SS Goya

SS Goya was a Norwegian refugee ship that carried hundreds of eastern European refugees to New Zealand in 1951. Most notably it carried several men who went on to play a significant role in the development of the New Zealand Muslim Association including Mazhar Krasniqi and Nazmi Mehmeti.

The ship departed Pireaus, Greece, and arrived in Wellington on 1 May 1951. Initially all the refugees were interned for three months at the former Prisoner of War camp in the small rural settlement of Pahiatua to learn English, New Zealand law and customs.

There were over 900 refugees on board of whom approximately 50 were Muslim men including Petrit Alliu, Fadil Katseli, Selahattin Kefali, Ramzi Kosovich, Akif Keskin, Mazhar Krasniqi, Nazmi Mehmeti, Bajram Murati, Omar Alim Pepich, Shaqir Seferi and Samso Yusovich.

Later that same year there were two more drafts of refugees with smaller numbers on board. The majority of the Muslims were Albanians and Bosnians but there was also a Turk, an Azerbaijani, three Bulgarians and two Tartars.

According to Mazhar Krasniqi many of the Muslims observed Ramadan whilst in Pahiatua when it started in the first week of June. Within a few years they were mostly living in Auckland and in close contact through the New Zealand Muslim Association. “Indian Muslims helped them in the process of settling into their new homeland” and Bajram Murati in particular “remembers with gratitude the reception and aid given him by the Bhikoos.”

The effect of this was to dramatically increase the number of Muslims in New Zealand and in Auckland in particular. According to the Government census the number of Muslims leapt from a total figure of 67 in 1945 to 205 six years later in 1951. The overwhelming majority (183) were male naturally.

Sources

• Bishop, Martin C., A History of the Muslim Community in New Zealand to 1980, thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of M.A. in history at the University of Waikato (Waikato University, 1997).
• T. Brooking and R. Rabel in Stuart William Greif (ed.) Immigration and National Identity in New Zealand (1995), p.40.
• L/22/5 (Labour Department/Series 22/Reference 5) The International Refugee Organization Mass Resettlement to New Zealand Nominal Roll of Persons Departing from Piraeus, Greece on M/V GOYA on 31st March 1951; and IA/52/15 (Internal Affairs/Series 52/Reference 15) Immigrant Name List Goya.

(Regrettably figures are imprecise here as someone has drawn lines through several of the names and it is unclear whether this indicates they boarded, disembarked or otherwise.)

• Shepard, William, "Muslims in New Zealand" in The Journal Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs (1982), Volume 4, Numbers 1 & 2, pp.63 & 77.
• New Zealand Population Census 1951, Volume III - Religious Professions, (Wellington, 1953) p.9.