Poll Tax - Chinese Immigrants
24 August - 14 October

The first group of Chinese people arrived in New Zealand in 1866. These were miners from the goldfields of Australia, brought to Otago at the invitation of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce. Although they were initially welcomed, racist attitudes soon surfaced, the tide of opinion turned, and as early as 1871 there were calls for restrictions on Chinese immigration.

By 1881 anti-Chinese feeling had reached such a level that the Chinese Immigrants Act was passed. This imposed a £10 poll tax on every Chinese immigrant. In 1896 the tax was raised to £100, roughly equivalent to ten years earnings.

The idea of a poll tax to restrict immigration was based on the 1852 California Actthat required all alien immigrants to pay an entry fee of five dollars. A poll tax was first used specifically against the Chinese in 1855 in Victoria, Australia, and the other Australian states soon followed suit. The tax was also introduced in Canada in 1885.

Not all New Zealanders approved of the Government's policy. Henry Scotland, a Legislative Councillor, described the tax as 'a barbarous measure' in 1881, and Chinese Consul Lin Shiyuan used the same phrase almost forty years later in 1920.

In 1934 payment of the tax was waived by the Minister of Customs and in 1944 the tax was officially repealed. Some 4,500 Chinese paid a total of approximately £308,080 between 1882 and 1934 under this xenophobic policy.
In February 2002 Prime Minister Helen Clark apologised to the Chinese people of New Zealand for the poll tax. This exhibition presents a history of anti-Chinese measures that were taken by the Government and is a contribution to the Government's formal apology.

Korowai - Nukutere Weavers
17 August - 7 October

 E WHITU - Tawera Tahuri
 7 September - 21 October