Some regarded the Croatian immigrants, many of them from the province of Dalmatia, who began arriving in the Far North some 160 years ago, almost universally to dig kauri gum, with suspicion, but they had given much to the new home.
So Te Runanga o Te Rarawa chairman Haami Piripi said on Saturday before the Te Ahu pou, recognising the Croatian influence on the Far North, was officially unveiled.
Mr Piripi said the Dalmatian/Croatian immigrants and their descendants had given something very special to the Far North and to New Zealand, and that it was important to recognise that. As a people they had displayed determination, industry and a strong sense and love of family, an ethos that had since permeated the entire community.
The courage and strength they had shown in leaving their home in Europe to become part of a new community had lifted society to the point it had reached today, and the pou, carved by Paul Marshall, was an acknowledgement of the Croatian people of the past, present and future.
"Moving forward together on one path and in one spirit is not easy," Mr Piripi added, "but if it can be done anywhere it can be done here."
