Men of Fibre: the New Zealand Flax Industry and Its Workers, 1860-1939

Abstract

Flax workers were an important part of New Zealand’s late nineteenth and early twentieth century labour force but their history has largely been ignored. The historiography has focused on the flax industry in general however the workers themselves have received little attention. ‘Flaxies’ were regarded negatively by their more respectable and settled contemporaries, and have also been adversely characterised by historians such as Miles Fairburn as transient, socially disconnected and ‘atomised’. This thesis offers a different account of flax workers in the period 1860-1939. It contends that while the flax workforce was highly mobile; social cohesion, long-term employment and a measure of stability were possible. The flax market was subject to booms and busts which influenced flaxies’ movement from job to job, however transience commonly occurred within the industry, and this allowed stable cores of workers to develop. These men and their employers were part of an industry where people knew each other, and where reputation mattered. Evidence of a distinctive sub-culture among these ‘permanent’ workers can be seen in the various aspects of formal and informal socialising, particularly at work sites. The ties of association among flax workers are examined through the concepts of mateship, kinship, and community. Oral testimony is utilised to draw out the experiences of flax workers and to allow their voices to be heard.