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Story: Farm mechanisation

Advertising for farm labour

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Advertising for farm labour

Agricultural labourers were offered assisted passages to New Zealand in this 1848 New Zealand Company poster. Labour shortages in the early days of colonisation were one incentive for farmers to begin using machinery.

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Hocken Collections, University of Otago

Permission of the Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago, must be obtained before any re-use of this image. Further information may be obtained from the Library through its website.

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How to cite this page

James Watson, Farm mechanisation – Reasons for mechanisation, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/ephemera/18326/advertising-for-farm-labour (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by James Watson, published 1 March 2009.