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Story: Tūranga i te hapori – status in Māori society

Labourers: road workers

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Labourers: road workers

This Māori roading camp was photographed on Waikaremoana Road, Te Whāiti district, in the 1890s. As tribes lost more land at the end of the 19th century and into the beginning of the 20th century, Māori people were increasingly pushed into labouring work.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: PAColl-7273-01

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

Basil Keane, Tūranga i te hapori – status in Māori society – Changes in leadership, 19th century, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/31136/labourers-road-workers (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Basil Keane, published 3 May 2011.