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These itinerant workers are camped out in the willows on the banks of the Ashburton River in 1903. This was a traditional assembly point, and at times hundreds of men would be under canvas waiting for the harvest to begin on the large estates. The man on the left holds his swag, which typically contained blankets, food and spare clothes.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Reference: Otago Witness, 20 May 1903, p. 41 (N-P 1431-41)
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.