Following through: the value of tracing British settlers across time and space

Abstract

Many statistics about British settlers in New Zealand come from death certificates. This article suggests, then trials, a longitudinal database by linking the records of 1,860 first generation settlers. They had high levels of internal migration before leaving Britain and between 20 and 30 percent lived in another country before they arrived here. Between 12 and 19 percent of them left, though only after 16 years on average. But return migration was only between 5 and 8 percent, a fraction of the estimates for Australia and the United States. Rather most men sought greener pastures elsewhere, notably Australia.