4 - ‘How different it is from home’: comparing Ireland and New Zealand

Summary

Annie Dempsey, a migrant from Crecrin, County Carlow, arrived in New Zealand in approximately 1882 accompanied by her aunt, Ann O’Brien. The women initially settled with Ann O’Brien's brothers at Greenhills, south of the Waihao River in Waimate, South Canterbury. Of the correspondence Annie sent to Ireland over the course of the next two decades ten letters are known to have survived. Her early letters, particularly, contain several striking contrasts between Ireland and New Zealand. Annie was initially struck with the colony's climate, telling her younger sister Eliza, ‘there is great heat hear more so then the old country’ (De 1). In early January 1885 Annie expressed her amazement at the speedy passing of time: ‘Time Flys By So verry quick mutch quicker than in [?Crecrin]’ (De 4). Colonial buildings also attracted Annie's interest. The houses, she happily revealed, ‘Are All Cottage Houses Almost Build of Wood and Beautifull Painted’ (De 3). The Waimate Catholic chapel, on the other hand, appeared similar and was, Annie contended, ‘mutch like the little Chaple in Killanure onely A greadl [great deal] larger’ (De 3). The only other explicit contrast to feature in Annie Dempsey's letters was the timing of the seasons. Writing in September 1888, Annie described how ‘The Sheep are lambing hear just now and thee People are buisy sowen there oats and spring wheat so yous see how different it is from home’ (De 5).

Annie Dempsey's comparisons between New Zealand and Ireland raise several questions that are the focus of this chapter. What were the perceived similarities or differences between the two countries? Were these depictions negative or positive? How did representations of life in New Zealand and Ireland change over time? And how do the accounts compare with the images of origin and destination conveyed in Irish–Australian and Irish– American correspondence? According to Kerby Miller, Irish migrants in North America often expressed dissatisfaction upon finding that ‘urban-industrial America was startlingly different from rural Ireland’. But rather than attribute this maladjustment to conditions encountered in North America, Miller prioritised antecedent experience, that is the migrants’ previous lives in Ireland. Conversely, Irish letter writers in Australia emphasised colonial coarseness, wealth, and diverse employment, but there was little evidence of grievance.