PR-MATERIALS FOR EMIGRANTS TO NEW ZEALAND
Antoine Vanhemelrijk
From February 1990 to June 1991 I studied postwar instruction/information-materials ("voorlichtingsmateriaal") for and about Dutch emigrants to New Zealand. The purpose of this research was to make an inventory of these materials, published by government authorities and (semi-)private institutions in the Netherlands and New Zealand. Such an inventory had not been made yet and would be helpful for people interested in the theme of emigration to New Zealand.
To collect the necessary information and materials I visited several institutions and libraries in the Netherlands and in New Zealand. The most important of these were the "Bureau van het Emigratiebestuur" in The Hague, tasks and materials of which were handed over to the "International Organisation for Migration" in May 1991, the "Koninklijke Bibliotheek" in The Hague and the New Zealand Immigration Service in Wellington.
The research resulted in an annotated bibliography with more than 1200 titles of books, information guides, brochures, magazines, essays and articles dealing with the emigration of the Dutch to New Zealand or were/are meant to instruct people thinking of emigrating to New Zealand (or elsewhere). As much information as possible is given for each title (e.g., author, year of publication, publisher, remarks, number of pages, theme category, place where I found it and a short analysis of contents). The title is: 'Bibliography of published materials for and about Dutch emigrants to New Zealand' (June 1991).
As a follow-up to the bibliography mentioned, I wrote my Master's thesis entitled 'Analysis of recently published instruction-/information materials addressed to Dutch candidate emigrants to New Zealand' (June 1993, Department of Anthropology, University of Nijmegen). In this thesis I selected the Dutch and New Zealand information materials which were published from 1988 to 1991 and were directed to the people who considered emigration to New Zealand. I have chosen this recent period of time so the results of my examination of the material would be useful to people involved in emigration or considering emigration to New Zealand in the near future. By means of a textual analysis I tried to find out the image presented of social, cultural and economic life in New Zealand and of general aspects related to emigration.
One of the main reasons for me to undertake this analysis was the fact that many Dutch immigrants in New Zealand returned to the Netherlands. Recently, the New Zealand Immigration Service described it as a "trend to re-migration of Dutch migrants".
I got the strong impression that the information materials gave an overly positive picture of life in New Zealand and the emigration procedure. This explains why so many people return to the Netherlands disappointed. Some returned Dutch migrants, referring to the materials that they were provided with before emigrating to New Zealand, felt they had been 'misled'.
My findings, however, did not confirm this, although I did find a number of weaknesses in the analysed material. It gave far less information about social and cultural aspects of New Zealand society than about economic activities. Social contacts at work and in the neighbourhood were hardly mentioned as were meeting-places such as pubs, and sporting events. Another important feature of life in a different country, closely related to its social aspects, such as clothing, housing and food-consumption were considered only superficially. But a number of reports from Dutch emigration consultants gave information that covered this issues. They honestly mentioned some of the more negative sides of life in New Zealand and of emigration itself. Finding and keeping a job in New Zealand is not easy. The same is true for finding affordable housing one can afford. Travelling is expensive: Once you have made the big step to New Zealand, and left almost everything behind in The Netherlands, going back will be a costly affair,. Except for some minor points the material appeared in general well-balanced in the kind of information it presented.
More relevant, however, will be the psychological factors that partly determine and influence the decision to emigrate. Once taken such a decision will not be easily withdrawn. Whatever information people get during this stage, many of them will only select those details that strengthen their conviction. To judge or 'measure' this sort of factors will require further and a different type of research. In this it is essential that Dutch emigrants to New Zealand are 'heard' before they leave the Netherlands and that people who return (or have returned in the past) to the Netherlands are interviewed as well. Not only to try to find out how these emigrants think about the information material, but especially to be able to compare personal and psychological factors before and after emigrating to New Zealand. I am convinced that many of the people returning to the Netherlands are very well able to express their 'experiences' and personal feelings about their decision to emigrate to New Zealand.
Antoine Vanhemelrijk, Karnstraat 10, 6532 TZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands.