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Story: South Pacific economic relations

Picking oranges in the Cook Islands, 1951

Video file

Oranges from  the Cook Islands were a significant export to New Zealand in the 1950s and 1960s. This 1951 newsreel shows the low-tech methods used in the industry. Raro was a well-known brand of orange juice in New Zealand at that time. It took its name from Rarotonga, the island in the Cooks group that produced most of the orange crop.

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Archives New Zealand - Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Reference: Moana Roa. National Film Unit, 1951

Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any re-use of this material.

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How to cite this page

Geoff Bertram, South Pacific economic relations – The balance of trade, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/24249/picking-oranges-in-the-cook-islands-1951 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Geoff Bertram, published 12 April 2010.