Adolescent girls – with their hair down – wash clothes in a commercial laundry in Auckland, around 1900. Children’s wages were an important addition to working families’ budgets. Before compulsory schooling was introduced in 1877, children as young as eight were employed in factories and other workplaces. After this, workers had to be over age 12.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira
Permission of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira must be obtained before any re-use of this image.