Skip to main content

Kōrero: Refugees

Polish orphans

Image
Polish orphans

During the Second World War New Zealand invited 800 Poles – 734 of them orphaned children – to take refuge in New Zealand for the duration of the war. They had made a harrowing journey from Poland through Russia and Iran, to reach New Zealand on 31 October 1944. The photo shows some of them on board the General G. Randall on the day they arrived.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, John Dobrée Pascoe Collection (PAColl-0783)

Reference: 1/2-003628; F

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.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Ann Beaglehole, Refugees – 1870s–1940s: refugee groups, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/1095/polish-orphans (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Ann Beaglehole, i tāngia i te 4 March 2009.