Skip to main content

Kōrero: Immigration regulation

Tokelauans invited to New Zealand

Image
Tokelauans invited to New Zealand

In the early 20th century, the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau became New Zealand possessions. Their citizens were therefore free to enter New Zealand as British subjects and, after 1948, as New Zealand citizens. This right of free entry remains, even though each country has attained a measure of self-government. In the 1960s Tokelauans were encouraged to emigrate because the three tiny islands of the group could no longer support the population. These young Tokelauan women arrived in 1966 to work in church institutions in Auckland.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, Auckland Star Collection (PA-Group-00610)

Reference: EP-Politics-Immigration-03

Courtesy of Fairfax Media

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, Immigration regulation – Controlling Pacific Island immigration, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/3998/tokelauans-invited-to-new-zealand (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Ann Beaglehole, i tāngia i te 4 March 2009, updated 1 August 2015.