Their faraway home

The book gives an insight into the life of Croats in New Zealand throughout history, providing a systematic presentation of publications, cultural societies and communication on social networking sites. The life of the early Croatian settlers was not easy – working all days in the gumfields with no knowledge of the English language, and no money to return to their homeland. Newspapers were an important source of information, not only about their old, but also about their new country.

As many publications were forgotten and lost over time, one of the important methods for the authors was community engagement. The method resulted in the discovery of new publications, new stories and destinies that are an important part of both Croatian and New Zealand heritage. The book contains selected quotations from numerous sources (from the 19th century newspapers to Facebook and Instagram posts). Valuable additions to the book (and its extensions) are online searchable bibliographies, as well as digitized books and newspapers accessible via links and QR codes.

O autoricama:

Ivana Hebrang Grgić and Ana Barbarić are professors at the Department of Information and Communication Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia. Some of their research interests are libraries, cataloguing, book and publishing history... As part of the Croatian Emigrant Press Project, they are researching communication channels and the history of Croatian publications in New Zealand and Australia. The theme reveals many hidden stories and destinies that the authors make available through bibliographies and digitization.