ABSTRACT
Contemporary Australia is multiethnic yet the lucky country has not always induced good luck for its indigenous population or for non-white settlers. More bluntly, Australia’s history of race relations can be regarded as shameful (MacLeod 2006). In relation to the United Nation’s defi nition of genocide, Colin Tatz (1999) reported that policies adopted by both state and federal governments up until the 1970s constituted genocide against the Aboriginals. Australia’s offi cial immigration policy prior to 1947 also aimed to keep its population white (MacLeod 2006) and, more recently, the so-called race riots staged on the beaches of Sydney revealed an on-going underbelly of racial tension and violence. Despite this racist legacy, Māori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand, have long travelled to and settled in Australia.
