  We present near infrared JHK imaging of the Small Magellanic Cloud compact H
II region N81 using the ISAAC camera at the ESO Very Large Telescope (Antu).
Our analysis of the stellar environment of this young massive star region
reveals the presence of three new stellar populations in the surrounding field
which are mainly composed of low mass stars. The main population is best fitted
by evolutionary models for about 2 solar mass stars with an age of 1 Gyr. We
argue that these populations are not physically associated with the H II region
N81. Instead they are the result of a number of low mass star forming events
through the depth of the SMC south of its Shapley's wing. The populations can
rather easily be probed due to the low interstellar extinction in that
direction.
