Once they arrived in Pahīatua the children were taken by truck to the camp. (Photos used with permission of editor of NZ's First Refugees: Pahīatua's Polish Children)
Once they arrived in Pahīatua the children were taken by truck to the camp. (Photos used with permission of editor of NZ's First Refugees: Pahīatua's Polish Children)
When he was 7 years old, Phil Cotter went with his family to Pahīatua Railway Station.
It was November 1944 and a train was about to pull into the railway station.
On board were 733 children, along with more than 100 of their caregivers, all refugees from Poland.
In a speech written for the 70th and 75th anniversaries, Phil, who has lived in Pahīatua all his life, recalls seeing the children disembarking from the train.
“I can clearly remember how brown they were – tanned – probably from Iran and the sea voyage through the tropics.
“How much khaki clothing there was and how shaven the boys’ heads were.”
The children lined up across the railway tracks from the platform.
There were speeches of welcome, then the children sang their national anthem as well as a Polish song before the children were put into army trucks which would take them to the camp, 2km from the township.
The occasion made a huge impression on the young Phil, even though at the time he didn’t know the full story.
The children check out the dormitories at the Pahīatua camp. (Photos used with permission of editor of NZ's First Refugees: Pahīatua's Polish Children)
His mother, Nellie, was one of many women from various organisations, such as Red Cross, Country Women’s Institute and the women’s division of Federated Farmers who had helped to make the beds and put a vase of flowers beside each bed as a welcome.
Phil’s mother made friends with Krystyna Skwarko, the teacher who took charge of the children’s education.
Krystyna lived with her children – daughter Krystyna and son Stan – in a separate house. Her husband would join them after the war.
Phil recalls many visits to the house and getting around language barriers – his mum and Krystyna could both speak French and the men would have to use sign language – and going to Christmas plays and concerts in the recreation hall.
The Cotters had a farm west of the camp and he recalls boys would cross the two rivers – the Mangatainoka and the Makakahi as well as the railway line to explore the farm.
“Some of the boys could fashion the most intricate pistols out of wood that looked completely real.
“Bows and arrows, eeling spears, knives, shanghais – they could make anything from whatever was available.”
Phil became good friends with Bill Sierpinkski, who later changed his name to Jim Siers.
Jim would later go on to become a film-maker and record producer and wrote books on the Pacific Islands. He died in 2013.
