The Great Depression in Aotearoa New Zealand

The 1929 stock market crash in New York triggered off the Great Depression. This set covers the economic, social and political impact it had on Aotearoa NZ in the 1930s, such as the rise in unemployment, protests, soup kitchens, relief camps, the new Labour government and the introduction of the Social Security Act in 1938. SCIS no. 5415403

All items

Images
Unemployment relief work during the Depression
Unemployment relief work during the Depression
Unemployed men constructing a road during the Great Depression, probably in the Akatarawa region. Made for publication in the Evening Post by an unidentified photographer during the 1930s. Quantit...
Videos
The Longest Winter - Early Days (Episode One)
The Longest Winter - Early Days (Episode One)
New Zealand’s economy is in serious trouble in the first episode of this award-winning drama series about The Great Depression. An ailing Prime Minister and a weak government seem powerless in the ...
Images
Crowd gathered on the steps of Parliament
Crowd gathered on the steps of Parliament
Crowd of people gathered on the steps of Parliament, Wellington, during the Great Depression. Taken by unidentified photographer, circa 1932. Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s). Physical Descri...
Images
No depression in New Zealand
No depression in New Zealand
The year 1981 was a time of great economic anxiety and social and political unease in New Zealand. This was captured by the Auckland band Blam Blam Blam, which released 'There is no depression in N...
Images
Rag Rug, with abstract design
Rag Rug, with abstract design
The rug was made by Rhona Bayliss (1904-1996) for the family home 'Rosewood' in Maharakeke, near Waipukurau, during the years of the Great Depression. The rug remained in constant use throughout Rh...
Audio
New Zealand's forgotten depression: The Long Depression
New Zealand's forgotten depression: The Long Depression
Many commentators have made comparisons between NZ's current economic dilemma and the Great Depression of 1929-1935. But NZ has actually experienced two major depressions. The first, the 'Long Depr...
Stories
The Great Depression — work camps, riots and soup kitchens
The Great Depression — work camps, riots and soup kitchens
This collection of images of work camps, soup kitchens and riots during the Great Depression in Aotearoa New Zealand bears witness to the tough economic situation people faced on a daily basis comb...
Articles
Long-distance walker Esther James reaches Bluff
The Aucklander, a well-connected former model, had left Spirits Bay in the Far North on 3 December to walk the length of the country to promote New Zealand-made goods during the Depression. She had...
Articles
Social Security Act passed
The cornerstone of the first Labour government’s welfare programme, the Social Security Act overhauled the pension system and extended benefits for families, invalids and the unemployed.
Videos
The Years Back - 3, The Thirties (Episode Three)
The Years Back - 3, The Thirties (Episode Three)
Bernard Kearns looks at New Zealand life in the 1930s in this episode of the National Film Unit series on "people and events that shaped the New Zealand of today". The documentary includes a wealth...
Articles
The Great Depression
The stock market crash of 1929 caused a recession not only in America but impacted the rest of the world.
Websites
WWW
EPIC
Read more about the Great Depression on EPIC. Recommended websites: Australia New Zealand Reference Centre Plus, Britannica School and World History.
Articles
Great Depression
AnyQuestions can help you find information on the Great Depression.
Articles
Economic history: Inter-war years and the great depression
Post-war depression Immediately after the First World War New Zealand suffered a deep but short depression when import prices lifted rather sharply, signalling the end of the Liberal boom. The 1920...
Articles
The New Zealand Legion - The New Zealand Legion
The year 1933 witnessed an unprecedented eruption of protest amongst urban businessmen and professionals in New Zealand. The most prominent manifestation of this protest was a radical conservative ...
Articles
Coalition government formed to combat Depression
United Party Prime Minister George Forbes had convened an inter-party conference with the goal of forming a coalition government that would ‘share the responsibility’ of dealing with the Depression.
Other
Forbes, George William
Forbes, George William
Audio
10: Boom & Bust
With World War I and the flu epidemic past, the good times rolled through the 1920s. Then came the bust of the Great Depression, prompting widespread poverty - that was worse for some - and the ris...
Audio
The days of the sugar bag - The great depression of the hungry thirties
A documentary by Jim Henderson on the Depression of the 1930s. Recollections of hard times and poverty during the era by unidentified men and women. (Names listed in the credits) Actuality of a '...
Videos
Stock Markets, U.S. Finance, and the Great Depression
Follow the beginning of the American Stock Exchange in 1792, its collapse in 1929 which led to the Great Depression and its trends, changes and impacts till 2015.
Newspapers
A penny restaurant
A half philanthropist and half shrewd businessman establishes a penny restaurant in New York during the Great Depression.
Newspapers
Harvey’s Mineral Tonic for men with Depressionitis
This newspaper advertisement from 1934 promises that Harvey’s Mineral Tonic will rebuild and revitalise men impacted physically and mentally due to the Great Depression.
Newspapers
Unemployed camps
A letter of discontent over the compulsory system of work used at unemployment camps during the Great Depression.
Newspapers
Butter prices — a story in verse
A story in verse reflects the plight of farmers during the Depression of the 1930s.
Images
Discrimination against Māori citizens
Discrimination against Māori citizens
Although Māori became British subjects on the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, and therefore subsequently New Zealand citizens, they did not always enjoy the rights and privileges to whic...
Books
Lessons of the Sugarbag Years
A review of the book ‘The Sugarbag Years: An Oral History of the 1930s Depression in New Zealand’, by Tony Simpson.
Research papers
Mordacious years — New Zealand’s experience in the Great Depression
Facts and figures from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand on the socio-economic aspects and outcomes of New Zealand during the Great Depression.
Images
The Picture Theatre, Manurewa, 1932
The Picture Theatre, Manurewa, 1932
Looking southward along the Great South Road, Manurewa, 1932. The most prominent building to the left is the Manurewa Theatre, the town's first cinema. The billboards advertise both Amedee Van Beur...
Articles
The Great Depression
A grandfather discusses the Great Depression with his grandson, the importance of being thrift and other ways that people managed the crisis.
Articles
Isolation, Ideology and Impotence: Organizations for the Unemployed during the Great Depression, 1930-1935, by R. T. Robertson, p 149-164
Examines the effectiveness and importance of the NUWN and NUU — two leading unemployment organisations during the early 1930s.
Articles
Māori in the Depression
How Māori coped during the Great Depression with little or no economic relief.
Research papers
The 'hidden depression' that never really went away
Comments on the effects on Māori of previous economic depressions or recessions that Aotearoa New Zealand has experienced - the 'long depression' of the late 19th century, the Great Depression of t...
Articles
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand
The impacts of the Great Depression sharpened the need for a central bank and this led to the founding of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in 1934.
Articles
The New Zealand Unemployed Workers Movement, 1931-1939: Gisborne and the Relief Workers' Strike, by Paul Harris, p 130-142
NZ Journal of History > 1976 Volume 10 > No. 2 > The New Zealand Unemployed Workers Movement, 1931-1939: Gisborne and the Relief Workers' Strike, by Paul Harris, p 130-142
Articles
‘Waste not, want not’ philosophy of the Howick community
Historian Alan La Roche recalls how living frugally, being self-sufficient and good neighbours helped the Howick community survive the Great Depression.
Articles
Taxes: First Labour government taxes – 1935 to 1949
Welfare state The Labour Party elected in 1935 had promised to scrap the sales tax and reduce taxation generally. Instead it retained all the new taxes. Finance Minister Walter Nash reintroduced th...
Articles
The 1930s Depression
The 1930s Depression caused mass unemployment in New Zealand and changed the socio-political landscape.
Articles
Depression era money-saving tips
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, people wasted nothing. Every scrap of everything was used – often more than once.
Articles
Pūtiki during the Great Depression
A personal account of growing up in Pūtiki during the Great Depression.
Videos
Starlight Hotel
Starlight Hotel
This Depression-era road movie tails teen runaway Kate (Greer Robson) as she tags along with World War I veteran Patrick (Aussie actor Peter Phelps) — also on the run after assaulting a repo man. T...
Videos
Our People Our Century - Winning and Losing
Our People Our Century - Winning and Losing
Taking in depression and prosperity, this edition of Kiwi social history series Our People Our Century explores the boom and bust cycles of the economy. Stories include TJ Edmonds, of baking powder...
Images
Relief workers
Relief workers
As portrayed in Renee’s play Wednesday to Come this Labour Party pamphlet protests against the appalling conditions in some of the New Zealand relief camps during the Great Depression. In these cam...
Newspapers
SEQUEL TO BIG DEMONSTRATION (Evening Post, 11 May 1932)
A report from the Evening Post 1932 on the riot that followed the demonstration in the streets of Wellington.
Stories
Cartoons on the Great Depression in Aotearoa New Zealand
Cartoons on the Great Depression in Aotearoa New Zealand
A series of cartoons depict the social, political and economic scene of Aotearoa New Zealand during the Great Depression.
Images
Unemployment relief work during the Depression
Unemployment relief work during the Depression
Unemployed men constructing a road during the Great Depression, probably in the Akatarawa region. Made for publication in the Evening Post by an unidentified photographer during the 1930s. Quantit...
Videos
The Longest Winter - Early Days (Episode One)
The Longest Winter - Early Days (Episode One)
New Zealand’s economy is in serious trouble in the first episode of this award-winning drama series about The Great Depression. An ailing Prime Minister and a weak government seem powerless in the ...
Images
Crowd gathered on the steps of Parliament
Crowd gathered on the steps of Parliament
Crowd of people gathered on the steps of Parliament, Wellington, during the Great Depression. Taken by unidentified photographer, circa 1932. Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s). Physical Descri...
Images
No depression in New Zealand
No depression in New Zealand
The year 1981 was a time of great economic anxiety and social and political unease in New Zealand. This was captured by the Auckland band Blam Blam Blam, which released 'There is no depression in N...
Images
Rag Rug, with abstract design
Rag Rug, with abstract design
The rug was made by Rhona Bayliss (1904-1996) for the family home 'Rosewood' in Maharakeke, near Waipukurau, during the years of the Great Depression. The rug remained in constant use throughout Rh...
Audio
New Zealand's forgotten depression: The Long Depression
New Zealand's forgotten depression: The Long Depression
Many commentators have made comparisons between NZ's current economic dilemma and the Great Depression of 1929-1935. But NZ has actually experienced two major depressions. The first, the 'Long Depr...
Stories
The Great Depression — work camps, riots and soup kitchens
The Great Depression — work camps, riots and soup kitchens
This collection of images of work camps, soup kitchens and riots during the Great Depression in Aotearoa New Zealand bears witness to the tough economic situation people faced on a daily basis comb...
Articles
Long-distance walker Esther James reaches Bluff
The Aucklander, a well-connected former model, had left Spirits Bay in the Far North on 3 December to walk the length of the country to promote New Zealand-made goods during the Depression. She had...
Articles
Social Security Act passed
The cornerstone of the first Labour government’s welfare programme, the Social Security Act overhauled the pension system and extended benefits for families, invalids and the unemployed.
Videos
The Years Back - 3, The Thirties (Episode Three)
The Years Back - 3, The Thirties (Episode Three)
Bernard Kearns looks at New Zealand life in the 1930s in this episode of the National Film Unit series on "people and events that shaped the New Zealand of today". The documentary includes a wealth...
Articles
The Great Depression
The stock market crash of 1929 caused a recession not only in America but impacted the rest of the world.
Websites
WWW
EPIC
Read more about the Great Depression on EPIC. Recommended websites: Australia New Zealand Reference Centre Plus, Britannica School and World History.
Articles
Great Depression
AnyQuestions can help you find information on the Great Depression.
Articles
Economic history: Inter-war years and the great depression
Post-war depression Immediately after the First World War New Zealand suffered a deep but short depression when import prices lifted rather sharply, signalling the end of the Liberal boom. The 1920...
Articles
The New Zealand Legion - The New Zealand Legion
The year 1933 witnessed an unprecedented eruption of protest amongst urban businessmen and professionals in New Zealand. The most prominent manifestation of this protest was a radical conservative ...
Articles
Coalition government formed to combat Depression
United Party Prime Minister George Forbes had convened an inter-party conference with the goal of forming a coalition government that would ‘share the responsibility’ of dealing with the Depression.
Other
Forbes, George William
Forbes, George William
Audio
10: Boom & Bust
With World War I and the flu epidemic past, the good times rolled through the 1920s. Then came the bust of the Great Depression, prompting widespread poverty - that was worse for some - and the ris...
Audio
The days of the sugar bag - The great depression of the hungry thirties
A documentary by Jim Henderson on the Depression of the 1930s. Recollections of hard times and poverty during the era by unidentified men and women. (Names listed in the credits) Actuality of a '...
Videos
Stock Markets, U.S. Finance, and the Great Depression
Follow the beginning of the American Stock Exchange in 1792, its collapse in 1929 which led to the Great Depression and its trends, changes and impacts till 2015.
Newspapers
A penny restaurant
A half philanthropist and half shrewd businessman establishes a penny restaurant in New York during the Great Depression.
Newspapers
Harvey’s Mineral Tonic for men with Depressionitis
This newspaper advertisement from 1934 promises that Harvey’s Mineral Tonic will rebuild and revitalise men impacted physically and mentally due to the Great Depression.
Newspapers
Unemployed camps
A letter of discontent over the compulsory system of work used at unemployment camps during the Great Depression.
Newspapers
Butter prices — a story in verse
A story in verse reflects the plight of farmers during the Depression of the 1930s.
Images
Discrimination against Māori citizens
Discrimination against Māori citizens
Although Māori became British subjects on the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, and therefore subsequently New Zealand citizens, they did not always enjoy the rights and privileges to whic...
Books
Lessons of the Sugarbag Years
A review of the book ‘The Sugarbag Years: An Oral History of the 1930s Depression in New Zealand’, by Tony Simpson.
Research papers
Mordacious years — New Zealand’s experience in the Great Depression
Facts and figures from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand on the socio-economic aspects and outcomes of New Zealand during the Great Depression.
Images
The Picture Theatre, Manurewa, 1932
The Picture Theatre, Manurewa, 1932
Looking southward along the Great South Road, Manurewa, 1932. The most prominent building to the left is the Manurewa Theatre, the town's first cinema. The billboards advertise both Amedee Van Beur...
Articles
The Great Depression
A grandfather discusses the Great Depression with his grandson, the importance of being thrift and other ways that people managed the crisis.
Articles
Isolation, Ideology and Impotence: Organizations for the Unemployed during the Great Depression, 1930-1935, by R. T. Robertson, p 149-164
Examines the effectiveness and importance of the NUWN and NUU — two leading unemployment organisations during the early 1930s.
Articles
Māori in the Depression
How Māori coped during the Great Depression with little or no economic relief.
Research papers
The 'hidden depression' that never really went away
Comments on the effects on Māori of previous economic depressions or recessions that Aotearoa New Zealand has experienced - the 'long depression' of the late 19th century, the Great Depression of t...
Articles
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand
The impacts of the Great Depression sharpened the need for a central bank and this led to the founding of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in 1934.
Articles
The New Zealand Unemployed Workers Movement, 1931-1939: Gisborne and the Relief Workers' Strike, by Paul Harris, p 130-142
NZ Journal of History > 1976 Volume 10 > No. 2 > The New Zealand Unemployed Workers Movement, 1931-1939: Gisborne and the Relief Workers' Strike, by Paul Harris, p 130-142
Articles
‘Waste not, want not’ philosophy of the Howick community
Historian Alan La Roche recalls how living frugally, being self-sufficient and good neighbours helped the Howick community survive the Great Depression.
Articles
Taxes: First Labour government taxes – 1935 to 1949
Welfare state The Labour Party elected in 1935 had promised to scrap the sales tax and reduce taxation generally. Instead it retained all the new taxes. Finance Minister Walter Nash reintroduced th...
Articles
The 1930s Depression
The 1930s Depression caused mass unemployment in New Zealand and changed the socio-political landscape.
Articles
Depression era money-saving tips
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, people wasted nothing. Every scrap of everything was used – often more than once.
Articles
Pūtiki during the Great Depression
A personal account of growing up in Pūtiki during the Great Depression.
Videos
Starlight Hotel
Starlight Hotel
This Depression-era road movie tails teen runaway Kate (Greer Robson) as she tags along with World War I veteran Patrick (Aussie actor Peter Phelps) — also on the run after assaulting a repo man. T...
Videos
Our People Our Century - Winning and Losing
Our People Our Century - Winning and Losing
Taking in depression and prosperity, this edition of Kiwi social history series Our People Our Century explores the boom and bust cycles of the economy. Stories include TJ Edmonds, of baking powder...
Images
Relief workers
Relief workers
As portrayed in Renee’s play Wednesday to Come this Labour Party pamphlet protests against the appalling conditions in some of the New Zealand relief camps during the Great Depression. In these cam...
Newspapers
SEQUEL TO BIG DEMONSTRATION (Evening Post, 11 May 1932)
A report from the Evening Post 1932 on the riot that followed the demonstration in the streets of Wellington.
Stories
Cartoons on the Great Depression in Aotearoa New Zealand
Cartoons on the Great Depression in Aotearoa New Zealand
A series of cartoons depict the social, political and economic scene of Aotearoa New Zealand during the Great Depression.

Other resources

Top results for The Great Depression in Aotearoa New Zealand from AnyQuestions

Great Depression
Great Depression

The Great Depression lasted from 1929 until the mid-1930s. It started with the Wall Street Crash (also known as the...

Junior Secondary

Economic independence and vulnerability
Economic independence and vulnerability

This entry will help you find information about the history behind Auckland's economic progress and independence, and...

WW100

Events of Otago
Events of Otago

Many things have happened that have had an impact on Otago. The following resources explore these events and can...

See all 3 related entries on AnyQuestions

Top results for The Great Depression in Aotearoa New Zealand from DigitalNZ

stories
Cartoons on the Great Depression in Aotearoa New Zealand
Cartoons on the Great Depression in Aotearoa New Zealand

A series of cartoons depict the social, political and economic scene of Aotearoa New Zealand during the Great ...

articles
Great Depression
Great Depression

The Great Depression lasted from 1929 until the mid-1930s. It started with the Wall Street Crash (also known as the...

stories
The Great Depression in Aotearoa New Zealand
The Great Depression in Aotearoa New Zealand

The 1929 stock market crash in New York triggered off the Great Depression. This set covers the economic, social and...

articles
Housing groups call for dramatic investment to help in Covid-19 recovery

Housing groups are calling for a multi-billion dollar spend to echo the substantial build that followed the Great...

See all 40 related entries on DigitalNZ

One of 157 topics in the

Topic Explorer

Related topics

Topic Explorer guide View resource guides