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Kōrero: Class

Occupations: navvies

Image
Occupations: navvies

This gang of railway-track layers (navvies) are having a smoko (break) near the track in the 1930s. Such men, with their hobnail boots and packed lunches, were typical of the unskilled manual workers who represented about a fifth of male workers at that time. The main asset they brought to their work was the strength of their arms.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Archives New Zealand – Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Reference: AAVK W3493, E8341

Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any re-use of this material.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Jock Phillips, Class – A middle-class society? – material differences, 1890 to 1970, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/29728/occupations-navvies (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Jock Phillips, i tāngia i te 15 April 2011.