Welcoming new New Zealanders - video

On 31 October 1944, 733 children and 102 adults arrived in Wellington on the USS General Randall. They were then taken by train on 1 November 1944 to Pahiatua, to the “Polish Camp” where they were to be resettled.

This was the first refugee resettlement programme that New Zealand Red Cross participated in. Red Cross nurses welcomed the Polish refugees to Wellington and helped them board the train.

On the train the children were given lunchboxes by Red Cross, which contained a bottle of milk, an orange and a sandwich. Once they arrived in Pahiatua, they were given Red Cross clothing parcels and messages were passed on to family back home.

This is the start of a 1966 film made by the National Film Unit.