The Indian community in New Zealand and of the Hindu faiths has grown exponential in the last 20 years when compared to the early half of this century.  In the 1921 census, a mere 671 Indians are recorded. However, sometimes we get blinded by numbers and it can be argued that those small number of Indians were highly significant - so let’s cast back into the history of Indians in NZ. 

Indians have a very long history in New Zealand. They are among the earliest settlers - after the Tangata whenua. 

Indians were visitors here on trading ships from the very late 18thC, integrating with Maori iwi. These few Indians were scattered throughout NZ – not just in North Island as we associate Indians with today. The first record is 1813 in the Bay of Islands. Another, near Dunedin where an Indian (from Surat) became an advisor and translator for Ngai Tahu, he married locally and was known as Te Anu. His family settled on Rakiura. The other Indian, a Goanese, was Edward Peters who discovered first workable claim of gold in Otago, leading to Otago Gold rushes.

Although these days there are ethnic and religious complexity within the broader “Indian” term – the early part of the century focuses on the two main groups that established the Indian communities in NZ - Punjabis and Gujaratis. These groups formed communities and then associations around the country. They fought prejudice and injustices with little or no impact but they gathered strength through each other at every obstacle. The community was their family. 

After several generations, a ‘Kiwi Indianness’ has emerged among Indian settlers in New Zealand. Whether it be sports, arts, politics, education, business or intermarriage; Indians in New Zealand are part of NZ’s mainstream history.

In the last thirty years, we have seen massive changes in NZ’s Indian populations since the Fiji coups of the 1980s and no doubt, new stories of the more recent Indian migrants will add more spice to the history of the NZ Indian diaspora. Mokaa (meaning Opportunity) – The Land of Opportunity exhibition is a snapshot of the NZ Indian diaspora since settlement.