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Story: Voluntary welfare organisations

Oddfellows in regalia

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Oddfellows in regalia

The Manchester Unity Order of Oddfellows was one of the English mutual aid organisations that soon became established among New Zealand's settler population. Members paid a regular subscription and in return received financial support from the friendly society in times of illness, or were provided with funeral funds in the event of death. Members of the Hawke's Bay order posed for a formal photograph at Dannevirke in 1905.

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Alexander Turnbull Library, R. F. Stace Collection

Reference: PA7-51-30

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.

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How to cite this page

Margaret Tennant, Voluntary welfare organisations – 19th-century charity, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/29041/oddfellows-in-regalia (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Margaret Tennant, published 24 February 2011.