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Story: Australians

Paddy Webb at Rūnanga, 1936

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Paddy Webb at Rūnanga, 1936

In the first decade of the 20th century large numbers of Australian miners moved to the West Coast of the South Island. Many played key roles in New Zealand’s industrial and political labour movements. Australian-born unionist Paddy Webb helped mobilise the miners of Rūnanga during the 1913 general strike. Later he became a politician. In 1936, as a minister in the newly-elected Labour government, he returned to Rūnanga and addressed supporters outside the Rūnanga Miners’ Hall.

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Grey District Library

Reference: P20/186

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How to cite this page

John Wilson, Australians – Arrivals 1890–1910, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/616/paddy-webb-at-runanga-1936 (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by John Wilson, published 4 March 2009, updated 1 July 2024.