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  Polish Community Trust, Bay of Plenty
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    • Events 2018 >
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    • Events 2017 >
      • 2017 Multicultural Festival
      • Joining FPONZ
      • Let's make Zurek
      • Gift exchange continues
      • Fundraiser for Multicultural Tauranga
      • 145th anniversary of Polish settlement in New Zealand
      • Tekla Klebetnica concert
    • Events 2016 >
      • 2016 Multicultural Festival
      • Artur Dutkiewicz classic jazz piano
      • 3rd May Constitution Day
      • Linking schools with letters
      • School visit in Gdansk
      • Gifts from New Zealand
      • Can't make it? Fake it!
      • Polish teacher conference
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      • Independence Day
      • Presenting the school in 20/20 style
      • Mikolaj 2016
      • Christmas market
    • Events 2015 >
      • 2015 Multicultural Festival
      • Concert and exhibition
      • Award for Ewa Fenn
      • Meet the Wawel Dragon
      • Year-end celebrations
    • Events 2014 >
      • Chopin plaque unveiling
      • 2014 Multicultural Festival
      • Around the World in 80 Dishes
      • Farewell Ewa Fenn
      • Playing the red piano
      • 1st Trust anniversary
      • From Poland to Pahiatua
      • Celebrating everything Polish
      • Mikolaj in Mt Maunganui
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On 6 October 2017 Eva Niedzielski (far left) flew to Christchurch representing the Polish diaspora in Tauranga to attend the celebrations of the 145th anniversary of Polish settlement in New Zealand. Christchurch had been chosen for this event because the first Polish settlers sailing on the ship "Friedeburg" set foot on New Zealand soil in 1872 in Lyttleton.

Project manager Dorota Szymanska gave an introduction to the event and some historic background information, welcomed the attendees and introduced the officials in her speech. On the occasion of the anniversary Deputy Speaker of the Polish Senate, Maria Koc, accompanied by Polish Ambassador to New Zealand, Zbigniew Gniatkowski, Christchurch city officials, Pahiatua children and representatives of the Polish diaspora from all over New Zealand officially unveiled a commemorative plaque at Canterbury Museum. The celebration continued with a cultural performance, "Between the Waters", held at the city's Piano Arts Hall.

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Dorota Szymanska, project and performance manager of the event
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Zbigniew Gniatkowski, Polish Ambassador to New Zealand
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Maria Koc, Deputy Speaker of the Polish Senate
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Unveiling of the plaque

An exhibition at Canterbury Museum (9 December 2017 – 3 May 2018), Between the Waters: Canterbury’s First Polish Settlers, was also dedicated to honour the beginning of Polish settlement. It highlighted the experiences of four Polish families - the Kotlowskis, the Geirszewskis, the Szymanskis and the Watembachs – who were part of a wave of immigration which saw New Zealand’s settler population double to about 500,000 during the 1870s.

Once here, the immigrants picked up odd jobs, with many travelling to Pigeon Bay on Banks Peninsula to work on the land. In 1874, landowner Edward Reece travelled to Pigeon Bay and offered the Polish immigrants leasehold land in Marshland. Many of the settlers took up his offer and became market gardeners.

The commemorative plaque unveiled in October 2017 was destined for Polish Settlers Place, a cul-de-sac street in a new subdivision in Marshland.
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