promised anonymity. 

Clem Durning gave unstintingly of his time. As the longest 

serving employee of Codelfa Cogefar (NZ) in 1982 his knowledge was 

invaluable. I spent many hours talking with Ian Bennett who took a 

great interest in the research. I appreciated Fran Durning's 

continuing interest and abundant hospitality. Alan and Barbara 

Cooper gave me a general introduction to Turangi. Lesley Winsloe, 

Barbara Ridings, Mary Shepherd and Pam Kendrick provided a home away 

from home at the teachers' hostel. 



iv 

Bev James, my supervisor, helped and advised constantly. From 

her I learned how to look at situations from yet more angles, how to 

organise the material and how to bring order to the research. I am 

grateful to Professor Graeme Fraser for his support throughout. 

Thanks to Dave Alton, Allanah Ryan and Judy Owen who helped with 

typing, and to Judy Owen and Anne Bennett for proof reading. Special 

thanks to Judy for support over many months and particularly in the 

desperate last weeks. 

Without my husband Brian, I would never have started the 

research. Without him I would certainly never have finished. My 

children deserve thanks for being so long suffering and for trying to 

keep quiet for so many months. 



CONTENTS 

Abstract 

Acknowledgements 

List of tables 

INTRODUCTION 

Italian migration 

Chapter 1 

THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO MIGRATION 

Migration theories 

Circulation 

Sojourners 

Commitment 

Chapter 2 

COMPANY, COMMUNITY AND FAMILY 

The company 

The coming of the Italians 

The community 

The transformation of Turangi 
Old and new Turangi 
Reaction to Italians in Turangi 
Turangi 1982 

v 

i 

iii 

viii 

3 

8 

11 

20 

22 

23 

29 

30 

30 

48 

48 
55 
57 
61 



The family 

The family of marriage and the extended family 
The effect of the work situation on the family 

Chapter 3 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMITMENT 

Knowledge of English 

Family background 

Education and skills 

Reasons for coming to New Zealand 

Length of time in New Zealand 

Experience outside Italy 

Property ownership 

Future intentions 

Chapter 4 

DECISION MAKING 

Material considerations in decision making 

Issues of sentiment and decision making 

Quality of life 

Perceptions of Italy and New Zealand 

Case studies 

Case 1: Francesco and Robyn - A decision to stay in New 
Postscript January 1984 

Case 2: Enzo and Annette - Indecision 
Postscript December 1983 - January 1984 

vi 

63 

63 
72 

78 

79 

86 

90 

92 

99 

102 

105 

108 

114 

120 

127 

132 

136 

151 

Zealand151 
157 
157 
162 

Case 3: Luigi and Sandra - Indecision followed by a decision to 
stay in New Zealand 163 

Postscript January 1984 167 
Case 4: Riccardo and Judith - A decision to return to Italy 168 

Postscript December 1983 to January 1984 171 
Case 5: Paolo and Gina - A decision to return to Italy 171 

Postscript December 1983 174 



Summary 

Chapter 5 

CONCLUSIONS 

Appendix 1 : 

Appendix 2: 

Appendix 3: 

Appendix 4: 

Appendix 5: 

Notes 

Bibliography 

Research methods 

Letter circulated to potential respondents 

Questionnaire 

Case study schedule 

The Tongariro Power Development 

vii 

174 

178 

185 

189 

190 

192 

200 

204 

208 



viii 

LIST OF TABLES 

Table Page 

Marital status and knowledge of English 80 

2 Knowledge of English and future intentions 85 

3 Marital status and future intentions 89 

4 Reasons for coming to New Zealand and marital status 96 

5 Reasons for coming to New Zealand and future intentions 98 

6 Work experience outside Italy prior to coming to 
New Zealand and marital status 103 

7 Work experience outside Italy prior to coming to 
New Zealand and reasons for coming to New Zealand 103 

8 Work experience outside Italy prior to coming to 
New Zealand and future intentions 104 

9 Real estate ownership and future intentions 106 

10 Real estate ownership and marital status 107 



INTRODUCTION 

"What will happen to us poor Christians?" [1] lamented some of 

the Italians on arriving at the site of the Tongariro Power 

Development (TPD) in 1967. Their destination, the bush clad slopes 

of Tongariro, was inhospitable and isolated and they were thousands 

of miles from home. In the years since then hundreds of Italian 

workers, many with their families, have come and gone from the 

central North Island. While most returned to Italy, some stayed 

either with the TPD or moved on to other places in New Zealand. But 

at the beginning of 1982 there were still about 50 Italians in the 

area, employed by either Codelfa Cogefar or Codelfa Construction. 

For some of these the problems of leaving were as great as the trauma 

of arriving may have been. It is these employees and their families 

who are the subject of this study. 

At the beginning of 1982 Codelfa Cogefar's contract on the TPD 

was almost completed and only a small Italian [2] workforce remained. 

It was expected that by the end of the year most Italian workers 

would have been paid off. Thus Italians working and living in 

Turangi in 1982 were faced with a decision - "What do we do when the 

job ends?" Certain choices had to be made, most of which revolved 



2 

around the question, to go or to stay? Some had already made their 

decision long before 1982. Many had not, or had decided to delay 

final decision making. Yet with the termination of contracts no one 

had the option of remaining in the current situation. The contract 

was a significant aspect of the Italians' relationship to the job, 

the company and being in New Zealand. In the past the contract had 

been important in shaping decisions. For some this meant the only 

effective decision was whether or not to sign a contract. 

The main focus of this research is on the decision making 

process faced by Italians and their families. What factors did they 

take into account in deciding what to do after their contracts 

finished? Constraints that were influential to decision making were 

examined, focusing particularly on two broad areas, material and 

sentimental. Under the material component such factors as 

employment, property and financial survival were examined. 

Sentimental considerations were concerned with marriage, family and 

friends. Attention was also given to the particular problems faced 

by Italian/New Zealand families. Two thirds of the Italian workers 

in Turangi in 1982 were married to New Zealanders. For them to 

return to Italy or to remain in New Zealand would mean the 

inevitablility of one marriage partner having to live outside his or 

her home country. From the information collected in a survey and 

further in depth interviews, explanations were sought as to why some 

had committed themselves to return to Italy, some had made a 

commitment to stay in New Zealand, while others remained ambivalent. 



3 

Italian migration 

In New Zealand the arrival of Italians in the 1960s attracted 

widespread interest. Italians have a proud record in international 

engineering of successful, large scale construction projects and a 

long history of migration. A brief review of migration from Italy 

will help to place the Italian migrant to New Zealand in a social and 

historical perspective. Such a review can be no more than 

descriptive given the magnitude of the subject. 

For many centuries Italians have been noted travellers. The 

precursor of the late nineteenth century transnational migration was 

the seasonal migration from north Italy across the Alps to France, 

Germany and Switzerland. For a hundred years or more this has been 

an accepted means of subsidising family incomes. Such temporary 

migrations have become a cultural tradition in Piedmont and Veneto. 

By 1885 transnational migration had surpassed other 

migration. 

kinds of 

Glazer and Moynihan (1964 :1 82) claim t hat while large scale 

Italian migration did not begin until t he 1870s it became modern 

his t ory' s greatest movement from a single country. The numbers are 

certainly impressive, an estimated 26 million migrants between 1861 

and 1970 and more than ten million permanent migrations since 1900 

(Monticelli, 1970) . "In Italy as a whole over 11 million people, a 

quarter of the population, emigrated at least once in the 30 year 

period between 1881-1911" (Amfitheatrof, 1973 :138). 



4 

There are no simple explanations for why so many Italians left 

their homeland. Economic explanations, while widespread, are 

inadequate and superficial. It is true that there was abject poverty 

in many parts of Italy, especially in the south. Neither is it 

disputed that in most cases economic opportunities in receiving 

countries were superior. And it is a fact that most urban migrants 

came from the poorer section of the population of the non-industrial 

regions. It is also true that the political unification of Italy 

1859-70 was responsible for as many new problems as old problems 

solved. Economic and cultural disunity continued and centralisation 

exacerbated impoverishment in some areas. 

Yet Italian migration rates show no marked correlation with the 

degree of poverty (MacDonald, 1956). Poverty was not necessarily a 

sufficient cause to drive people from their homes, for while poverty 

would drive people to emigration from one place, people living in 

equal poverty in another would not leave. Hence the necessity of 

appreciating the heterogeneity of Italian society and the complex 

social, economic and historical factors, particularly as they were 

manifested in the nineteenth century. 

Many of the pre-1900 migrants were from northern Italy heading 

for Latin American destinations where, for example, in Argentina, 

Italians laid railways, built substantial parts of Buenos Aires, 

farmed and formed almost half the migrant population between 1857 and 

1926 (Glazer and Moynihan, 1974:182). This first wave of Italian 

migration was followed by the great exodus of Italians from the south 



to the United States in the early years of 

whole they were poorer, less educated 

5 

this century. On the 

and less skilled than the 

migrants from the north. Also there was a smaller proportion of 

women and children and a high incidence of return migration. Many 

Italians did not intend to make the United States their permanent 

home but looked on it as a place to make money before returning to 

Italy to invest in land or attain a more comfortable life. These 

'birds of passage' were often resented by Americans (Lopreato, 

1970:15). However for some, temporary migration occurred several 

times and often preceded permanent migration. Often a return to 

Italy was to fetch or find a bride. Writing of southern Italy, 

MacDonald (1956:442) says that although repatriation statistics are 

unreliable most returned at least once to their birth places. By the 

1920s Italian migration to the United States had been restricted by 

the Quota Acts. While migration continued, numbers were much 

reduced. 

After World War II there was in Italy a dramatic shift from 

agriculture to industry. Unemployment rose to t wo mill i on by 1946, 

later exacerbated by a reorganisation of land holdi ng. Some Italians 

responded to their problems by migrating. Huber (1977:31) suggests 

that for those with few job skills, "emigration offered many 

attractions and was an answer to post-war poverty and their inability 

to compete with skilled workers". Australia, already a destination 

for some Italians during this century, became a popular destination 

and had the attraction of Australian Government assisted passages and 

plenty of work. Furthermore a return to Italy was possible after two 



6 

years without refunding the passage money. However the influence of 

assisted passages on migration should not be over emphasised. Price 

(1963:279) points out that only one third of southern Europe's 

post-war migrants to Australia, arrived there with the assistance of 

the Australian Government. 

While Australia, especially in post-war years, has attracted 

Italian migrants there have been relatively few Italian migrants to 

New Zealand. Apart from the 300 Italians brought to the Jackson Bay 

Special Settlement by the Vogel administration in the 1870s and 130 

refugee migrants after World War II there has been no organized 

encouragement of Italian settlers. The South Island goldf ields 

attracted Italians from various parts of Italy. Some of these 

settlers started chains (some of which lasted several generations). 

These were the foundations of Italian settlements in other parts of 

New Zealand [ 3]. Other Italians returned to Italy (Burnley, 

1971:145). Italian migration to New Zealand has been characterised 

by chain movements. In such a migration people who have migrated 

e ncourage relatives and friends f r om their home area to fol l ow, 

helping them with remi ttances and s ponsor ship. This kind of 

mi gra t i on has been i nevi t able f or Italians in New Zea l and be ca use 

immigration polici es have admitted only c l ose relatives of persons 

already in the country. This policy has also served to contain the 

size of the Italian immigrant population. Before 1921 the 

preponderance of male migrants and a high degree of return mi gration 

were f~atures of Italian migration. 



7 

In recent years skilled Italian workers have worked on the 

Tongariro Power Development. They were brought from Italy by the 

contracting company as hard rock tunnellers offering skills that were 

in very short supply in New Zealand [4]. While hundreds of Italians 

have been involved in the scheme most have returned home. Those 

remaining in 1982 were the subjects of this study. 

This thesis is an examination of the decision making process of 

Italians and their families. Chapter is concerned with theoretical 

approaches to migration particularly as relevant to this study. 

Chapter 2 describes the historical and socio-economic setting of the 

field study, concentrating on three areas of importance, the company, 

the community and the family. The growth of commitment to New 

Zealand, or the maintenance of commitment to Italy, is examined in 

Chapter 3. Chapter 4 is an investigation of decision making based on 

information from case studi es. 

discussed in Chapter 6. 

The conclusions of the study are 



8 

CHAPTER 1 

THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO MIGRATION 

This research focuses on the nature of the decision making process in 

migration. There is in much of the literature an assumption that 

permanent or semi-permanent migration results from a conscious 

decision to migrate. But this is to state the problem too simply. 

It overlooks the fact that while many people may ultimately become 

permanent settlers they may never have made a conscious decision to 

settle permanently and may never, even after many years' residence in 

another place, consider themselves to be migrants in the commonsense 

understanding of permanent settler. 

Jackson (1969:3) suggests that: 

" ••.. there has been little serious attempt to grapple with 
some of the underlying assumptions and myths regarding the 
human condition and the decision-making process which 
students of population movement have often quite 
unconsciously constructed". 

Jackson (1969.5) likens the decision to migrate to the decision to 

marry. Marriage and migration are usually voluntary but, while it is 



9 

possible to isolate a variety of predisposing factors in a given 

environment leading to a net result, there remains a wide range of 

questions regarding the actual factors of selection in the decision 

making process operating in particular cases. 

Taylor (1969:99) describes three alternative approaches to the 

understanding of motives for migration: the acceptance of the 

migrant's stated motives; the inference of motives from a study of 

objective structural determinants and a combination of the migrant's 

subjective account with an account based on objective inference. 

Each of the approaches presents problems. A dependence on the 

migrant's own account introduces the problem of stated and real 

motives and particularly the rationalisation of decisions. To rely 

only on objective structural determinants may lead to a rather 

sterile emphasis on purposive-rational behaviour; the reduction of 

the migrant to a standardised product of the researcher's concept of 

socio-economic structure, often to mere economic maximiser. Taylor 

regards the combination approach as problematic because of the 

difficulty of reconciling an almost infinite collection of motives 

with a framework of objective structural determinants. Despite th i s 

problem I consider the combination approach most useful for the study 

in Turangi. By paying regard to what I saw as objective structural 

determinants and to the subjective feelings of the Italians, I hoped 

to understand individual motivations and the interrelation of 

individual perceptions and actual experience. 



10 

It is necessary to see the relationship of this study to work on 

migration generally. A brief review of the literature will place 

decision making in the context of migration studies and provide a 

framework for the examination of theoretical issues. Some general 

problems of migration theory will be discussed as well as the more 

specific inadequacies of orthodox migration theory. Theoretical 

concepts particularly relevant to this study will also be introduced. 

In the nineteenth century, consequent upon the massive 

restructuring of Western society associated with the emergence and 

expansion of capitalism, vast shifts of population began to take 

place. Migration is then a major expression of basic social change, 

especially in modern times (Jansen, 1970:3; Shaw, 1975:1; Lewis, 

1982:1). Jackson (1969:8) argues that: 

"The migrant not only provides the human capital of social 
change, he is its agent and as such he plays a significant 
part in shaping ideas about the societies in which he 
lives". 

Academic attempts to theorise about these movements began with the 

formulation of the "Laws of Migration" by Ravenstein in 1885 and 

1889. Ravenstein's laws, while concerned with distance, stages, 

stream and counter stream, urban and rural difference, sex and 

technology, emphasised the economic motive. The laws have remained 

the starting point for many migration studies since, the subject 

having attracted increasing attention across the spectrum of the 

social sciences. The many discipline-based approaches to the study 

of migration, spatial, demographic, economic, behavioural and 



11 

statistical are reflected in the diversity of migration literature. 

MIGRATION THEORIES 

Migration has proved theoretically problematic for the social 

sciences and not least for sociology: Jansen (1969:60) locates the 

problems for theory in the diversity of migration studies: " ••• mig­

ration is a demographic problem •••• an economic •• maybe a political 

problem ••• it involves social psychology •••• it is also a sociological 

problem ••• " Mangalam and Schwarzweller (1968:4) perceive migration 

theory as defective because of a lack of integration between 

disciplines. The proliferation of time, culture and discipline-bound 

studies has inhibited the development of an overall theory of migra-

tion. These limitations will continue without some dynamic 

integration between demographic, economic, social, psychological and 

other relevant factors that are all essential to understanding the 

migration process and act. 

There has often been a reliance on sophisticated statistical 

description which may become confused with theory. Shaw ( 1975:1) 

suggests that while the literature on migration expands, there is 

little systematic accumulation of knowledge and such as exists is 

generalized and unintegrated. Jackson (1969:1) is also concerned 

about the lack of theoretical development, while Mangalam and 

Schwarzweller (1970:6) point to insufficient conceptualising of the 

phenomena and hence little hypothesis testing. 



12 

Shaw (1975) in his overview of migration literature isolates 

five main problems impeding a synthesis of significant variables and 

the subsequent formulation of explanatory and productive theories. 

These are: incompatible concepts resulting from the diversity of 

inquiry; general theory hindered by discipline-bound research; lack 

of sustained research; failure to concentrate on theory construction 

and problems of obtaining data on various attributes of the 

population . But despite all this, inquiry does proceed, usually 

within discipline boundaries. 

Arriving at basic definitions of migration from the plethora of 

literature available is difficult as different approaches generate 

different definitions. The broadest definitions of migration 

consider almost any move by an indivi dual or group to be migration, 

e.g. "A migration is a change in the place of residence" (White and 

Woods, 1980 :3). With s uch a defini t i on a change of address in the 

same administrative area, e.g. Turangi, becomes a migration. 

Hagerstrand ( 1957: 28) defined a move from one adminis t rative ar ea t o 

a nother as a migration but movement wi t hin adminis tra t ive di visions 

may be mor e significant than that acr oss boundaries . Petersen 

( 1968: 286) added re l ative permanence t o signi f icant distance . 

Zelinsky (1 971: 226) defines migration as: 

" • • • any permanent or s emi-permanent change of residence; 
more meaningfully pe rhaps it i s a spatial transfe r from one 
social unit or neighbourhood t o another, which strains or 
ruptures previous soc i al bonds." 



13 

Migration obviously implies a spatial move and it may also 

involve a relative shift in social locus. Zelinsky (1971:225) in a 

wide ranging discussion on the growth of indi vidual mobility in all 

spheres suggests that, "the greatest of the new mobilities is that of 

the mind". This is an extremely important consideration for the 

sociologist because it admits 

considerations. Trlin (1975:75) 

the importance of subjective 

suggests that it is possible for a 

community to be located in two places simultaneously with one part in 

the place of origin and the other in the place of migration. Such 

situations are characteristic of chain migration. Burnley (1971:140) 

estimated that in 1968 over 90% of Italians in New Zealand came here 

by some variant of the chain migration process. Burnley excluded the 

TPD contract workers from hi s figures probably because he considered 

them only temporary residents. 

Most migr a tion s t udies define a migrant as the ac tor in the 

mi gration act . Kos inski and Prothero (1975 : 1) cons ider t he migrant 

to be one who mo ves f r om one admini s tra t ive uni t to another. They 

suggest that there are two generall y applied qual i fications: that 

only moves between "middle or higher rank units are considered" and 

t hat , "a migrant is consider ed to be a person who moves with the 

i ntention of es t ablis hi ng a new r es i dence in a new coun try or 

r egion". They argue that the process of migration takes place when a 

person dec i des the advantages 

t he move a nd the disadvantges 

1975 :4). This is ec hoed by 

of moving offset the difficul ties of 

of staying ( Kosinski and Prothero, 

White a nd Woods ( 1980:79) who suggest 

that migrants believe their needs and desires will be more 



14 

satisfactorily met in the new place than in the place they left. 

From this discussion certain broad statements can be made. 

Researchers see migration as involving a spatial and often also a 

social shift; the move is usually viewed as permanent, or at least 

semi-permanent, and a migrant is perceived as one who makes such a 

move. People migrate because they cannot get what they want where 

they are. 

Migration studies usually revolve around 

questions: Who migrates? Why do they migrate? 

the following 

What are the 

patterns of flow, direction and movement of migration? What are the 

consequences of migration? (Mangalam, 1968:5; White and Woods, 

1981:1). While all these areas are important the second and fourth 

are most significant in this study, that is, why people migrate and 

the consequences of migration. 

Migration studies may also be categorised into macrolevel and 

microlevel studies. Macrolevel studies typically have as the unit of 

analysis administrative districts or population aggregates while the 

microlevel study takes as the unit of analysis the individual, family 

or household. Questions concerned with subjective factors are best 

dealt with at the microlevel (Shaw, 1975:106; De Jong and Gardner, 

1981:5). However, both levels are necessary in order to gain a full 

understanding of migration: macrolevel to describe broad patterns of 

migration and microlevel to explain migration behaviour. 



15 

My concern in Turangi was to explain the issues involved in 

decision making in an attempt to understand migration behaviour. 

Given the scale and nature of the inquiry a microlevel study was the 

most appropriate. The study concentrated on individuals and families 

and took as the unit of analysis (with three exceptions) the nuclear 

family. In order to relate the theoretical discussion more closely 

to the Turangi study the following areas will be examined: orthodox 

approaches to migration; issues of concern to this study which tend 

to be neglected by orthodox theory and the relevance of the ideas 

discussed to the Turangi study. 

In the study of migration, as has 

theoretical approach to migration is 

follow discipline lines. There are often 

been stated, an overall 

lacking: areas of inquiry 

overlapping features and 

areas of interest. Areas of concern are economic, subjective, 

demographic and spatial. The economic and subjective are the most 

relevant to this study. 

Studies from the economic perspective have made a great 

contribution to the understanding of migration . It might even be 

said that economi c determi nants have the greatest causal influence on 

migration . Certainly · this is an accepted assumption for many 

economists. Shaw ( 1975:57) considers that economists have expanded 

our knowledge on the importance of economic motives in migration 

decisions, on the response of migrants to economic considerations, 

and the characteristics of migrants which are concerned with the 

evaluation of economic factors. 



16 

De Jong and Fawcett (1981:23) point out that the economic 

maximisation thesis can only be assumed and not measured. Hugo 

(1981:187) warns against an uncritical approach to the economic 

evidence produced from migration studies in the third world which 

concentrates on economic advantage as the fundamental reason for 

moving (e.g. Pryor, 1975:18-23; Caldwell, 1969) and suggests that 

economic variables offer a poor basis from which to predict 

population mobility when considered in isolation from social and 

cultural influences. Shaw (1975:101) argues that in urban industrial 

economies the role of pecuniary considerations declines in 

importance. Cebula (1980:139) acknowledges the need for the 

inclusion of the quality of life variable in addition to employment 

and income considerations. De Jong and Fawcett (1981:44) criticise 

traditional migration studies for telling more about places than 

people. This limits the applications of the findings. 

Thus though macrolevel studies that produce generalized 

statements about how and why migration occurs are important, they are 

not entirely satisfactory. Subjective questions of motivation and 

evaluation generally receive little attention. Shaw (1975:106) gives 

two reasons for the paucity of literature on behavioural aspects of 

migration: that the necessary surveys are time consuming and costly 

and that the necessary tools to explain subjective behaviour do not 

exist in sociology and psychology and as a result models are crude 

and seldom tested. Nevertheless it is at the microlevel that such 

issues are likely to be best understood. 



17 

Researchers who place a high value on subjective considerations, 

while not necessarily denying a central place to the economic motive, 

find it unrealistic to reduce the migrant to a rational and economic 

maximiser. Some subjective considerations that researchers have 

identified are Wolpert's (1965) place utility, which is concerned 

with the conceptions people have of their place of residence compared 

with other places of residence; residential complaints (e.g. Rossi, 

1955; Taylor, 1969); environmental stresses (e.g. Wolpert, 1966); 

quality of life and orientation to family (e.g. Jitodi, 1963). This 

study pays special attention to quality of life, family and 

perceptions of Italy and New Zealand, in addition to economic 

considerations. These are discussed in chapters 3 and 4. 

Orthodox approaches are not 

literature sometimes implies. 

necessarily 

For example, 

as discrete as the 

Todaro (1977:239) 

recognizes the subjective element in what he considers to be 

primarily economic decisions. 

The preceding discussion of approaches to migration represents a 

general orthodoxy in migration studies. Although each of the 

approaches discussed is important and necessary to an integrated 

understanding, each has shortcomings. An understanding of the 

complexity of migration, with its many shades of meaning leads to the 

obvious conclusion that there is no one overriding reason why people 

migrate. 



18 

This study is concerned with economic and subjective approaches, 

because I consider these best suited to the sociological situation 

examined. However it should be remembered that: 

"migration is a behavioural result of a complex set of 
decisions that are rational and irrational, conscious and 
unconscious, deliberate and impulsive" (Reissman, 
1967:211-12). 

What I have termed general orthodoxies in migration theory 

present certain problems which highlight basic incompatibilities 

between the realities of the experience of Italians in Turangi and 

migration orthodoxy. A major problem is the assumption of 

rationality. If this assumption is made it is not difficult to 

understand the centrality of economic maximisation which Cebula 

(1980:3) for example, assumes is accepted and adhered to by most 

researchers and is the basis of what he terms "orthodox migration 

theory". While not denying that many migration decisions are made on 

a rational basis, the migrant may not be reduced to economic 

maximiser. Haberkorn (1981 :254) comments: 

11 ••• the fact that migration decisions involve people rather 
than products should lead us to one important realisation: 
not all decisions are primarily rational and follow 
carefully calculated means-ends combinations, but rather 
are quite frequently heavily influenced by emotion". 

Also stemming from the assumption of rationality is the tendency 

to view migration as a permanent change of location - or at least 

semi-permanent. The idea that migration is a once and only 

phenomenon has been described by Jackson (1969:4) as the "snapshot" 



19 

character of the migration act. He asserts that this idea has grown 

from the emphasis on net change rather than gross movement. While 

many nineteenth century migrants took a one way trip some, even then, 

travelled back and forth. Price (1963:101) comments on the comings 

and goings of, for example, Italian migrants to Australia and says 

that temporary visits home swelled the numbers of departures and 

arrivals and gave a false impression of migration processes. The 

problems described by Jackson and Price arise because of the 

restrictions of orthodox migration research. Haberkorn (1981:258) 

observes: 

"One of the biggest problems with traditional migration 
research has been its abstract procedures, such as its 
exclusive focus on 'objective' determinants of migration -
that is, on all those variables that make theoretical sense 
to researchers, while neglecting the identification of 
variables from the perspective of what they mean to the 
migrants or stayers themselves." 

Migration orthodoxy suggests that migrants have decided to stay 

permanently, or at leas t for a lengthy period , at their destinations 

before they depart . A migration of the mind might precede any other 

migration . Galtung ( 197 1:194), writing of Western Sicily , considers 

that such is the attitudinal change people undergo before migration 

that they are already socially lost to their home communities before 

migration. Other people do migrate because of social conditions, or 

for economic reasons, or on the basis of a careful cost-benefit 

analysis. 



20 

The assumption is that the decision to migrate is based on 

certain rational choices. But it will be argued that while some 

people make certain moves they do not necessarily make decisions to 

migrate permanently. The fact that they may become permanent 

settlers in another place may not result from a calculated decision 

to migrate in orthodox terms. 

This is a rejection of one of the key elements of migration 

orthodoxy, that migrants are in fact migrants before they depart. 

The contract status of the Italians in Turangi suggested that they 

were not for ever in the place of destination and therefore not 

migrants in orthodox terms. But it cannot be assumed either that all 

contract workers will return. People who never intended to migrate, 

in orthodox terms, may subsequently become permanent settlers as has 

happened to some Italians who came to New Zealand as contract 

workers. 

With these points in mind it is necessary to examine other 

aspects of migration in order to appreciate the specific focus of 

this research. The areas to be examined are, circulation, sojourners 

and commitment. 

Circulation 

Not all movements are intended as permanent or even long term. 

Zelinsky (1971:225) makes a clear distinction between the orthodox 

prescription of migration and what he terms circulation, which 



21 

"denotes a great variety of movements, usually short term, repetitive 

or cyclical in nature, but all having in common the lack of any 

declared or long lasting change in residence". The intention to 

return to the original place of residence distinguishes circulation, 

or return migration, from migration. Thus defined, much movement 

previously considered migration would be more accurately termed 

circulation. Increasing numbers of migrants may spend periods 

outside their country of birth, perhaps returning and setting off 

again (Jackson, 1969:4). Richmond (1967:252) refers to such people 

as "transilients". 

To further clarify circulation, Bedford (1973:3) refers to 

routine daily movements - shopping, going to work - as "oscillation", 

reserving the term circular migration for absences of a month or 

more. He suggests no upper limit on the duration between moves, for 

example, work contracts may span several years as they have done for 

Italians in Turangi. However the intention to return is again 

stressed. Thus traditional, seasonal migrations from north Italy; 

modern guest worker migrations and even many of the transnational 

migrations of Italians can be considered circular migrations (Huber, 

1977; Thompson, 1980). The migrant who intends to return is not 

prepared to sever, or perceives no advantage in severing, ties with 

the home area. While prepared to be mobile such a person does not 

make a decision to migrate. However this lack of original decision 

making does not preclude the possibility of long lasting or permanent 

relocation. 



22 

Sojourners 

While circulation places emphasis on the movements of people, 

the term sojourner emphasises residence rather than movement. 

Sojourners are those who reside in another country but who expect to 

return to their homeland immigrants who do not intend to settle 

permanently. However, sojourners frequently become permanent 

settlers against their original intentions. Writing of Chinese in 

the Mississippi, Lowen (1971:26) says they: 

" ••• were not true immigrants, intending to become permanent 
settlers in a new homeland, but were sojourners, temporary 
residents in a strange country, planning to return to their 
homeland when their task was accomplished". 

As they intend to return home, sojourners are psychologically 

unwilling to organize themselves as permanent residents (Siu, 

1952:34). They may pay little attention to their social and physical 

environment as they are so busy working hard and spending little in 

order to hasten their return home. Some adjustments have to be made 

however and progressive adaptation to the immediate environment may 

make sojourners ambivalent about the future. Siu (1952:41) suggests 

that sojourners typically undergo certain successive stages of 

adjustment, getting on with the job which has taken them from home; 

socially isolated with fellow countrymen and planning to return home 

thus following the pattern of accommodation, isolation and 

unassimilation. In so doing the sojourner adopts a mode of life that 

is characteristic neither of the original home nor of the place of 

sojourn. The sojourner is Simmel's stranger: 



"the person who comes to-day and stays to-morrow. He is so 
to speak the potential wanderer: although he has not moved 
on, he has not quite overcome the freedom of coming and 
going" (Wolff, 1950:402). 

23 

Most Italians in Turangi did not consider themselves migrants. 

They described themselves in such a way that they could be called 

sojourners. They associated a permanence with the term migrant 

similar to that often used in orthodox migration theory. In this 

study I use the term migrant to refer to the process of moving, 

without reference to the duration of stay at the destination. 

Commitment 

In a study of American migrants to Australia DeAmicis (1976) was 

faced with the problem that Americans usually do not make decisions 

to migrate to Australia. In seeking a sociological explanation of 

the reorientation of Americans to Australia DeAmicis centred on the 

concept of commi t ment. He defines commi t ments as: 

"agreements that somehow bi nd the individual to a person, 
group or activity. They are orientations to both the 
present and the future . and provide gu i delines for 
consistent behaviour" (DeAmicis, 1976:138). 

DeAmicis argues that most Americans go to Australia for limited and 

specific intentions and generally intend to return to the United 

States. Italians went to Turangi in a similar way. Such people, he 

maintains, are committed to America but as daily life in Australia 



24 

becomes more salient their commitments are redefined as ties with 

Australia become stronger at the expense of weakening ties with 

America. 

DeAmicis based his concept of commitment on that of Becker 

(1960:38): 

"Commitments are not necessarily made consciously and 
deliberately. Some commitments do result from conscious 
decisions, but others arise crescively: the person becomes 
aware that he is committed only at some point of change and 
seems to have made the commitment without realising it". 

In seeking to explain commitment Becker suggests that commitment is 

achieved by making "side bets". Other interests, originally 

extraneous to the action one is engaged in, become involved directly 

in that action. 

"'Commitment by default' arises through a series of acts, 
no one of which is crucial but which taken together, 
constitute for the actor a series of side bets of such 
magnitude that he finds himself unwilling to lose them" 
(Becker, 1960:38). 

At the time they are made these side bets are not necessarily related 

to each other. 

DeAmicis (1976:137) considers commitment to be both activity 

(making commitments) and a status (having become committed). He 

defines commitments as agreements, assumptions, understandings, 

preparations, investments, exchanges and contracts which bind, tie or 



25 

obligate people to actions relative to other people, groups, 

activities or institutions. The consequences of such commitment have 

present and future outcomes and can affect every aspect of life. 

Commitments can be found at all levels of interaction and, according 

to DeAmicis, be formal or informal, vague or explicit, deliberate or 

de facto and unintentional, predetermined or ad hoc. They can be 

variably enforceable and enforced in ways which may range from a 

legally binding contract, as was the original commitment of Italians 

in Turangi, to a casual understanding. 

DeAmicis defines several kinds of commitment. Among them are: 

contracts as in employment; investments, for example, in time, money 

or energy; exchanges, for example, of intimacies or promises; 

responsibilities or obligations, for example, in marriage, family, 

church or club; planning, for example, for career or future 

security; or reference groups, for example, perceived pressure from 

significant others (DeAmicis, 1976:138). 

Americans in Australia, he suggested, had certain orientations 

to Australia when they arrived. He described these as "open-ended 

commitments", that is, expectations to settle permanently or, at 

least, indefinitely; "closed-ended commitments", expectations of 

return to the United States after a certain period; and 

"semi-open-ended commitments", those who did not have fixed plans. 

Most of the Italians who went to Turangi had closed-ended 

commitments, though some consciously or unconsciously had 

semi-open-ended commitments. Over the years commitments change. 



Original commitments become restructured: 

"As unanticipated contingencies occur routinely and are 
negotiated routinely daily life in Australia becomes more 
and more salient, i.e., experientially valid, than memories 
or anticipations of life in America. Ties to America 
weaken and are replaced by corresponding ties to Australia" 
(DeAmicis, 1976:138). 

26 

The examination of circular migration, sojourners and the 

concept of commitment helps to overcome some of the difficulties for 

the study of Turangi which arise from the theoretical shortcomings of 

the orthodox approaches already discussed. It became clear, even 

from preliminary enquiries among Italians in Turangi, that it would 

be extremely difficult to consider this research within any kind of 

orthodox framework of migration. For example, in orthodox and 

official terms the people were already migrants though few of them 

had that self-perception because they had not made decisions to 

migrate permanently to New Zealand. This study is concerned with 

people who saw themselves as sojourners. All were in the process of 

reappraising that status. 

It was proposed that central to the study would be the decision 

making process, to go or to stay. Paradoxically for some there was a 

desire to make decisions, even a need, yet also a fear of, and 

shrinking away from, decision making. The concept of circular migra-

tion provides some useful insights for studying the Italian migrants 

in Turangi. That people may stay a long time in another place, that 

people may eventually become permanent settlers, sometimes almost by 



27 

default, are very different propositions from assuming that a 

residential move by a person from one country to another will be 

permanent. A decision to move cannot necessarily be equated with a 

decision to migrate in orthodox terms unless migration is defined in 

the very widest sense as meaning any move. The assumption that 

people officially defined as migrants are also therefore permanent 

settlers fails to consider the objectives and attitudes of the 

emigrants. 

The approach taken by DeAmicis is appropriate to examining the 

problems of to go or to stay faced by Italians in Turangi. Besides 

permanent migration, Italians have a long history of seasonal or 

short term migration, which may or may not develop into permanent 

migration (Foerster, 1919; Price, 1963; Glazer and Moynihan, 1964; 

Huber, 1977; Thompson, 1980). In examining the decision making 

process it was hoped that a clearer understanding would be gained of 

why some people remain committed to living in Italy, others become 

committed to living in New Zealand to the extent that they wish to 

r emain, while yet others are committed to neither Italy nor New 

Zealand. 

While I regard those theoretical ideas as important I did not 

consider them as a rigid framework but rather as a flexible outline 

or guide. Bell and Newby (1977:63-64) warn the researcher: 

"Regardless of what sociologists claim, when they do 
empirical work, many of them have a shrewd suspicion of 
what they are going to find. Indeed they may have a well 
worked out theoretical scheme before they start their 



research. Once in the field, theory acts like a pair of 
blinkers - it defines the field of vision. Theory defines 
what is relevant and what is not, in a very real sense it 
determines what is seen". 

28 

Thus it was important that the centrality of the research 

problem not be usurped by prejudgements as to its cause. The 

perception and experience of the Italians and their families formed 

the basis of analysis and defined what was relevant from the 

theories. The theory building aspects of this research were as 

important as theory testing, and the strengths of deduction and 

induction were utilized. 



29 

CHAPTER 2 

COMPANY, COMMUNITY AND FAMILY 

When considering the context of daily life for Italians in 

Turangi three particular 

community, and the family. 

areas is essential to an 

influences are salient: the company, the 

A background knowledge of each of these 

understanding of the factors involved in 

decisions about moving for Italians in Turangi. 

Company, community and family are all aspects of the human input 

into the Tongariro Power Development. While the technical factors of 

the TPD attract interest, little attention has been focused on the 

human factor. The TPD was an undertaking of the Ministry of Works 

(MOW). It was begun in 1964 and almost completed by 1982. Many 

workers on the Tongariro project had moved on from other projects on 

the Waikato. Some had had a lifetime of service on those power 

schemes. In 1982 the experienced chief project engineer told me that 

some third generation workers were in his employ. Many families 

travelled up the river together working on the same projects. Adults 

who had grown up on the projects described themselves as "river 

rats". (John Gardenier, undated:28-33, a MOW engineer, provides a 



30 

brief outline of the human involvement in the project.) 

The TPD differed in several respects from the other schemes, the 

chief difference being that it involved the diversion of many streams 

around Tongariro in order to provide a greater single flow of water 

(see Appendix 5 for information on the TPD). Diversions involved the 

construction of tunnels but tunnel construction was not a speciality 

of New Zealand engineering, and although MOW had overall direction on 

the TPD, international tenders were invited for the major tunnel 

construction. Codelfa Cogefar, an Italian company, undertook 

Contract One, at the same time bidding for Contract Three, the award 

of which (to Codelfa Cogefar) was delayed. Subsequently the company 

also undertook Contract Four. 

undertook Contract Two. 

Downers, a New Zealand company, 

THE COMPANY 

The coming of the Italians 

In December 1965 a jo i nt vent ure tender was made by Codelfa 

Cogefar (Costruzioni Del Favero and Costruzioni Generali Farsura) for 

construction work on the TPD. At the time there was a shortage of 

hard rock tunnellers and labour generally in New Zealand. It was 

estimated that the demand for labour overall at Tongariro would be 

for 2,200 workers, of whom 600 would be employed on two tunnels at 

the height of the work. 



31 

Codelfa Cogefar was a joint venture formed especially for the 

contract in New Zealand. The reputation of this company had been 

built on construction and tunnelling work in northern Italy. The 

elite of the work force was the hard rock tunnellers. In New Zealand 

they soon became known for their record breaking tunnelling 

achievements. The driving force behind the New Zealand enterprise 

was Alessandro Del Favero. He and his brothers had for many years 

operated a successful engineering business centred on Vittorio 

Veneto, in Treviso. When Del Favero arrived in New Zealand in 1967 

he brought with him many men from northern Italy with long experience 

of hard rock tunnelling. Some had worked for him for years. Even in 

1982 there were one or two older Italians in Turangi who had spent 

all their working lives, upwards of 30 years, with Codelfa. Hen from 

Treviso and especially Vittorio Veneto formed a large proportion of 

the 1982 workforce. 

The suggestion that contracts should be let to foreign companies 

had been opposed by the Federation of Labour and protracted 

negotiations delayed the commencement of the Italian contract. FOL 

protest at foreign workers was two pronged. One argument was that 

the Italians would be cheap indentured labour liable to exploitation 

(and able to undercut local labour), and the other was that to employ 

foreigners represented a direct threat to the livelihood of New 

Zealanders by taking jobs that should have gone to them [1]. FOL 

agreed to accept Italian workers on certain conditions which were 

reported in The Auckland Star of 23 March 1966: the company must 

first advertise in New Zealand before bringing in limited numbers of 



32 

Italians if necessary, but preference at all times was to be given to 

New Zealand workers. New Zealand conditions and standards of 

accommodation were to be complied with. 

negotiated between the contractor 

The rates of pay were to be 

and the unions and injury 

compensations to be in line with New Zealand compensation law. The 

Evening Post (25 March 1966) reported that "the Italians" had 

accepted the conditions. 

It was not only in FOL that there was anxiety about the 

importing of Italian workers. Time (24 June 1966) had reported 

concern in Italy that 400 skilled tunnelling staff about to leave for 

New Zealand would probably never return to Italy. This was 

presumably seen as a disadvantage to the Italian labour force. (In 

fact only 185 Italians were employed on the first contract.) 

However, problems between the government, FOL and Codelfa 

Cogefar persisted and The New Zealand Herald (24 April 1966) reported 

the withdrawal of FOL from the agreement because of what they 

considered government interference. The deadlock persisted for five 

months. The Wairarapa Times Age (26 April 1966) described it as a 

"contest for power". Neither the government nor FOL was prepared to 

change their stand, and by August the contract was still not let. By 

the end of September agreement had been reached to resume pay talks 

and on 2 November 1966 The New Zealand Herald reported that parties 

had agreed to basic conditions. The contract was signed early in 

1967, though as late as July FOL was still uneasy about the use of 

foreign labour and the potential loss of jobs to New Zealanders. 



33 

This was countered by government statements that jobs would be 

created by the use of foreign labour. 

By July 1967 the main Italian camp, Wanganui, was almost 

complete. The Daily News (27 July 1967) reported that a dozen 

people, including a family of four, were in residence. The Auckland 

Star (25 August 1967) reported that 38 Italian workers began work 

that week at the Wanganui site of the Tongariro project, setting up 

the portal for the outflow of the ten mile tunnel scheme (Western 

Diversion). 

The Italian workers knew little or nothing of the opposition to 

their presence. Perhaps there is some similarity between them and 

the British riggers employed at Marsden Point in 1983. The riggers 

had no idea they were the centre of controversy over foreign labour 

(Gooding, 1983). At the time Italians had little perception of 

themselves in the context of New Zealand as a whole, but saw 

themselves as people with short term contracts who would do the j ob 

and then leave. The company expected to stay in New Zealand for a 

maximum of four years. 

In 1982 there was no talk by unions of cheap labour or threats 

to the jobs of New Zealanders from the 50 or so Italians who 

remained. All had New Zealand residence status, and had worked 

alongside New Zealand workers for years. That is not to say that 

there was always complete trust and acceptance between Italian and 

New Zealander. Some aspects of these relationships will be discussed 



34 

at a later point in this chapter. 

While not exactly a company town [2] Turangi could be said to be 

a single indust~y town and a construction town. Common to such towns 

is the dominance of one employer. Since work on the TPD began 

Turangi has been dominated by MOW. Codelfa Cogefar was responsible 

for specific contracts on the TPD under overall MOW supervision. 

While the company worked closely with MOW and was subject to daily 

MOW inspection, the relationship of Codelfa Cogefar workers was 

directly to the company. 

Codelfa Cogefar was an Italian company working in New Zealand 

for the first time. In the early years the employees were almost all 

Italians. As such they were even more reliant on the company than 

New Zealanders were on MOW, as their very presence in New Zealand was 

directly dependent on the company. Under immigration regulations 

they were permitted only to work for Codelfa Cogefar. Initial entry 

to New Zealand was on a six month temporary entry permit later 

extended to 18 months and thereafter renewable at two yearly 

intervals. Later the company negotiated an agreement with the 

Immigration Department that, after two years, and on satisfactory 

completion of a contract, employees would be eligible to apply for 

permanent residence. The first contracts were single status: there 

was no provision for families. Some men were later transferred to 

Codelfa Construction which was set up as a separate company by 

Codelfa Cogefar to undertake other construction contracts in New 

Zealand. 



35 

The company supplied housing, medical attention, some 

recreational facilities, and Italian food and wine for the workers. 

While Turangi may not have been a company town, the Italian workers 

were bound to the company as if in a company town, where the control 

of employment, housing and services by a single employer affords an 

exceptional opportunity for the control of labour. In addition, such 

was the physical and linguistic isolation of the camp in the early 

days that the company was in effect almost a total institution [3]. 

Then the extra long working hours placed further restrictions on the 

men. When they finished work they ate at the company canteen before 

returning to company accommodation. 

In a situation where the employee depends on the employer for 

security, housing and to some extent food and social life, the 

company exerts considerable influence on the employee. Of even 

greater significance was reliance on the company for repatriation, an 

important expectation of the contract worker. The company becomes 

much more significant to the family of the employee, because the 

family has abdicated from certain aspects of autonomy and allowed the 

company to take over some responsibilities. One woman expressed her 

annoyance about the fact that she was told about travel arrangements 

to Italy by the travel agent. The family at that time had not been 

informed of a leaving date. The same family were involved in an 

argument with the company, known as the "the office", over furniture 

in the home which belonged to the family, but which 
. 

was claimed as 

belonging to the company. 



36 

A frequent response to this kind of dependence is ambivalence. 

Chapple (1973:131) found this expressed at Kaingaroa, and Whitelaw 

(1961:74) at Kawerau. Freedom from certain responsibilities and the 

resulting security is enjoyed, yet from time to time there is 

annoyance and frustration at restrictions. Much as people liked to 

think of themselves as independent there was little doubt that many 

had become institutionalised. The love-hate relationship that many 

felt for the company was often expressed as ambivalence, "I could go 

to-morrow if I want to," said one man in Turangi, but he didn't, even 

though there was no redundancy money at stake. The same man had also 

told the manager, "I'm working for you, I don't belong to you". In a 

later report on Kawerau, James (1979:28) discusses similar aspects of 

ambivalence and in addition noted that some people felt they were 

"captives" of the company. 

Many feelings of ambivalence were felt by Codelfa Cogefar 

employees and their families. There were added problems, not found 

in other studies of single industry towns in New Zealand, such as 

repatriation, associated with the fac t of a foreign company 

workforce. Often resentments were felt more by women than men, 

especially New Zealand women, who did not accept company policy as 

sanguinely as their husbands. In 1982 some of the women had been 

taking direct action, often on repatriation matters, by "going to the 

office". Reactions among other women to this kind of action were 

mixed. One woman said that wives had to go to the office to fight 

some of their battles because the men would often back down - "they 

seem to have some sense of loyalty to the company goodness knows 



37 

why". But another woman said that going to the office like that 

caused trouble. Although the trouble was not specified she implied 

that such actions could make the situation more, rather than less, 

difficult. 

In the early years in New Zealand Codelfa Cogefar was run very 

much as a family business. Management was paternalistic in style and 

the influence of the company extended beyond the work situation into 

other areas of the employees' lives. This is not unusual even in 

bureaucratically organised companies, and is described by Chapple 

(1973), Whitelaw (1961), and James (1979) with reference to single 

industry towns where 

However, at Codelfa 

housing and services are company dominated. 

Cogefar the difference was the dominating 

personality of the owner/chief executive of the company, Alessandro 

Del Favero. He regarded the workers as "his" men. Indeed many of 

the workers felt themselves to be his men, having joined the company 

when young in Vittorio Veneta. A strong tie was established between 

Del Favero and many of his workers, especially those who worked at 

the tunnel face . The strong paternal element in management 

engendered a tie that was almos t that of the patron/client, based on 

personal loyalty, obligation and the unequal exchange of goods and 

services [4]. 

There are many contributory factors to Del Favero's success in 

operating in what might be considered this rather archaic manner. 

There was the charisma of the man himself [5]. This charisma 

extended beyond the work situation into the community. Although 



38 

retired now, he still spends some months of every year in Turangi, 

and is considered by many as the "uncrowned king of Turangi", as one 

person put it. His generosity to the Catholic Church and the golf 

club is particularly evident. 

Any management is more able to exert considerable social control 

over a workforce when it is an enclave in a foreign country. New 

Zealand did seem very alien and a little hostile to many Italians 

when they arrived. Where better to turn than to the management of 

the company for security? The company provided everything, and the 

men and their families became "my people" to Del Favero. He was 

interested in the affairs of all of them and as I was told by one 

long time employee: 

"Yes, a dictator, autocratic certainly, and 
degree there was this element [social control] in it. 
so much imposing a control, not an oppressive control, 
father knows best." 

to a 
Not 
but 

The New Zealand wife of an employee said, "Del Favero treated us 

like people, not like the workers' wives." On another occasion the 

same woman said, "He was on the side of the workers." She added that 

he knew all the men and his "wife was not p~ofy either", implying 

that she did not distance herself from the workers and their wives. 

The same kind of relationship existed between other senior 

personnel and the men. A construction superintendent in the early 

years was described, on site, as "Mr God". An employee of the 



39 

company recalled, "No one touched any of his boys. They were 'my 

boys'. He would lie on a stack of Bibles to protect anyone of them 

from outside attack and then, if necessary, he would kick them to 

death - but he did it. These are mine. There was nothing he would 

[not] do if they were going to get married they would go and tell 

him first. They could hate him,they could want to kill him and never 

at any time was there any deviation from a total love and absolute 

respect for him." 

The Italians would not have known or considered any relationship 

other than the paternalism of the earlier years. They were strangers 

in a strange country and the attitude of the general population was 

anything but friendly. FOL hostility has been mentioned and is 

recorded in the press of the time. Opposition to Italians was 

further expressed by the media with suggestions that Italians might 

bring foot and mouth disease into the country (Daily Post 15 October 

1966) [6]. When forays were made by the Italian workers into the 

world beyond, liaisons were frequently mediated by the company 

through, for example, the use of company-provided medical services 

and company translators. 

The Italians were perceived as "the Italians" by the people of 

Turangi. Nationality became the first point of identity, again 

probably reinforcing a sense of loyalty to the company, also Italian. 

Despite the initial suspicions the Italians soon became noted for 

their hard work, generally putting in longer hours than New Zealand 

workers on the TPD. Their record breaking achievements became a 



40 

source of local pride. Turangi residents talk with affection of the 

"hole through" parties, when the two ends of a tunnel were linked 

with the final breakthrough, and of Santa Barbara (patron saint of 

tunnellers) parties on December 4th, when Del Favero would be at the 

centre of festivities. 

A lack of, or minimal, union involvement in the early years 

allowed, to some extent, for the continuation of some of the 

company's paternal practices. This allowed for gestures of 

generosity such as personal loans, loans for houses, and in one case 

the presentation of several thousand dollars to a man who would 

otherwise have returned to Italy with no money, thanks to his wife's 

profligacy and penchant for riding by taxi from Waiouru to Turangi. 

But by the same token instant dismissal was also possible. Immediate 

repatriation to Italy was the solution to the problem of recalcitrant 

workers, whether the misdemeanour was committed on or off site. Such 

displeasure could also extend to wives employed as domestic servants. 

At any one time one or two wives would be employed by management a s 

domestic servants. I was told that on one occasion a woman was 

summarily dismissed and sent back to Italy. Her husband was not in 

New Zealand at the time, but working on a Codelfa Construction 

contract in Australia [7], Without union support, and in a strange 

country, there was no alternative to the one way ticket. It must 

also be added that a foreign company, particularly with the kind of 

profile of Codelfa Cogefar, would be likely to make strenuous efforts 

to avoid troublesome situations. 



41 

That such a paternalistic relationship was accepted suggests 

that Italian workers perceived it in positive terms, or at least 

those who remained did. Such a relationship allows for personal 

advancement and favour in a way that is not admitted by the 

impartiality of a more ideal type bureaucracy. It is also probable 

that there were no other choices available in the early years. 

Mention should also be made of cultural expectations. Patron/client 

relationships have been institutionalised in the past, particularly 

in southern Italy, though such ties have weakened considerably since 

World War Two. Zuckerman (1977:65-66) suggests that while scholarly 

consensus argues that the north is an industrialised society, 

significantly different from the rural south, none the less there are 

strong similarities throughout Italy with regard to general norms and 

behaviour concerning social cohesion, competition and authority. He 

argues that differences in Italy do not neatly follow patterns of 

industrialisation. 

It might be that the transportation of a whole workforce to a 

foreign country reinforced traditional social elements in the face of 

differences of language, culture and social organisation. However, 

as "traditional" elements are not uncommon in industrial societies, 

this point should not be over emphasised. 

A long time employee spoke of the family spirit in the company 

in the early years, when it was still a family concern and almost all 

the workers were Italian and most from the Veneto region. That 

feeling weakened with the entry of Italians from other areas and with 



42 

the employment of more and more New Zealanders. 

Internal and external changes over the years have had a profound 

effect on the company. As far as company management is concerned, 

the greatest change came with the retirement of Del Favero in 1979. 

In 1972 his Codelfa company bought out all the Cogefar interests in 

New Zealand and in 1979 a Milan investment company, Generalfin, 

bought out the 50% shareholding of the Del Favero brothers. 

retirement of Del Favero went the final vestiges of 

With the 

the old 

paternalism and family feeling, already diminishing as Italians moved 

out into Turangi and as some married New Zealand women. In addition, 

Contract Four was limited to New Zealand residents, though only about 

50% of the workforce were New Zealand citizens, the remainder being 

Italians with permanent resident status. 

Since the takeover by Generalfin, the company has been run by 

the present general manager on more bureaucratic lines. The change 

the past of management style has been painful for many. While in 

there had often been resentment of paternalism there was for many an 

equal resentment of what was considered the cold, and some said 

dishonest, approach of the new manager. In the process of 

bureaucratisation the bond that had been built on paternalism between 

manager and worker was destroyed. Without a modifying human element 

the positive aspects of bureaucracy, such as impartiality, were 

subsumed by the impersonal, or distorted. Where so much had 

previously rested on personality perhaps any change would have been 

problematic. Not all employees were unhappy with the change. One 



43 

employee's wife (Robyn) referring to Del Favero, said "though I don't 

think things were any better for the workers with him". She said she 

thought people were "more equal" under the present management. 

Another wife, speaking of the manager, said, "[he] may be rotten, but 

he's rotten to everybody, Del Favero used to have favourites." 

The research deliberately excluded investigation of 

management/employee relations, as this was not a central concern of 

the thesis, although the consequences of the relationships were often 

central to the lives of the employees. This fact was made very clear 

in informal conversations and by observation and is examined when 

relevant. In particular two aspects of company influence require 

more detailed examination: housing and camp life. 

Initially, almost all staff and workers were housed in the 

camps, which were situated near the worksites. Codelfa's policy was 

to keep employees close to the job. This differed from MOW policy, 

which was to house workers in Turangi and to transport them to the 

works i te. I was t old t ha t the po l icy of housing people at t he site 

was followed because it was th ought that as the Itali ans did not 

speak English they should be kept together so they would have people 

to talk to. It was denied that it was a conscious means of social 

control, though the effect was to isolate the Italians, to extend 

company influence into the home and to reinforce the fact that the 

company provided all. 



44 

In all the company has operated six camps on the TPD: three on 

Contract One (Wanganui, Tawhitikuri and Whakapapa), two on Contract 

Three (Moawhango and Tongariro), and one on Contract Four (Rangipo). 

At one time five camps were operating simultaneously. 

memories were hazy of actual numbers involved, but it was 

By 1982 

thought 

that Wanganui was the largest with perhaps over 80 men employed, some 

with wives and families. Forty to fifty school age children 

travelled by bus to Turangi schools each day from the three camps on 

the Western Diversion. There was never any serious suggestion that 

the company should provide education and the school became the chief 

agent for the socialisation of Italian children into New Zealand 

culture. 

During an interview a long serving senior staff executive said, 

that in retrospect he considered the establishment of the camps a 

mistake, because they were in effect Italian villages, where lives 

were lived in a totally Italian context. There was no integration 

with the local New Zealand community. However, he added that it was 

necessary for some people to live at the site, for example, those 

whose jobs required that they be on call 24 hours. 

Camp accommodation consisted of single and married quarters and 

the company provided a cookhouse where meals were available for men 

as they came off shift. Free wine was also provided. The cookhouse 

became a focal point and an important social centre on each site. 

This meant that families did not even provide a setting for a major 

social activity, that of eating. The cookhouse had been central to 



45 

the lives of many men. There they could be assured of good Italian 

food, wine, conversation in Italian and companionship. The cookhouse 

had been a source of contention for some wives. They had strong 

feelings about the place, sometimes regarding it almost as they would 

another woman as a rival for attention. Some complained that their 

husbands had stayed too long at the cookhouse, had "forgotten to come 

home". I was told that some men had come home drunk at three to four 

o'clock in the morning having come off shift at midnight, gone to the 

cookhouse, had a meal and then been drinking, perhaps playing cards 

before returning to Turangi. The cookhouse closed early in 1982. 

In the early days there were regular showings of films, obtained 

through the Italian embassy. These were superseded by video 

cassettes. Other activites included Sunday football, bowls and clay 

pigeon shooting. English classes received reasonable patronage. 

Italian newspapers and magazines were supplied. But on the whole it 

was a difficult life and working hours were long: 

"Oh camp life was not good. Boring, horrible, not very 
nice camps, not doing nothing for the people too, not much 
for the children, nothing, nothing for the children. 
People stay here [there] because it is convenient, not 
necessary travelling in the morning ••• no privacy or 
anything" (Italian man, Enzo, 1982). 

Many of those who had lived in the camp said they found it 

depressing: "far away -Oown in a hole with mountains all round, 

dangerous, with tunnels and rivers and nowhere for children to play" 

(Italian woman describing Moawhango camp, 1982). For the men the 

camp was a place to work and sleep. 



46 

Womens' activities at the camp were confined mainly to the home, 

though they did go to the cookhouse sometimes. At Rangipo camp 

company activities that were family orientated took place in the 

Taverna, a cosy place built by the men and resembling places they 

might have known in Italy. Some women commented on the boredom and 

frustration of camp life: "I've lived ten years in the camps and 

I've done nothing for myself". Others complained of isolation and 

that there was nothing for children to do in the camp (Rangipo). 

Some women commented on the loneliness of the camp and others on the 

gossip: 

"It wasn't really private in the camp. Say 
conversation and you don't mean to gossip -
else turns it into gossip ••• if you bring a new 
then someone sees it and they try to get one 
that, the same as the furniture and that, 
competition." 

you have a 
well someone 

dress and 
better than 
too much 

One woman told me she did not like camp life, "Too much in each 

other's pockets". She said there were too many arguments and 

everyone knew each other's business. Despite gossip and loneliness 

the camps were also places where some women forged strong 

friendships. Often the close friend in Turangi had been a former 

camp neighbour. 

The job status of the men tended to affect friendships. Women 

commented more frequently on social distinctions than men did. One 

woman thought there was a gulf between office and manual workers and 

explained it as, "I think its the way they've come from Italy". 

Another woman (Robyn) said, "It used to irritate me, it doesn't 



47 

irritate Francesco as much as it does me, because to me I feel as 

well educated and on the same level as they are, but they obviously 

feel differently". Although there was mixing, women did not forget 

the job status of their husbands. Sometimes there was confusion, a 

woman who gave a small tea party said, "I wanted to ask Maria, but I 

remembered they're staff, but my husband and Maria's husband play 

golf together". But she was not sure whether the golf relationship 

extended beyond the golf course. A New Zealand wife of a tunneller 

laughed when she told how a new arrival from Italy, wife of a staff 

member, had been chided for mixing too much with the wrong people, 

i.e. tunnellers' wives. 

Towards the end of the first contract, 1971-72, people had begun 

to move into town and the industrial store had been moved from the 

Wanganui site to Turangi. The children were the main catalyst for 

moving to town because it was easier for them to get to school and 

attend the full range of extra curricular activities. The choice of 

moving to town was partly personal and partly a company decision. 

The company bought and installed prefabricated houses which were rent 

free. One or two employees bought houses in Turangi. By 1982 many 

of the company houses had been sold, some prematurely, so that there 

was some irritation among people who were having to make short term 

moves, after several years in the same house. 

After the movement of employees to town there were always some 

who for various reasons (e.g., through choice or because of the 

nature of their work) remained in the camps. Some people preferred 



48 

living in the camp because they could save more money. Electricity 

was free, the men were more inclined to make use of the cookhouse, 

and the temptations to spend money in Turangi were lessened. In 

early 1982 the vestiges of only one TPD camp remained, at Rangipo, 

south of Turangi. Then only fourteen families lived there, plus 

three or four single men. The place looked neglected and got worse 

as the year went on. Houses were removed, leaving concrete piles, 

broken glass, and the tired remnants of gardens. There was also a 

camp at the Wheo construction site. This camp had no family 

accommodation, though married men lived there during the week. 

THE COMMUNITY [8] 

The transformation of Turangi 

The TPD differed in several respects from previous Waikato 

hydro-schemes. Turangi, the site selected for settlement, while 

isolated from some services and larger centres, is situated on State 

Highway 1, midway between Wellington and Auckland. There was already 

considerable settlement 'in the Central North Island area. Before the 

Second World War many people in the area were involved in timber 

working. One long time resident estimated that there were twenty 

mills in the area in the late 1930's. After the decline of the mills 

local Maoris, the Tuwharetoa, began to develop the land under the 

provisions of the Native Land Act, which made available for the first 

time official funds for the development of land owned or occupied by 



Maoris (Metge, 1952:109). 

effects of the Depression. 

49 

Land development alleviated some of the 

Although census reports indicate no decline in the Maori 

population, there has been a great increase in the European 

population, with the resulting decline in the Maori percentage. For 

example, in 1926 for every 100 Pakehas in Taupo County there were 

between 100 and 150 Maoris. By 1951 there were between 40 to 60 

(Metge, 1952:116-7). 

In an area of limited employment possibilities the opportunities 

of the TPD were welcomed. People were also attracted from much 

further afield, such as men who had worked at Manapouri and on 

previous Waikato schemes. 

Turangi was the first hydro town in New Zealand to be designed 

and built as a permanent extension to an existing small settlement. 

Previously, Turangi had been mainly a trout f i shing settlement close 

to the famous trout pools of the Tongariro River, The t rout fishing 

attracted anglers from all over the world, In 1961 the area known as 

Turangi township had a population of 489, which included 224 Maoris, 

while the Turangi vicinity had a population of 23, including 15 

Maoris. With the establishment of Turangi as the main centre of 

population for the TPD, the nearby settlement of Tokaanu, once the 

main service centre for the southern end of Lake Taupo, was eclipsed. 



Not suprisingly, some of the residents 

influx of outsiders brought in with the 

effects that such a population would have on 

50 

of Turangi feared the 

TPD development and the 

the settlement. Most 

concern was about how the human habitat would be modified. There was 

also concern that the TPD would modify or even destroy the fishing 

habitats. One long time resident said that "old" residents resented 

the fact that MOW people and employees thought they had brought all 

the amenities to Turangi. 

To facilitate the harmonious integration of the existing 

settlement and the new hydro town a liaison committee was established 

involving MOW and Taupo County Council. The liaison committee was 

proposed in June 1964. Special legislation was required to implement 

the proposal, the Turangi Township Act, passed 4 December 1964. The 

act provided for the administration of the township of Turangi during 

the construction of the TPD. The Taupo County Council and MOW were 

authorised to enter into arrangements necessary for the development 

or administration of the township. 

Four stages of liaison between the county and MOW were 

anticipated: planning, construction, takeover of township services 

by the county and withdrawal by MOW when the construction work was 

completed (Gardenier, 1975:5). The takeover, commenced in 1968, was 

only partial, and included maintenance of essential services: water, 

sewerage, storm water, reserves and street maintenance, including 

rubbish collection. The running of social facilities like community 

halls and sports grounds remained the responsibility of the Crown. 



51 

Social facilities in Turangi were administered by the Tongariro 

Welfare Association on behalf of the Crown. The Welfare Association 

has been a feature of North Island hydro towns (Hasman, undated; 

Gardenier, undated) and similar organisations exist in other single 

industry towns (James, 1979). This association was an umbrella 

organisation for local groups, each of which paid a fee for the use 

of facilities. The users also administered the facilities. Although 

the Welfare Association was essentially a product of the one industry 

town, it did not attempt a takeover of the existing local community. 

Many non-hydro personnel were involved with the committee. 

The phenomenal growth of Turangi is clearly allied to the 

construction boom which brought hundreds of people to the area. In 

1966 the population of Turangi stood at 1,554. By 1971 it had 

increased by 378% to 5,840, its highest to date. By 1976 it had 

fallen slightly (6J) to 5,496 and in 1981 remained approximately at 

this figure (5,517). The dramatic growth between 1966-71 took place 

in the years when construction work began and reached its peak. 

After the 1971 Census it was predicted by the Town and Coun try 

Planning Division of MOW that the population would drop to 2, 000 in 

1976 and remain at 2,000 through until 1991 (Fraser, 1973:21). 

However, construction on the Rangipo project ensured that the 

population did not fall as predicted. It is now expected that the 

population will fall with the completion of the Rangipo projects and 

the withdrawal of the construction workforce. 



52 

The age structure of Turangi is unrepresentative of New Zealand 

as a whole as is shown by the 1981 Census figures. In broad general 

terms, New Zealand has an ageing population, but not so Turangi, 

where younger age groups are over represented, while those over 65 

are hardly represented at all, Even the casual observer can notice 

more children around the streets of Turangi than in most centres. 

However, while unrepresentative of New Zealand as a whole, the 

population structure of Turangi is similar to that of other one 

industry towns in New Zealand (Campbell, 1957; Chapple, 1976; 

James, 1979; Hasman, undated). 

Turangi has a high proportion of Maori residents, These include 

local Maoris of the Tuwharetoa tribe and Maoris of other tribes who 

are part of the construction workforce, The 1981 Census shows that 

just over 50% of the population of Turangi was of Maori descent while 

approximately 10% of the country as a whole is Maori, The 

cosmopolitan nature of the population is illustrated by the figures 

for birthplaces of Turangi residents, Although the overwhelming 

number were New Zealand born, 531 were born outside New Zealand, 

including 96 born in Continental Europe, Unfortunately no further 

breakdown of this figure is available, Of the remaining foreign born 

residents, 288 were born in the United Kingdom or Ireland, 63 in 

Australia, 30 in Pacific Islands, and the remainder elsewhere, 

The dominance of the construction industry is evidenced by the 

labour figures in the 1981 Census, Of a total of 1,689 male workers, 

1,113 (66%) were listed under the construction section. That most 



53 

workers lived in accommodation provided by their employer is also 

illustrated by the census returns. In 1981 out of a total of 1,323 

dwellings in Turangi, 741 were rented from the employer, while a 

further 51 dwellings were provided rent free with the job. In 627 of 

these cases rent was under $10 per week, a nominal payment. 

For a town that was barely begun 17 years ago Turangi looks well 

established. MOW took great care in planning the environment. 

Access to the nucleated shopping centre is facilitated by walkways 

which cut down on distance and make for safe movement for adults and 

children. Each section was originally planted with three trees, and 

although some of these have been razed to make "nice tidy sections," 

others have been planted. 

MOW provided a gymnasium and contributed towards a swimming 

pool. These were administered by the Welfare Committee. The 

gymnasium was sold to Taupo County Council. Turangi has a 

hospital, but no other hospital facilities. Victims 

maternity 

of tunnel 

accidents, for example, would receive emergency treatment in the 

tunnel or on the site where there was a resident nurse and first aid 

assistance, but if hospitalisation was required would be sent to 

Taumarunui. 

The shopping centre is modest but provides all the essentials. 

Some people shop in Taupo if they are looking for a greater range of 

items, perhaps clothing for example, but long working hours for many 

of the men have left little time for family trips beyond Turangi. 



54 

Some people complained of a 'take it or leave it' attitude among some 

of the shopkeepers. With a captive market and little competition, 

this is not suprising. Similar complaints were expressed at Kawerau 

(James, 1979). It was pointed out by a Turangi resident that there 

had been some early difficulties before Italians understood that 

bargaining was not a way of life in New Zealand. However, the 

enterprise of one supermarket should be mentioned. The manager 

employed a young Italian woman (bilingual) in the delicatessen and 

made special efforts to satisfy the requirements of Italian 

customers. Even in 1982 with few Italians in Turangi, the 

supermarket had a much more international range of items than would 

be found in other small towns. Close by the shopping centre is a 

large hotel, one of the churches, a swimming pool, police station, 

library, garages and the TAB. 

Three primary schools feed the local Tongariro High School. 

There is a kindergarten, a play centre, and plenty of opportunities 

for sports. Arts and crafts are well catered for but there is little 

chance for children to learn musical instruments. 

There are restaurants in Turangi and Tokaanu, but the nearest 

cinema is in Taupo. Some adults complain there is little to do in 

Turangi except to go to the pub. A survey conducted in Turangi in 

1972 (Mitcalf, 1973) revealed a similar dissatisfaction, showing that 

despite more than 60 clubs in the town and district many adults (24%) 

of a sample did not belong to any club. In 1982 only one Italian 

belonged to a number of clubs and only a few belonged to one. 



55 

Mitcalf concluded that many of the problems of Turangi could be 

summed up as boredom. While this could perhaps be a rather 

superficial conclusion, many Italians in 1982 complained that there 

was nothing to do in Turangi. Italians compared the social life of 

the streets and cafes in Italian towns and found Turangi sadly 

wanting. Many of them found the quiet Sunday hard to come to terms 

with, especially as it was their one day off in the week: "You look 

round on Sundays, there's nothing, nowhere to go, any case if you are 

going anywhere you've got to create your own entertainment" (Italian 

man, 1982). The same man also said of Italy: "From 5pm on Saturday 

(after work) until Monday morning you have entertainment - you just 

put your feet outside the door. Here [in New Zealand] the pub". 

But, he added, in a rather backhanded way, that the life of 

entertainment got rather boring and had it been the same in New 

Zealand he would never have saved a penny. 

Although not on the main trunk railway line Turangi is well 

served by long distance buses. I did not interview any person 

without private transport, though in the early days the social lives 

of many Italians were circumscribed by lack of transport and the fact 

that they lived in rather remote camps and worked long hours. 

Old and new Turangi 

Despite the careful planning of an integrated town, tensions 

remain between "old" and "new" Turangi. The terms old and new were 



56 

used as time and spatial reference by people in their conversations. 

One elderly man, resident in Turangi for 45 years, complained that 

some "locals" felt they had been cut out of 15 years of community 

life. By "locals" he meant those residents of Turangi who had lived 

there before the TPD. Some local people felt they had been dominated 

by people who had come from other schemes and who voted each other on 

to committees. There was some resentment that shopping facilities 

were in the nucleated centre in New Turangi and only two or three 

shops remain in River Road, "they want everything in the town centre. 

No one is allowed to open anything except in the town centre". 

It was suggested by one local that there was always an 

undercurrent of tension between locals and new comers. Fears were 

expressed that the welfare facilities provided by the Crown would be 

too expensive for the local population to support. However, the 

person who expressed most resentment admitted that the MOW project 

engineer had done a great deal for the community. Such ambivalence 

is not suprising. For this person and for others too, the inflow of 

people with the power scheme had made an impact on their lives. Some 

had perhaps seen it as a threat to their perceived homogeneous 

community. For others it presented new opportunities. 

Physically, old and new Turangi are separated by State Highway 

1. Old Turangi lies along the old state highway close to the river. 

Many of the houses were originally fishing cottages which have been 

extended. Some houses have been bought by, or are rented for, people 

associated with the scheme, usually staff employees. Some people in 



57 

new Turangi refer to the River Road area as "the snob area of 

Turangi," or "over there". 

Reaction to Italians in Turangi 

Mention has already been made of the paternalistic attitude of 

the company management in the early days, together with the notion 

that apart from anything else, this attitude served to protect the 

employees from the hostility of New Zealanders. One person, 

commenting on newspaper reports of disease threats, Mafia connections 

and FOL opposition, added, " ••• there was this sort of thing and it's 

a fact that New Zealanders generally share these attitudes. 

Individually, they will welcome you into their homes. Collectively, 

they don't want a bar of you - go back where you came from". There 

were many stereotypes, most of them negative, abounding about 

Italians prior to their arrival. In addition, it was rumoured that 

12,000 people (Italians) would be coming for four years. In Turangi 

itself, there was a certain amount of unease when the Italians 

arrived. One informant told me that people had been frightened of 

the effect of Italians on Turangi, fearing that they would have to 

lock up their daughters and that bottom pinching was to be expected. 

There was a certain withdrawal by local people in the face of the 

Italians. Almost all who remember the early years of the Italians in 

Turangi comment on the wine in the school lunch boxes. However, the 

realisation that wine in school lunch boxes was not a cultural norm 

in New Zealand, and the introduction of cordial, led to the early 



abandonment of the practice. 

There were 

suprisingly men 

points of 

did look 

friction in the early years. 

for entertainment outside the camp. 

58 

Not 

The 

main focus for entertainment was the pub. A woman who had been 19 at 

the time told me that in 1968 there were lots of Italians at the pub. 

"Italians gave us the creeps. There were lots of single men. They 

came in from the camp and pinched our bottoms in the pub. They are 

older and more responsible now. The rough ones were sent back." 

In 1982 few people cared to talk about those times, and the fact 

that there had been arguments and fights between Italian and New 

Zealand men, often about women. Despite the complaint about bottom 

pinching, there were also young women who found that Italians treated 

them in a more respectful way than New Zealand men. The spot was 

pointed out to me where one woman with her mother had ambushed 

another in an argument over an Italian man. The man himself had been 

beaten up. The couple now live in Turangi in respectable matrimony 

with three children. 

That such attitudes have changed over the years is perhaps 

evidence that prejudice can be at least weakened by knowledge. But 

distrust was only broken down gradually - Italian and New Zealander 

did mix at work, especially in later years. Although the camps were 

isolated there was never any attempt to provide education for Italian 

children, other than in New Zealand schools so children were the 

first to venture into New Zealand society. Italian language clases 



59 

in the early years aroused interest in the community and provided a 

point of contact and communication. The company management supported 

these activities, anxious to change negative attitudes towards 

Italians. Yet Italians never really became part of the community. 

Any input tended to be a group activity, the Italian act, rather than 

as integrated members of the community. After the housing policy 

changed, and some Italians moved to Turangi, they had more 

opportunity to take part in activities in Turangi. 

Marriage to a New Zealander did not necessarily become an entree 

into New Zealand society. Unless the New Zealand wife had immediate 

family and old friends in the area, they tended to mix with other 

such wives, forming mixed marriage networks, thus closing the circle 

rather than opening it. 

Italians lived mostly on the periphery of Turangi life. Many of 

them had little leisure time as they worked extremely long hours. 

Bonacich (1973:585) points out that the "future time orientation" of 

sojourners is manifested in long hours of work and emphasis on saving 

- working to save, not to spend. For many there was little 

orientation to New Zealand and hence to local activities. Even years 

later when working hours were shorter, few Italians belonged to clubs 

or interest groups in Turangi. The one attempt to operate an Italian 

club, the Fa-far (1968-69) met with local antagonism. Membership was 

limited to Italian families and New Zealand women, though effectively 

it was composed of single Italian men and New Zealand women. 



60 

By 1982 the image of bottom pinching Italians had long faded, 

just as the image of Turangi as a raw construction town had also 

diminished. Most of the Italians were men in their 30's; a few a 

little younger, a few a little older. Most were family men and their 

presence in Turangi was so unobtrusive as to hardly cause comment. 

The influence of the company in the form of the former manager was 

evident in the fine Catholic church, which had benefitted 

considerably from Italian generosity, as too had the local golf club. 

The excellence of the Italian restaurant in Turangi (owned by an 

ex-Codelfa employee) was known as far away as Wellington and Auckland 

and was a source of local pride. 

In 1982 there was little reaction to Italians buying businesses 

in the town a dairy, takeaway bar, coffee lounge, fish and chip 

shop. However, later in the year when an Italian installed a Space 

Invader machine in his shop, an Italian woman told me she felt very 

resentful about it and would be prepared to sign a petition against 

it. She said that Italians were only interested i n making money. 

Possibly for her the action of that Italian undermined the 

respectability of Italians in Turangi. Pres umably making money was 

also the prime concern of New Zealand shopkeepers, but the woman and 

other people in Turangi had perceptions of what were acceptable and 

unacceptable ways for shopkeepers to present themselves. Such an 

example also emphasises the invidious position of the migrant -

acceptability only in certain circumstances. If migrants overtly 

adopt all the behaviour of the host community they are likely to be 

open to criticism. The host community will set higher standards for 



61 

the incomers and any failing is likely to be attributed to cultural 

differences. This is perhaps an indication of the uneasy ground 

frequently occupied by migrants. 

Turangi 1982 

At the beginning of 1982 Turangi was in decline as a 

construction town. Contract Four was due for completion by the end 

of the year, and questions abounded about what th