New Zealand Immigrant on problems and opportunities

Immigrants planning to come to New Zealand will benefit by readingTony Pawlowski’s comments on his experiences coming to New Zealand as an immigrant over thirty years ago. He stresses how for him the change was made easier because he was white, spoke fluent standard English and had a good education. He also comments on the difficulties in gaining employment experienced by ex-army personnel and people changing direction in their late forties or fifties.

The early years Tony Pawlowski grew up in Wales in the industrial town of Merthyr Tydfil. This town was the centre of the industrial revolution in Wales and is twenty six miles from the Capital and port of Cardiff. After good results in his Eleven plus examination he gained entry to the grammar school at Cyfarthfa Castle – an imitation castle built by a rich industrialist in the eighteenth century. He left school at 17, but later passed three A levels by correspondence. All the while he dreamt of leaving Wales and possibly migrating to Australia.

Made to feel a foreigner At 14 he took the opportunity of completing “tests-in-advance” to assess his acceptability for training as a pilot in the Royal Air Force While he passed all the tests at Biggin Hall – the testing centre for the RAF – he was turned down because his father had been born in the Ukraine. Tony’s father had come to Britain after he and Tony’s grandfather, and tens of thousands of their countrymen had been taken by the Germans to work in forced labour camps, but this did not make his son eligible for the RAF.

This experience made Tony feel that he was a foreigner in Britain, and after his mother’s death when he was seventeen he was determined to go to another country. He wrote to the respective embassy immigration authorities for Australia, Canada, Rhodesia and New Zealand. From Australia he received an enthusiastic response and a huge bundle of glossy pamphlets. From Canada and Rhodesia a reasonable amount of attractive publicity, but from New Zealand one small pamphlet.

Immigration to Australia Australia was his choice, not surprisingly, and when he was eighteen he emigrated there on an assisted immigration programme. A job in Sydney working on accounts was offered him immediately and he worked there for a year, moving on when he met some New Zealanders who persuaded him to go with them to Brisbane. The work he got there involved catching the bus to Sydney and driving back a rather dilapidated secondhand car to Brisbane. He had owned a car from the time he was sixteen and had enough mechanical skills to nurse these vehicles and get them to their destination but it was really hard work. One year of that was enough.

Working holiday in New Zealand leads to service in the New Zealand army In 1973 Tony came to New Zealand for a few months and has stayed here thirty one years. After a few months working in a supermarket he enlisted in the territorial force of the New Zealand army, completed the three months basic training and was asked to join the regular army. He began in the infantry section but then because of his level of education he was recommended to move into the artillery. Serving in the artillery in 1973 before the use of computers meant calculating manually bearing, elevation and ballistic angles.

After his experience when applying for the RAF he was glad that in the New Zealand army ethnic background was no bar to promotion.

While in the army Tony served in Papakura, Fort Dorset in Wellington, Singapore, Papakura again, Burnham, Takapuna, and once again Burnham.

During his service in Singapore he met and married Catherine, who was working for the New Zealand High Commission. Fifteen years later, when they had both tired of the regular moves demanded by Army service, they chose Christchurch as their home. Catherine had grown up in Oamaru and both liked living in the South Island. Tony resigned from the army and looked for a new career in Christchurch.

Planning a new career His first move was to complete a course at the Christchurch Small Business Enterprise Centre. He planned to take on property purchase and renovation, but on completing the course was asked to become a tutor at the Centre.

Becoming increasingly interested in working with computers he completed a Diploma in Business Computing at the Christchurch Polytechnic, and is currently employed as office manager at Hanafins Camera & Video Ltd. He also completed the Diploma in Business Programming through Spherion. As well as managing the day to day computer demands of a business with a chain of stores he has written programmes to assist in the organisation of a large staff, such as a time sheet programme allowing staff easy clocking on and off for starting and finishing the day and taking meal breaks.

Looking back As he watches the difficulties experienced by immigrants wanting to enter New Zealand at present Tony marvels at how easy it was for him to gain acceptance as a New Zealander – because he was white, spoke standard English, and had a good level of education.

Like most Welsh immigrants he chose to mix with all New Zealanders, not to socialise mainly with Welsh immigrants. He found it easy to mix because people did not see him as someone different. He had the same goals, aspirations and culture as the New Zealanders he met.

He has found with some regret that there is a huge difference between the United Kingdom and New Zealand in the value given to an army background. In the UK it is regarded a real asset, but in New Zealand it is a deterrent to most employers who have a policy of not employing ex-army applicants.

Most people made redundant or changing career paths, despite good qualifications and physical fitness, have great difficulty finding employment once they are over fifty.

A satisfied New Zealander Tony has made several trips back to Wales but has no wish to return on a permanent basis. He finds much to recommend in the New Zealand way of life.

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