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Story: Rural mythologies

Reid family, Whangamomona

Image
Reid family, Whangamomona

James McAllister’s photograph of a frontier family outside their slab hut in inland Taranaki, about 1898, illustrates the later-mythologised idea of pioneers carving out their farm from the bush.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, James McAllister Collection (PAColl-3054)

Reference: 1/2-065619; G

by James McAllister

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, 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 – Immigrant hopes, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/20304/reid-family-whangamomona (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Jock Phillips, published 1 March 2009.