Celebrating Forgetting

"At the turn of the twentieth century, Croatians were migrating from Dalmatia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Maori, having become part of the British Empire, were losing much of their land. All were looking for work. They came together on the gumfields of the farnorth, digging up kauri gum resin for export." "Many of the Croatians settled and married - some to mail-order brides from home, others to local Maori women - and a unique community was born. Drawing on a range of sources, from official historical narratives on the kauri gum industry, to oral histories, novels, letters, newspaper articles, marriage certificates, and much more, Senka Bozic-Vrbancic examines Maori-Croatian relationships on the gumfields and beyond. This is a significant contribution to ideas about migration and displacement and an important discussion of the impact of different social models - colonialism, assimilation, biculturalism, and multiculturalism - on Maori and Croatian identity and memory. The book is illustrated with historical photographs."--Jacket.