Looking across the Tasman: New Zealand exemplars in Australian indigenous affairs, 1920s-1970s

Abstract

This article explores some ways in which those Australians who sought to advance Aboriginal interests looked to New Zealand for guidance and inspiration during the half-century from the 1920s to the 1970s. I consider this trans-Tasman interaction under three headings: parliamentary representation, respect and recognition, and land rights. These, according to Australian activists, Maori possessed and Aborigines lacked. Making up the deficiency, they claimed, would promote Aboriginal well-being. I also look at how and why the prominence of New Zealand exemplars, relative to those from other countries, changed over these fifty years.