ABSTRACT
This chapter explores Irish impressions of New Zealand, as an introduction to several collections of Irish-New Zealand correspondence which convey the diverse nature of the migrant experience. New Zealand's Irish population, half the world from home, maintained contact with family and friends through the exchange of letters. The surviving correspondence, however, has not received the in-depth analysis accorded to letters relating to the Irish in Australia and America. Although Donald Akenson and Trevor Parkhill conducted exploratory essays of Irish New Zealand letters, their discussions largely relied on Ulster Protestants emigrant accounts held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI). This approach adopts the framework of David Fitzpatrick's Oceans of Consolation, which examined fourteen sequences containing 111 letters exchanged between Australia and Ireland. It does, however, highlight the diverse opinions and range of information conveyed by Irish correspondents. Both Catholic and Protestant letter writers discussed issues such as employment, wages, prices, agricultural conditions, community networks and religion.
