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Kōrero: Eating

Food for the unemployed, 1930s

The economic depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s was a period of great hardship for many New Zealanders. Going hungry was a common experience at a time when there was no national system of social welfare. This impressive display of food was collected by employees of the Shell Oil Company (who called themselves 'Shellites') for distribution to unemployed people.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Reference: O.020623

by Frank Giles Barker

Permission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 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

Kerryn Pollock, Eating – Getting enough to eat, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/zoomify/38614/food-for-the-unemployed-1930s (accessed 30 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Kerryn Pollock, i tāngia i te 3 December 2012.