Frederick Jones, Minister of Defence during World War II, was responsible for the transportation to New Zealand of the foreign-born wives and fiancées of New Zealand servicemen. Between 1942 and 1948 servicemen returning from theatres of war in Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific brought over 3000 wives and 700 fiancées to New Zealand. Portrayed as homogeneous, young, working-class British housewives who made hasty ill-considered marriages, war brides, in fact, proved to be varied in origin, age, occupation and education. Whirlwind romances and short courtships were not the norm. This thesis examines the consequences of the decision to marry a New Zealander and migrate and the impact of the journey and settlement. The full glare of publicity that greeted war brides on arrival focused attention on their compatibility with, and adaptability to, the receiving society. Adjustment was however fraught with difficulties. Memory and loss are implicit in the experience of migration. War brides expressed this in terms of the rift with their pasts and a lack of shared memories. On arrival in New Zealand war brides dispersed around the country in an extreme 'pepper-potting' pattern. When their only connection with New Zealand was their locally-born husband they suffered social isolation and sometimes a devastating sense of loneliness. The resulting marginalisation they experienced was evident in their oral history narratives. Ambivalence and recourse to serendipity as an explanation for past actions were elements of the dis-composure discernable in narratives. In spite of their varied religious, social and class backgrounds, this diverse cohort formed a war bride identity based on shared experience rather than national or ethnic origin. Far from dissipating, their war-bride identity has been consolidated into an enduring image most tangibly expressed in the extant war brides' clubs, although club attendance is not a prerequisite of war bride identity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/274398 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Fortune, Gabrielle Ann |
| Publisher | ResearchSpace@Auckland |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Source | http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3201550 |
| Rights | Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated., http://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm, Copyright: The author |
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