Irish Catholic Identity in 1870s Otago, New Zealand

This article outlines the progress made by Bishop Patrick Moran (1823-1895) in standardising doctrinal practices of Irish Catholic immigrants in New Zealand in the 1870s. The principal sources used are contemporary newspapers, some proceedings of the Otago Provincial Council and clerical correspondence. It revisits and builds on Hugh Laracy's biographical work on Moran and the increasing historiography of migration to address a few fundamental questions: how instrumental was Bishop Patrick Moran in shaping Catholicism in Otago; what kind of laity did he encounter on arrival; how Ultramontane were the New Zealand Irish on leaving home; how crucial was the education question in Moran's campaign? Do the 1870s represent the beginning of a shift in Irish immigration patterns to New Zealand and in turn a discreet Catholic identity?.