School children with Polish flags lined Pahiatua's main street.
School children with Polish flags lined Pahiatua's main street.
Tararua Mayor Roly Ellis was on hand to welcome a contingent of Polish nationals, as they returned to Pahiatua in a re-enactment of a journey they had taken 70 years ago.
The occasion marked the 70th anniversary of New Zealand's first formal intake of refugees, 733 Polish school children andaccompanying adults, who arrived in Wellington and were resettled in Pahiatua.
The Polish Children's Camp they lived at was established 3km south of Pahiatua in a former internment camp and initially administered by the New Zealand Army.
The last group of children left the camp in 1949, moving to schools or work in other regions. It had been intended that they would return to Poland when it was safe enough after World War II for them to do so.
But the children were allowed to stay in New Zealand and some were joined later by surviving family members. The camp was eventually sold for farming. In a moving ceremony last week, the town of Pahiatua welcomed them back. The Dannevirke News was there to capture the occasion on camera.
