Story: Rural mythologies

Larrikin nuisance

Larrikin nuisance

The development of cities in New Zealand threatened the rural ideology of the country. People became critical of some of the problems of the city, such as dirt, crowding and the unruly behaviour of young men on the streets. The contemporary slang for such youths was ‘larrikins’. Here, a resident of Newtown in Wellington writes to the Evening Post about the larrikin nuisance.

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National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past
Reference: Evening Post. 12 August 1889, p. 3

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Jock Phillips, 'Rural mythologies - Country versus city, 1890–1945', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/document/20313/larrikin-nuisance (accessed 26 April 2024)

Story by Jock Phillips, published 24 Nov 2008