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Story: History of immigration

Frozen meat carcasses

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Frozen meat carcasses

The resurgence of immigration from 1900 to 1914 was fuelled by growing prosperity in New Zealand. This was largely due to the development of refrigerated shipping, which allowed frozen meat, butter and cheese to be transported to Britain. This photograph shows frozen export carcasses outside the British New Zealand Meat Company in Christchurch, sometime between 1900 and 1920.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: 1/1-009113-G

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

Jock Phillips, History of immigration – Migration: 1900 to 1914, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/2130/frozen-meat-carcasses (accessed 3 June 2026).

Story by Jock Phillips, published 4 March 2009, updated 1 August 2015.