Kōrero: Marriage and partnering

Antonio and Ida Muollo

Antonio and Ida Muollo

After six years in New Zealand, Antonio Muollo returned home to Sorrento, Italy, in 1931 and married Ida. He then came back to New Zealand, and she followed him in 1938. They settled in Island Bay, setting up a family fishing business. In this photograph the couple are shown preparing to celebrate 50 years of marriage.

Mr Muollo was not alone in his preference for a wife from the same culture. Sometimes very small New Zealand communities made finding a marriage partner difficult; in other cases immigration rules prevented single women from coming over. As a result, men from many migrant communities returned home to marry.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PAColl-7327)
Reference: EP/1981/2165
Photograph by Phil Reid

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

Te tuhi tohutoro mō tēnei whārangi:

Megan Cook, 'Marriage and partnering - Marriage, 1900 to the 1960s', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/mi/photograph/30781/antonio-and-ida-muollo (accessed 30 March 2024)

He kōrero nā Megan Cook, i tāngia i te 5 May 2011, updated 1 May 2017