An 1849 handbook for those coming to New Zealand provided a helpful list of items to bring to their new home.
Not including household items, it suggested the minimum wardrobe for a labourer should include 18 coloured shirts, 2 Guernsey shirts, 6 pairs wool stockings, 12 pairs cotton socks, 1 pair fustian trousers with jacket and waistcoat, 3 pairs canvas trousers, 1 pea coat, 1 cloth coat with waistcoat and trouser, 1 cloth cap, 1 pair strong shoes and 1 pair light shoes.
Women were recommended to bring their range of chemises, petticoats, dresses and bonnets, but were told to bring 2 pairs of shoes and 1 pair of boots.
The author of these lists must have had a lot of faith in British-made footwear, and was completely oblivious to its unsuitability for the New Zealand landscape.
These people arriving in New Zealand were greeted with mud and dirt, not the paved paths and cobbled roads they were used to.
They needed sturdy boots, especially people working the land.
They would customise their boots with hobnails, or seek out boots reinforced with metal plates to help them last under the tough conditions.
Small stores started popping up in the 1830s and newspapers of the time advertised boots at 10 shillings a pair (equivalent to around $60 in 2020).
William Holder, who arrived in Whanganui in 1841, wrote to his father in England and complained that boots here were very expensive at 30 shillings a pair (equivalent to $180). In June 1843 William's father sent him 60 pairs of boots to sell and make a profit for himself.
Boot makers saw an opportunity to thrive in New Zealand, and many completed their apprenticeships in England before sailing to establish their own businesses here.
Their boots were often rougher than the neater, better-made imported British boots, and were made for the lower end of the market.
By the 1850s a pair of imported boots cost £1-00 (equivalent to more than $120). The Government added a one-shilling tax duty to imported boots to try to boost local business.
The first New Zealand footwear factories were well established by 1870, but by 1880 there were 500,000 pairs of footwear imported annually compared with 280,000 made here.