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Story: Housing and government

Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre

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Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre

Bhutanese refugees pose outside a building at the Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre in South Auckland in 2008. The centre started life as a Second World War military camp before becoming an immigration hostel in 1953. It was refurbished as an immigration reception centre in 1979 to provide refugees with an orientation programme to help them adjust to New Zealand life. Since then over 500 refugee groups have passed through the centre.

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Department of Labour – Te Tari Mahi

by Ian Robertson

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How to cite this page

Ben Schrader, Housing and government – Immigration barracks to workers’ dwellings, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/32388/mangere-refugee-resettlement-centre (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ben Schrader, published 13 October 2011.