A Study of New Zealand’s Home Front during the First World War
(Written by Val Burr, for presentation at the Conference on Scandinavian and European Migration to Australia and New Zealand, in Stockholm, Sweden, on Wednesday, 10 June 1998. An abridged version of this article appears in the book Scandinavian and European Migration to Australia and New Zealand, edited by Olavi Koivukangas & Charles Westin, and published by the Institute of Migration, Finland)
New Zealand ‘came of age’
during the First World War, and proudly celebrates ANZAC Day each April in
memory of those who sacrificed their lives at Gallipoli. Television regularly
covers stories of heroism from the period. Similarly, war memorials dot the
countryside, proudly recording names of those who died. However, for some the
distant battlefields of Gallipoli, France and Palestine were not the only front
lines. During the First World War, Northern Europeans in New Zealand were the
accessible enemy for the civilian population. In fact, in this most suspicious
period, New Zealanders of British descent considered anyone with a European
accent or a strange surname, as likely to be ‘German.’ After all, as one
politician said, German spies were unlikely to openly present themselves as
That New Zealand was so far from Germany seldom featured in the equation. Like
other Allied countries, New Zealand made its German population pay for the
actions attributed to a country most had left decades before. That these people
often migrated because of the constant threat of war also rarely entered the
This study draws upon the
experience of the German settlers, most of whom had been assisted to migrate by
the New Zealand Government in the 1870s. It should also be noted that Poles,
along with Danes from Schleswig-Holstein, found themselves classed as
‘Germans’ at that time, much to their dismay. It is not surprising, then,
that the 1916 Census found the median age of these people to be a rather elderly
52 years. The median age of the overall population, by contrast, was 25 years[ii].
The advanced age of the people being targeted is therefore another disquieting
aspect of this study.
The usually somewhat biased views
of the dominant society, namely persons descended from British migrants, are
well recorded in Parliamentary debates, newspapers and in extensive files at
National Archives, Wellington. However, the views of the affected minority
groups are somewhat harder to locate. While many brief traditions have survived,
these tend to concentrate on ‘acceptable’ things such as sons or grandsons
who served in this war. The home front experience is typically minimalised to a
place on a semi-hidden list along with such things as poverty, loneliness and
Publications tend to concentrate
on the same areas. For example, J.W. Pobóg-Jaworowski’s History
of the Polish Settlers in New Zealand, contains many family stories. Wartime
stories were plentiful when this book was researched, but only a handful of
vague references appear. The most telling, however, was 83-year-old Bernard
Fabish’s remark that his father often commented on how “at home we were
persecuted by the Germans and now, here in New Zealand, we are regarded as
A Dane from Schleswig-Holstein might have made the same remark.
The Scandinavian community also
attempted to disassociate itself from Germany. For example, in mid-August 1914
Oscar Monrad (grandson of former Danish Prime Minister, Bishop Monrad) told a
meeting of Palmerston North farmers that, had the Danish provinces of Schleswig-Holstein
not been taken by Germany in 1864, no Monrad would have come to New Zealand. He
explained that while Holstein was “Germanised,” Schleswig was Danish[iv].
Unfortunately, as far as New Zealand went, Schleswig Danes were still proper
‘Germans.’ After all, a Schleswig Dane could easily be a German spy in
The 1916 Census revealed a
distinct decline in the country’s German-born population. At the same time,
the Russian-born population almost doubled.
For example, in 1911, the Census found 4,015 German-born people, yet by
1916 this had declined to 2,999. The 1911 Census had found 658 Russian-born
people, yet in 1916, 1,242 were enumerated. As no mass migration of Russians
took place during this period, it appears that the Prussian Poles had become
When war erupted, the New Zealand
Government dealt fairly quickly with its ‘enemy aliens.’ Within a week,
un-naturalised German and Austrian men were told to report to local police
stations to register their status. They were soon arrested and sent to
Wellington. These men, mostly seamen and labourers, found themselves interned on
Somes Island, an internment camp in Wellington Harbour, for non-combatant
prisoners of war. Most of them, being reservists in the German military forces,
remained interned until 1919.
The country’s German Consulates
proved another complication. For example, New Zealand’s first reported wartime
anti-German violence occurred on 7 August 1914, when young men hurled stones
through the windows of the Wellington Consulate.[vii]
Three days later the New Zealand Government seized records held by all four
Over time, three of the four German Consuls - all of whom were naturalised New
Zealanders - suffered arrest as well. Even Auckland’s Danish Consul, Paul
Hansen, suffered internment from 1916. Although ethnically Danish, his parents
were from Schleswig[ix].
Denmark also contributed a rare
woman to New Zealand’s internment history[x].
Dr. Hjelmar von Danneville, aged 54, was an unregistered medical assistant at
the Lahmann Health Home in Miramar, Wellington. Her ‘crimes’ appear to be
outspokenness, intelligence, very short hair, and the masculine-style hat, coat,
vest, collar and boots that she wore with her skirt. A severe nervous breakdown
forced her release from Somes after six weeks[xi].
New Zealand’s German communities
quickly expressed their patriotism toward New Zealand and the British Empire.
For instance, on 9 August 1914 the Marton Lutheran congregation passed a
resolution acknowledging its allegiance and willingness to assist in matters
relating to New Zealand’s defence[xii].
During following days, German residents of Upper Moutere, Halcombe and Gore did
Certainly through the early
months, politicians, newspaper editors and others in similar positions
repeatedly reminded the general public that not all so-called ‘Germans’ were
dangerous. However, a constant diet of Germany’s activities, such as the Lusitania sinking, as well as alleged battlefield atrocities - which
were often generated by the British Government’s propaganda machine[xiv]
- quickly tarnished this view. New Zealaanders, and others around the world, soon
developed a hatred of Germans.
Many German men, especially
wharf-workers, found themselves unemployed. As months passed, new jobs became
difficult to find. One former Wellington wharf worker, Arthur Rottmann, aged 21,
went inland to Ruahine, near Mangaweka, to work on a dairy farm. Unfortunately,
in late December 1914 he drank too much and then murdered his employer, his
employer’s wife and their baby. Rottmann’s family evidently had a history of
insanity, and although he was soon captured, tried and hung, this first-hand
evidence doubtless helped convinced some that the newspapers were correct.
Several days after the Rottman
killings, 2,000 New Year’s Eve rioters wrecked a German-owned pork butcher’s
shop in Gisborne[xv].
Within a week, four Gisborne Germans, including the shop-owner’s brother,
found themselves on Somes. Others, had business premises threatened and were
reduced to publicly denying German ancestry[xvi].
Throughout the war, anti-German
correspondence regularly appeared in newspapers, especially after the
establishment of the Women’s Anti-German League in 1915. The League advocated
excluding those of German ancestry from the New Zealand Army and from positions
where they could obtain information that might assist Germany[xvii].
The League also had ready access to the ears of senior politicians, encouraging
them to hunt down and investigate anyone in the Armed Forces whose surname
sounded remotely German.
sinking on 7 May 1915 caused the most widespread outburst of anti-German
hatred. Newspapers reported many overseas riots and beatings, and in New
Zealand, on 14 May, it was Wanganui’s turn to experience a riot. On this
occasion, a crowd attacked another German-owned pork butcher’s shop, along
with two other buildings with German links. In response, the Evening Post’s Editorial warned that overseas activities could not
be avenged satisfactorily by simply wrecking New Zealand pork butchers’ shops[xviii].
Lutheran Churches and the German
immigrant communities in which they were established made ideal targets for
anti-German sentiments. Their presence in some of these communities and their
shared faith also saw Scandinavians drawn into the anti-German foray. Many
non-Germans ignored the repeated declarations of loyalty to the British Empire
that these communities offered. Even though some naturalised German families had
sons in the armed forces, accusations of disloyalty against the German
communities were ongoing. The Upper Moutere German community, near Nelson,
featured in this capacity after the Lusitania
sinking. In response, the settlers, whose forebears had arrived in the 1840s,
“indignantly repudiated” reports of disloyalty in the district. They also
promised regular funds toward patriotic causes.[xix]
Doubtless many Germans paid out heavily during this time in an attempt to prove
Relations appear to have been cool
between the existing Lutheran communities and unfortunate practicing Lutherans
who may have been interned on Somes Island. For example, as at April 1916, not
one Lutheran pastor had visited the island. The clergy of several other
denominations had visited, however.[xx]
Throughout the war, un-naturalised
men associated with Central Powers countries faced constant demands that they
should be interned. Naturalised people were also watched closely [xxi].
Understandably, jobs for Germans became increasingly
scarce. Little sympathy was ever expressed by the general public for those men
who were affected, except perhaps if they had wives who were of British descent[xxii].
German business owners found their custom vanished and consequently were forced
out of business[xxiii]. Others, such as
Hallenstein Bros., pleaded their pro-British case through the newspapers[xxiv]. As times became harder,
some unemployed Germans decided internment was better than freedom and acted
accordingly, although sometimes it was only a prison cell they received[xxv].
Soon only the foolhardy risked
visibility. For instance, Ernest Horne, son of a Halcombe German, visited a
Feilding hotel in November 1915 and offered to pay a guinea (£1/1/-) for any
gold sovereign (£1/-/-) he could purchase. A fortnight later he returned and,
after a few drinks, made a similar offer. He said that “old Bill” (i.e. the
Kaiser) would be there in three months and paper money would be no good then.
These silly claims earned him a beating by an angry crowd, after which he sought
refuge in a railway ticket office. The Manawatu
Evening Standard condemned the 100 to 1 odds - “especially when the one is
a German” - and noted that the only man who attempted to protect Horne was a
Newspapers record many cases where
people attempted to disguise their ethnicity by illegally changing their
Others were accused of making disloyal remarks[xxviii].
Seldom stated is the sequence of events that drew such people to make such risky
remarks in public. For example, in December 1917, F.W. Lukaschefski gained
conviction in the Waipawa Magistrate’s Court, for cheering for the success of
the Germans. In fact, the 57-year-old German-Pole, was drunk and had been
aggravated by others at the hotel who would not invite him to drink with them.
Although not interned, his naturalisation was revoked in 1918[xxix].
For Lutherans, 1917 was certainly
the low point. Military conscription began in 1916, and in early 1917 the
Government called for the population to further economise in the interests of
the war effort[xxx].
The loss of loved ones and the flow of misinformation, including the notorious
‘corpse-conversion factory’ atrocity lie[xxxi],
saw non-Germans increasingly resent the fact that many of New Zealand’s German
population seemed to be having a safe and successful time at home.
Newspapers described sons of
Germans appealing against compulsory military service. Common reasons for this
included relatives in Germany, fear of fighting - and even training - alongside
people who hated Germans, and fear of ill-treatment by Germany if captured. Many
of these men were still willing to serve in New Zealand or at least away from
the Front lines[xxxii].
In April 1917 anti-German
attention focused on the Lutheran communities of Marton, Halcombe and Rongotea
in the Manawatu-Rangitikei district. Non-Germans resented Lutherans conducting
church services in German and running their own schools. When Halcombe Lutherans
advertised that they were to hold German language services on Sunday mornings
and English on Sunday afternoons, complete with prayers for “our soldiers and
the British army,” some readers angrily chose to interpret “our soldiers”
as meaning the German Army.[xxxiii]
The same month, the Wanganui
Education Board focused its attention on the Marton Lutheran School. This
school, which taught in the English language, came under the control of the
Minister of Education. However, the Chairman of the Wanganui Education Board,
Fred Pirani, said that if the Board still controlled it, they would not have
recognised it as a school. Pirani was also part-owner of the anti-German
newspaper, the Feilding Star[xxxiv].
Although the Board could no longer dictate the fate of the school, it
successfully requested that rural-based children be denied free railway passes
to attend it[xxxv].
While the school taught in
English, the Government had given permission for Marton’s Lutheran Church to
conduct its services in German. However, in May 1917, and to preserve peace in
the community, the church dropped the language as a war measure. The Post published Pastor Heinrich Hoffmann’s letter to Sir James
Allen, Minister of Defence and Acting Prime Minister, stating that he deplored
the “would-be Christian” section of the community that had taken offence at
their receiving permission to use German in church. The pastor, who had begun
the war as a civilian internee in Germany[xxxvi],
considered that “the vital sacrifice we now make for our spiritual
advancement, will only in a very small measure be compensated by submission to
class rule and race hatred.” He also pointed out that not one member of the
Lutheran Church in New Zealand had been arrested or interned as a disloyal
By mid-1917 anti-German agitation
in the district was such that on 26 June, an encounter took place in Halcombe
between Charles Whiskie, the son of a German couple, and a soldier, William
Percy Stewart. Stewart came off worst and Whiskie found himself charged with
assault, using obscene language and committing a “grossly indecent act in a
Then, in the early hours of 2
July, and allegedly for a £25 bet, someone burnt down the Rongotea Lutheran
parsonage. Due to the constant persecution of Lutheran children by other
children, the parsonage had been moved away from the State school, and was being
enlarged for use as a Lutheran School. Even so, the intention had been to teach
the children in English. Work was virtually complete at the time of the fire.[xxxix].
Whiskie pleaded not guilty to the
assault charge on 3 July, but pleaded guilty to the second and third charges.
Although found guilty of all three, he received lenient treatment in court. This
incensed both the community and the Feilding
Star. Especially aggravating was the ‘mere’ £10 fine the “big,
burly” Whiskie received for the ‘grossly indecent act’ he had evidently
inflicted upon the comparatively slight soldier’s uniform. On 6 July, the Star remarked on the extent of local agitation resulting from the
lenient punishment accorded to Whiskie. It added that “it is said to be not
unlikely that the matter will be pushed further by some local Britishers who
want a revision of the judgments[xl].”
Doubtless as a result of the case,
in the early hours of 16 July 1917, arsonists burnt down the Halcombe Lutheran
Church. Due to arson threats and two earlier attempts, the pastor, Christoph
Dierks, had watched the church closely and had even slept in it sometimes. He
had just relaxed his vigilance. The stress that resulted from this period,
combined with the effects of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic, contributed to his
death in December 1918[xli].
Two days after the fire, the Star hinted at the extent of the agitation at Halcombe, advising
that a group of supposedly ‘pro-German alien’ shearers had formed a league.
They had then told farmers they sheared for, that if one of their members, who
had been called up for the army, was sent to camp, they would refuse to do any
shearing in the district. The Star
naturally wanted the Government to deal with these most ungrateful people[xlii].
entire coverage of the Halcombe fire amounted to just seventeen words[xliii].
Perhaps not surprisingly, its criticism of local Germans became equally limited
over subsequent weeks.
There were attempts to burn down
the Marton Lutheran Church also, however, these failed as men from that
congregation guarded it each night[xliv]. As a result, this
church is still standing.
A Member of Parliament later
described the Halcombe Germans as having been “one seething mass of
hostility” during the war. One can only speculate as to how else they might
have felt under the circumstances[xlv].
Of the range of wartime
legislation New Zealand used to deal with aliens, most curious, but also most
useful now, was the Registration of Aliens Act of 1917. Although designed as a
means to locate and control unnaturalised enemy aliens, the end result was
somewhat different. Despite the wishes of anti-German parliamentarians, the Act
only covered ‘Aliens’ of either sex who were not less than 15 years of age
and who were not British subjects either by birth or by naturalisation in New
Although the resulting register,
compiled in late 1917 and early 1918, has not been analysed, it is evident that
many hundreds of naturalised people also registered[xlvii].
Both Christchurch’s Press and
Wellington’s Post remarked that
“neither the police nor anybody else thought there were so many aliens in”
their respective cities[xlviii].
By 21 January 1918 a total of
4,985 aliens had registered. Associated statistics indicate that this figure
excludes the many hundreds - perhaps thousands - of naturalised people[xlix].
In fact, a total of 994 people aged 15 and over, had registered in the
Manawatu-Rangitikei alone. Of this figure, 251 (25%) were of German birth. Of
this number, at least 83% were naturalised and therefore should not have
registered. Another 457 (46%) were of Scandinavian birth, of whom at least 57%
were naturalised and also should not have registered[l].
Possible reasons for registration
include confusion, misinformation, fear of the £50 fine if they misunderstood
their eligibility to register, or a wish to place their origins on record.
Another alternative is a planned silent protest. After all, why would so many
intelligent - and naturalised - leaders and business people from New Zealand’s
Northern European community, register by mistake? For example, why would a
prominent lawyer such as the Danish-born O.T.J. Alpers, make such an error?
Eight years later he became a Supreme Court Judge[li].
By 1918 the apparent prosperity of
the German communities was a serious concern to the wider population.
Naturalised German families were accused of purchasing many farms, the fact that
their sons were still available to run them, being a particular complaint.
People whose relatives had been conscripted and perhaps killed, or who
considered that they stood to lose financially by such deals, were particularly
For instance, in January 1918, a Board member of the Rongotea Dairy Factory,
complained to the Wellington Military Service Board, that four Germans had
recently purchased 17 small dairy farms in the Rongotea district. These had then
been converted to sheep farms. The complainant considered that this was to
reduce the quantity of food available to the New Zealand Army[liii].
Presumably he thought the Army had no use for wool and meat.
In addition, young men of enemy
alien descent were said to be taking advantage of the labour shortage by
demanding very high pay rates. As a result, in early June 1918 - and citing the
young men of the Oroua district in particular (i.e. Halcombe) - the Feilding
Agricultural & Pastoral Association unanimously demanded that the Government
“conscript for national work at soldiers’ pay, all eligible enemy aliens and
persons of alien descent[liv].”
On 26 June 1918, the trans-Tasman
steamer Wimmera, shocked Australasia
by striking a German mine off North Cape, and sinking with the loss of 26 lives[lv].
As a result, the Gisborne Borough Council led a campaign of other Borough and
City Councils, demanding that the New Zealand Government intern all ‘enemy
aliens,’ including those who were naturalised. While it was not deemed
reasonable to both send a son to the Front lines and then intern his parents,
there was a strong view that the Government should conscript the labour of those
who claimed exemption from military service, or who were refused admission to it
due to their ethnicity[lvi].
Mass internment was, though, neither financially practical, nor was it in line
with Imperial instructions[lvii].
In fact, as Sir James Allen advised, “retaliation (of this type), owing to the
numbers concerned, would be to our disadvantage. [lviii].”
Although the Anglocentric State
school system in New Zealand then, demanded that children be educated only in
the loss of both the German and Scandinavian languages was finalised by this
war. Suddenly it was both unacceptable and unsafe to use them in public. Even at
this time though, many older immigrants still had limited use of English. This
especially applied to women and, in particular, those living in more isolated
communities such as Halcombe. There were even demands during this period to have
the German language made illegal in New Zealand[lx].
This situation is no better stated
than through the words of Christian Jensen, a Dane who arrived in New Zealand as
a four-year-old in 1875. Despite living in a mixed Scandinavian-German
neighbourhood, near Palmerston North, visitors to the Jensen household were
firmly told, “Here you must speak English. No Danish or German here.” In
later life he justified not teaching his grandson the language by explaining
that “New Zealand is a British country - we must be like them and speak
A recent study of
the ‘Scandinavian descendant’ community in New Zealand, took note of
the near-total absence of Scandinavian language used at community events[lxii].
No doubt the far less re-established ‘German-descendant’ community would
follow a similar pattern. Rather than not considering the language important
enough to pass on to subsequent generations, as the authors’ of the
aforementioned study wondered, I consider that our desperately-assimilationist
forebears considered their Northern European languages a major liability in New
Zealand. It was in the best interests of all, they would have felt, that these
unpopular languages be lost as quickly as possible.
New Zealand, then, was not a
battle front during the First World War, but this study of the experiences of
its Northern European immigrant population reveals that it seemed that way. The
British Government’s anti-German propaganda, combined with many military
casualties, enflamed an Anglocentric community that had few outlets for its
pent-up rage. That, plus a few thousand accessible ‘enemy aliens’ and former
‘enemy aliens,’ saw this rage channeled onto the Home Front. There is no
doubt that the New Zealand Government did protect the naturalised German
immigrant communities to a certain extent. As these persecuted, often elderly,
people had no control whatsoever over the situation in their homelands, and as
most undoubtedly considered New Zealand to be their homeland, the case is all
the more sad.
The legacy of this war was a loss of confidence by
the Northern European migrant population of that time. Present generations can
only wonder at the emotions concerned as so little was handed down. Even the
year in which the Rongotea and Halcombe Lutheran fires occurred, was recorded
incorrectly until 1997[lxiii].
Key events surrounding the fires only came to light while researching this
essay. In about 1980, a Halcombe man, whose name is uncertain, told a shocked
bus tour group of the Halcombe church fire. He said that local people did not
discuss it often as it caused too much bad feeling[lxiv].
These words can be ascribed to the whole wartime experience. Undoubtedly they
can also be ascribed to the hidden experiences of many other minority groups. As
the saying goes, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Perhaps that
is the lesson to be reinforced here.
of New Zealand, 1916
Zealand Department of Internal Affairs: Register of Aliens, 1917 (Government Statistician, Wellington, 1918)
Zealand Parliamentary Debates
AAAB (file missing for) POW 455, Danneville,
Jhelmar (sic). National
1 59/156, Prisoner of War Repatriation. National Archives, Wellington
1 20/7/4, Lukaschefski, Frank William. National Archives, Wellington
Papers 2200 Folder PR 100/2, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Halcombe. Alexander
Turnbull Library, Wellington
Papers 2200 CR 1/1, Lutheran Church of New Zealand, Annual Convention Minutes
1907-1920. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington
O.T.J., Cheerful Yesterdays,
(Auckland, 1930, First published 1928)
Pamela, History of Rongotea, (Rongotea,
Val, ‘Knud and Karen Sophia Jensen - a family saga,’ in Early Manawatu Scandinavians (Scandinavian Club of the Manawatu,
Palmerston North, 1990)
Val A., Mosquitoes & Sawdust, a
history of Scandinavians in early Palmerston North & surrounding districts
(Scandinavian Club of the Manawatu, Palmerston North, 1995)
Val, German-ating the Seeds of Anger, The
Great War’s Impact on Germans in Manawatu-Rangitikei (B.A. [Hons.] History
Research Exercise, Massey University, Palmerston North, 1996)
Lutheran Church Anniversary Committee, Lutheran
Church, Halcombe, 1875-1953, 75th Anniversary (Halcombe, 1953)
C.W.N., New Zealand Shipwrecks, 1795-1970
Simon, The Home Front, Aspects of Civilian
Patriotism In New Zealand During the First World War (M.A. History Thesis,
Massey University, Palmerston North, 1975)
Jean A. The Lutheran Story, a brief
history of the Lutheran Church in New Zealand, 1843-1993 (Palmerston North,
J.W., History of the Polish Settlers in
New Zealand, 1776-1987 (Warsaw, 1988)
Arthur, Falsehood in Wartime (London,
1942, First published 1928)
Michael, & Philip M. Taylor, British
Propaganda during the First World War 1914-1918 (London, 1982)
Kristin Bervig, & Eugene Valentine, ‘The Performance of Collective
Memory.’ A paper presented at the Western State Communication Association
Conference, Denver, Colorado, USA, February 1998
[i] New Zealand Parliamentary Debates, Vol. 180, 1917, p. 49
[ii] Census of New Zealand, 1916, ‘Birthplaces, by Age - Both Sexes,’ pp. 8-9
[iii] J.W. Pobóg-Jaworowski, History of the Polish Settlers in New Zealand, 1776-1987 (Warsaw, 1988). p. 49
[iv] Manawatu Herald 18/8/1914 2(8)
[v] New Zealand Parliamentary Debates, Vol. 179, 1917, p. 277
[vi] Val Burr, German-ating the Seeds of Anger, The Great War’s Impact on Germans in Manawatu and Rangitikei (B.A. Hons. History Research Exercise, Massey University, Palmerston North, 1996). pp. 27-8, 40.
[vii] Evening Post 8/8/1914 4(8)
[viii] Burr (1996) p. 9-10
[ix] Evening Post 20/4/1916 6(9), 26/4/1916 6(7). Also letter, Paul Hansen to Nellie Hansen, 6/12/1918, AD 1 59/156, National Archives, Wellington.
[x] Other than von Danneville, two German women internees were returned to Germany early in the war [Feilding Star 24/7/1917 2(3)], while the French-born wife of a prisoner of war was permitted to remain in the Motuihi Island Internment Camp, near Auckland.
[xi] Feilding Star 29/5/1917 4(4) ‘Interned on Somes, German Woman Doctor.’ Evening Post 5/6/1917 3(3) J.A. Fothergill’s letter, 16/7/1917 6(7). New Zealand Department of Internal affairs: Register of Aliens, 1917 (Wellington, 1918) No. 567/6 ‘Dannevile, Hjoelmar Wiljevon (sic).’ AAAB (file missing for) POW 455 ‘Danneville, Jhelmar (sic),’ National Archives, Wellington.
[xii] Manawatu Herald 13/8/1914 2(7)
[xiii] Evening Post 14/8/1914 6(7-8) [Upper Moutere], 17/8/1914 6(8) [Gore]. Feilding Star 12/8/1914 3(3), 13/8/1914 3(3), 15/8/1914 4(2), 27/8/1914 3(2) [Halcombe].
[xiv] Michael Sanders & Philip M. Taylor, British Propaganda during the First World War 1914-1918 (London, 1982). pp. 37-8.
[xv] Evening Post 2/1/1915 3(9) ‘Riot at Gisborne’
[xvi] Evening Post 6/1/1915 3(4) ‘Germans not wanted at Gisborne’
[xvii] Simon Johnson, The Home Front, Aspects of Civilian Patriotism In New Zealand During the First World War (M.A. History thesis, Massey University, Palmerston North, 1975). pp. 113-4
[xviii] Evening Post 17/5/1915 2(8-9) ‘Anti-German Riots,’ 17/5/1916 6(6-7) ‘Anti-German Riots’
[xix] Evening Post 3/6/1915 6(7)
[xx] Evening Post 8/4/1916 9(1-2) ‘Interned on Somes Island.’
[xxi] e.g. Evening Post 11/5/1915 2(8) ‘In Our Midst’, 13/5/1915 3(7) & 8(9) ‘Enemy Subjects’
[xxii] e.g. Evening Post 3/12/1914 8(3), 8/2/1915 8(4) ‘German Wharf Hands,’ 12/5/1915 6(9) ‘Dismissed German Worker, His Union talks of Striking’, 13/5/1915 6(8), 10/6/1915 7(3), 23/6/1915 6(7), 25/8/1915 6(8)
[xxiii] Evening Post 9/8/1915 6(7) [Schneideman Bros.], 24/12/1918 6(8) [A French-born optician]. Also Burr (1996) p. 29 [Herman Wollerman]
[xxiv] Evening Post 21/5/1915 10(3) ‘Hallenstein Bros.’
[xxv] e.g. Evening Post 15/4/1915 2(6) ‘German in Difficulty’, 20/7/1915 4(5) ‘Unemployed German Smashes a Shop Window’
[xxvi] Manawatu Evening Standard 22/11/1915 6(1) ‘Attack on a German’
[xxvii] e.g. Evening Post 8/12/1915 2(8) ‘Germans change their names,’ 3/5/1916 3(4) ‘Enemy Aliens,’ 17/1/1918 6(8)
[xxviii] e.g. Evening Post 26/5/1915 8(7) [a German?], 13/3/1916 8(6-7) ‘Disloyal Alien’ [a Norwegian], 21/3/1916 2(7) ‘Germans at Large,’ [a German?], 13/7/1916 6(9) [a Swede], 25/5/1917 2(8) [ a NZ-born “coloured” man], 24/9/1917 8(7) ‘Foreign Seamen & Waterside Workers’ [general comment], 25/9/1917 6(7) [a Finn], 4/10/1917 5(4) ‘Disloyal Sentiments’ [a Dutchman], 28/12/1917 6(9) [two German Poles], 24/7/1918 11(2) ‘Disloyal Utterances by a Swiss.’ Manawatu Evening Standard 19/7/1917 5(1) [a Russian]
[xxix] Evening Post 28/12/1917 6(9). IA 1 20/7/4 Lukaschefski, Frank William (National Archives, Wellington)
[xxx] Feilding Star 4/5/1917 2(3) ‘Begin Economy Now’
[xxxi] Arthur Ponsonby, Falsehood in War-time (London, 1942, first published 1928). pp. 102-113.
[xxxii] e.g. Evening Post 28/2/1917 8(9) ‘Not in the Trenches,’ 24/3/1917 9(2) ‘Son of a Naturalised German,’ 16/5/1917 6(9) [This one had volunteers 6 times previously but had been refused], 1/6/1917 6(8), 5/7/1917 8(2) ‘Son of a German’ [In this case both father and son ended up on Somes Island], 7/3/1918 8(6) ‘Sons of Aliens,’ 11/9/1918 6(7). Manawatu Evening Standard 10/7/1917 5(1). Manawatu Daily Times 26/7/1918 8(6) ‘Lutheran Pastor’s Case’
[xxxiii] Manawatu Evening Standard 12/4/1917 5(6) ‘Germans in New Zealand’
[xxxiv] Evening Post 8/6/1918 6(7)
[xxxv] Manawatu Evening Standard 20/4/1917 5(3) ‘Lutheran School.’ Also Johnson, p. 99
[xxxvi] Manawatu Daily Times 26/7/1918 8(6) ‘Lutheran Pastor’s Case’
[xxxvii] Evening Post 11/5/1917 2(4) ‘German Language in Church’
[xxxviii] Feilding Star 3/7/1917 3(1) ‘Halcombe Assault Case’
[xxxix] Feilding Star 3/7/1917 4(2) ‘Fire, Lutheran Church at Rongotea.’ Also Burr (1996) p. 26
[xl] Feilding Star 3/7/1917 3(1) ‘Halcombe Assault Case,’ 4/4/1917 2(3) ‘The Fetish of Germanism’ & 2(9) ‘Justices’ Justice,’ 6/7/1917 2(4) ‘The Insulting German’
[xli] Burr (1996) p. 26
[xlii] Feilding Star 18/7/1917 2(3) ‘Can This be True?’
[xliii] Feilding Star 16/7/1917 3(3) ‘Fire, Halcombe Lutheran Church Burnt Down.’ Also Burr (1996) pp. 26, 31
[xliv] Rangitikei Mail 22/4/1998 7(1) ‘Last survivor of Lutheran school dies’
[xlv] Burr (1996), p. 24
[xlvi] New Zealand Statutes, 1917, p. 64.
[xlvii] New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs: Register of Aliens, 1917 (Government Statistician, 1918). The Government Statistician’s ‘Memorandum to Registration Officers’, dated 5 April 1918, also emphasised that the Act did not apply to naturalised people.
[xlviii] The Press 23/11/1917 6(8) ‘Register of Aliens.’ Evening Post 24/11/1917 8(7) ‘Register of Aliens’
[xlix] Evening Post 25/1/1918 2(8) ‘Registration of Aliens’
[l] Burr (1996), pp. 28-9, 43
[li] Burr (1995), pp. 142-6. Burr (1996), pp. 28-9, 43
[lii] Feilding Star 11/3/1918 2(3) ‘Advantages of Aliens’ & ‘That Matter of Internment’
[liii] Evening Post 26/1/1918 4(8)
[liv] Manawatu Daily Times 9/7/1918 6(3) ‘Conscription of Aliens’
[lv] C.W.N. Ingram, New Zealand Shipwrecks, 1795-1970 (Wellington, 1972). pp. 331-332
[lvi] e.g. Evening Post 16/7/1918 6(8) [Petone Borough Council], 24/7/1918 11(1-2) ‘Karori Borough Council’, 26/7/1918 3(3) ‘Alien Question’[ Wellington City Council], 27/7/1918 7(8) ‘Enemy Aliens’ [Nelson City Council]. Manawatu Daily Times 17/7/1918 5(7) ‘Enemy Aliens’ [Palmerston North Borough Council]
[lvii] Burr (1996), p. 23
[lviii] Evening Post 7/8/1918 6(9) ‘Enemy Aliens’
[lix][lix] Burr (1995), p. 75
[lx] Manawatu Evening Standard 12/4/1917 5(6) ‘Germans in New Zealand.’ Feilding Star 17/5/1917 2(4) ‘Germans at Marton.’ New Zealand Parliamentary Debates, Vol. 177, 1916, p. 27, Vol. 185, 1919, p. 1239
[lxi] Val Burr, ‘Knud and Karen Sophia Jensen - a family saga’ in Early Manawatu Scandinavians (Scandinavian Club of the Manawatu, Palmerston North, 1990). p. 29-32
[lxii] Kristin Bervig Valentine & Eugene Valentine ‘The Performance of Collective Memory.’ A paper presented at the Western State Communication Association Conference, Denver, Colorado, USA, February 1998.
[lxiii] Halcombe Lutheran Church Anniversary Committee, Lutheran Church, Halcombe, 1875-1953, 75th Anniversary (Halcombe, 1953). [MS Paper 2200 Folder PR 100/2, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington]. p. 10. Jean A. King, The Lutheran Story, a brief history of the Lutheran Church in New Zealand, 1843-1993 (Palmerston North, 1994). p. 52. Also Lutheran Church of New Zealand, Annual Convention Minutes, Report of 10th Conference held at Upper Moutere, 25-27 February 1919. [MS Paper 2200 CR 1/1, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington]. p. 149. The two published Lutheran histories date the fire as 1918, while the Convention Minutes simply state that the two fires occurred “about 3 weeks apart.” The actual dates had also frustrated a number of other key researchers.
[lxiv] Burr (1996), pp. 26-7
© Val Burr, 2003