I actually had a day out with my camera today, thanks to @yorkshirekiwi inviting me to go with her to Howick Historical Village. The "village" is made up of old buildings that have been relocated from various parts of NZ to represent how people lived and worked in the 1800s. These items were on a mantlepiece in one of the little cottages "Fencible" people were given when they moved to NZ back then.
Fencible comes from the word “defencible” meaning “capable of defence”. The Fencibles had served in the wars of Britain in the 1830s and 1840s. To emigrate to NZ under the Fencible scheme, retired soldiers were required to be under 48 years of age and of ‘good character and industrious habits.’ These soldier-settlers were offered free passage to New Zealand with their wives and families, a cottage and an acre of land. Providing they performed certain military duties – including compulsory church parade on Sundays – their cottage and acre would be theirs after a seven-year term of service. They received a small pension and were required to find gainful employment in addition to their ‘fencible’ occupation. Between 1847-1854, eleven ships brought the 2,500 Fencibles and their families, which nearly doubled the population of Auckland at that time. (Info taken from Howick Historical Village's website.)
I wonder if they would have actually had a vase of flowers in the house back in the day.
