MĀORI AND ABORIGINAL WOMEN IN THE PUBLIC EYE REPRESENTING DIFFERENCE, 1950–2000 MĀORI AND ABORIGINAL WOMEN IN THE PUBLIC EYE REPRESENTING DIFFERENCE, 1950–2000 KAREN FOX THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY E PRESS E PRESS Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at http://epress.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Fox, Karen. Title: Māori and Aboriginal women in the public eye : representing difference, 1950-2000 / Karen Fox. ISBN: 9781921862618 (pbk.) 9781921862625 (ebook) Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Subjects: Women, Māori--New Zealand--History. Women, Aboriginal Australian--Australia--History. Women, Māori--New Zealand--Social conditions. Women, Aboriginal Australian--Australia--Social conditions. Indigenous women--New Zealand--Public opinion. Indigenous women--Australia--Public opinion. Women in popular culture--New Zealand. Women in popular culture--Australia. Indigenous peoples in popular culture--New Zealand. Indigenous peoples in popular culture--Australia. Dewey Number: 305.4880099442 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover image: ‘Maori guide Rangi at Whakarewarewa, New Zealand, 1935’, PIC/8725/635 LOC Album 1056/D. National Library of Australia, Canberra. Cover design and layout by ANU E Press Printed by Griffin Press This edition © 2011 ANU E Press Contents Acknowledgements . vii Abbreviations . ix Illustrations . xi Glossary of Māori Words . xiii Note on Usage . xv Introduction . 1 Chapter One . 25 Chapter Two . 49 Chapter Three . 77 Chapter Four . 105 Chapter Five . 137 Chapter Six . 173 Conclusion . 205 Select Bibliography . 213 Index . 243 v Acknowledgements This book began its life as a PhD thesis, undertaken at The Australian National University. I wish to gratefully thank my supervisory panel. Ann McGrath was enthusiastic about the topic from the first time I broached it to her, and her perceptive suggestions influenced me throughout the research and writing process. Bronwen Douglas’ warm and generous support, her incisive and often challenging insights, and her intellectual rigour continually assisted and inspired me. Tom Griffiths taught me much about writing and performing history, and was always a source of encouragement and inspiration. I greatly appreciated Barbara Brookes’ support, and our discussions shaped my thinking in important ways. I thank my colleagues and friends at the Australian Dictionary of Biography and the National Centre for Biography, the Australian Centre for Indigenous History, the School of History, and the Division of Pacific and Asian History at the ANU. In researching and writing this book I benefitted greatly from discussions, workshops, seminars, postgraduate events, social occasions and talks over coffee. For their intellectual input and support, I especially thank Chris Ballard, Nick Brown, Paul D’Arcy, Desley Deacon, Barry Higman, Pat Jalland, Shino Konishi, Melanie Nolan, Peter Read, Tim Rowse, Carolyn Strange and Angela Woollacott. I also thank Karen Smith and Karen Ciuffetelli, whose administrative support was much appreciated. Thank you to my fellow students and friends, past and present, with whom I shared the delights and stresses of a PhD. Special thanks are due to Hilary Howes, for her encouragement and companionship over cups of coffee in cafes around the campus, drinks in Fellows Garden and cocktails on the beach, and to Keri Mills, for wonderful wandering conversations when we were supposed to be practicing our te reo Māori skills. I wish also to gratefully acknowledge the help of staff at the following institutions: the National Library of Australia, the National Library of New Zealand, the Alexander Turnbull Library, the State Library of Queensland, the Macmillan Brown Library at the University of Canterbury, and the library of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. The staff of the newspaper reading room at the National Library of Australia were particularly helpful, graciously processing my many requests for bulky and awkward newspapers held off-site. Permissions to reproduce material were kindly granted by Melanie Collins, Christian Heinegg, Mihi Rurawhe, the National Library of Australia, the Alexander Turnbull Library and the Northern Territory Library. I offer my apologies to any copyright holders I have been unable to identify and vii Māori and Aboriginal Women in the Public Eye locate. Financially, I was assisted in producing this book by an APA scholarship, by the History Program in the Research School of Social Sciences, and by a publication subsidy granted by The Australian National University. I would like to express my appreciation to the staff of ANU E Press, and to Melanie Nolan, the editor of the ANU.Lives series, for encouragement and support as this book was in preparation. I am also grateful to the reviewers of the manuscript, whose thoughtful comments helped to improve the work. An earlier version of Chapter Two appeared in the Melbourne Historical Journal vol. 35, pp. 35-49, as ‘An Encounter With the White World of Wimbledon: Evonne Goolagong and Representations of Race and Gender in Australia’. A version of Chapter Five is forthcoming in Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific, issue 28 (December 2011), as ‘Matriarchs, Moderates and Militants: Press Representations of Indigenous Women in Australia and New Zealand’, online at http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue28/fox.htm. Parts of Chapter Three were originally published as ‘Rosalie Kunoth Monks and the Making of Jedda’, in Aboriginal History vol. 33 (2009), pp. 77-95. Chapter Four draws on a paper published as ‘Oodgeroo Noonuccal: Media Snapshots of a Controversial Life’ in Indigenous Biography and Autobiography, Aboriginal History monograph no. 17 (2008), pp. 57-68. Last, but certainly not least, I offer thanks to my friends and family who have listened to my ideas, provided support, and helped to distract me when necessary. In particular, my mother, Ngaire, has always supported me in my intellectual life. Most of all, I thank Jamie. His love and faith in me seem boundless, beyond anything I could have imagined. viii Abbreviations ABC Australian Broadcasting Commission/Corporation AC Companion of the Order of Australia AFL Australian Football League AM Member of the Order of Australia APA Aboriginal Progressive Association ATSIC Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission CBE Commander of the Order of the British Empire DBE Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire FCAA Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement FCAATSI Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders MBE Member of the Order of the British Empire MMP Mixed Member Proportional MP Member of Parliament MWWL Māori Women’s Welfare League NSW New South Wales OAM Medal of the Order of Australia OBE Officer of the Order of the British Empire ONZ Order of New Zealand QCAATSI Queensland Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders QSM Queen’s Service Medal RCES Royal Commission on the Electoral System USLTA United States Lawn Tennis Association WCTU Women’s Christian Temperance Union ix Illustrations Figure 1: ‘Portrait of Truganini’, Charles Woolley. Photograph. nla.pic- 3 an23795214-v. National Library of Australia, Canberra. Figure 2: ‘Princess Te Kirihaehae Te Puea Hērangi’, ca. 1938. 7 Photograph. PAColl-5584-58. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. Figure 3: ‘Evonne Goolagong Relaxes at Kooyong Between 51 Tournament Matches’, 1 February 1971, Eric Wadsworth. Australian Information Service. Photograph. nla.pic-vn3050389. National Library of Australia, Canberra. Figure 4: ‘Cathy Freeman, Commonwealth Games, Victoria, British 72 Columbia, Canada, 1994’, Melanie Collins. Photograph. nla.pic- an22839269. National Library of Australia, Canberra. Figure 5: ‘Kiri Te Kanawa, Wearing a Concert Gown of White Crepe’, 81 Evening Post staff photographer. Photograph. EP/1966/0479-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. Figure 6: ‘Rosalie Kunoth-Monks’, Steve Lorman. Photograph. 89 PH0141/0169. Northern Territory Library, Darwin. Figure 7: ‘Portrait of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’, Australian Overseas 107 Information Service. Photograph. nla.pic-an11618802. National Library of Australia, Canberra. Figure 8: ‘Photograph of Whina Cooper in Hamilton During the Māori 138 Land March’, 25 September 1975, Christian Heinegg. Photograph. PA7-15-18. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. Figure 9: ‘Miss Lois O’Donoghue, Australian of the Year’, Michael 148 Jensen. Photograph. nla.pic-an24188590. National Library of Australia, Canberra. Figure 10: ‘Portrait of Pat O’Shane Taken at the Constitutional 150 Convention, Canberra, 2-13 February 1998’, Loui Seselja. Photograph. nla.pic-an20168637. National Library of Australia, Canberra. Figure 11: ‘Iriaka Matiu Rātana’, c. 1949. Tesla Studios. Mitchell- 182 Anyon. Photograph. F-55126–1/2. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. Figure 12: ‘Whetū Tirikātene-Sullivan’, 1984. Dominion Post 184 Collection. Photograph. EP-Portraits of New Zealanders-Tirikātene- Sullivan, Whetū-02. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. xi Glossary of Māori Words aroha affection or sympathy haka traditional dance hapū sub-tribe