Their Faraway Home

Their Faraway Home gives an insight into the life of Croats in New Zealand throughout history, providing a systematic presentation of publications, cultural societies, and communication on social networking sites.

The life of the early Croatian settlers was not easy – working all days in the gumfields with no knowledge of the English language, and no money to return to their homeland. Newspapers were an important source of information, not only about their old, but also about their new country. As many publications were forgotten and lost over time, one of the important methods for the authors was community engagement.

This method resulted in the discovery of new publications, new stories and destinies that are an important part of both Croatian and New Zealand heritage. The book contains selected quotations from numerous sources (from the 19th century newspapers to Facebook and Instagram posts). Valuable additions to the book (and its extensions) are online searchable bibliographies, as well as digitised books and newspapers accessible via links and QR codes.