Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
NZ had also backed Britain in the Boer War (1899-1902) and WWI (1914-18), with dra-
matic losses in WWI in particular. You can count the cost in almost any little NZ town. A
central square or park will contain a memorial lined with names - more for WWI than
WWII. Even in WWII, however, NZ did its share of fighting: a hundred thousand or so New
Zealanders fought in Europe and the Middle East. NZ, a peaceful-seeming country, has
spent much of its history at war. In the 19th century it fought at home; in the 20th, overseas.
The Six o'clock Swill referred to the frantic after-work drinking at pubs when men tried to
drink as much as possible from 5.05pm until strict closing time at 6pm.
Better Britons?
British visitors have long found NZ hauntingly familiar. This is not simply a matter of the
British and Irish origin of most Pakeha. It also stems from the tightening of NZ links with
Britain from 1882, when refrigerated cargoes of food were first shipped to London. By the
1930s, giant ships carried frozen meat, cheese and butter, as well as wool, on regular voy-
ages taking about five weeks one way. The NZ economy adapted to the feeding of London,
and cultural links were also enhanced. NZ children studied British history and literature, not
their own. NZ's leading scientists and writers, such as Ernest Rutherford and Katherine
Mansfield, gravitated to Britain. This tight relationship has been described as 'recolonial',
but it is a mistake to see NZ as an exploited colony. Average living standards in NZ were
normally better than in Britain, as were the welfare and lower-level education systems. New
Zealanders had access to British markets and culture, and they contributed their share to the
latter as equals. The list of 'British' writers, academics, scientists, military leaders, publish-
ers and the like who were actually New Zealanders is long. Indeed, New Zealanders, espe-
cially in war and sport, sometimes saw themselves as a superior version of the British - the
Better Britons of the south. The NZ-London relationship was rather like that of the Americ-
an Midwest and New York.
Wellington-born Nancy Wake (codenamed 'The White Mouse') led a guerrilla attack against
the Nazis with a 7000-strong army. She had the multiple honours of being the Gestapo's
most-wanted person and being the most decorated Allied servicewoman of WWII.
'Recolonial' NZ prided itself, with some justice, on its affluence, equality and social har-
mony. But it was also conformist, even puritanical. Until the 1950s, it was technically illegal
 
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