Though that, of course, leads to the point that one major reason New Zealand stayed out of Australian federation was because of Australia's rampant racism. New Zealand did not want to see the policies applied to Aboriginals also applied to Maori. This was not entirely through the goodness of their hearts but through the simple reality that parts of the central North Island (the King Country, so named for the Maori King movement, and Te Urewera in particular) were still under de facto Maori sovereignty. The implementation of Australian policies would have, without question, led to open warfare on a catastrophic scale.
I love this cartoon from the federation debates that gets reprinted often:
Sorry, I'm sort of getting into my zone here...
I love this cartoon from the federation debates that gets reprinted often:
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/1926/lampooning-the-australian-federation
At the end of the 19th century there was a possibility that New Zealand would join the new Australian federation. Resistance to this proposal became a way in which New Zealanders began to distinguish themselves from their fellow colonials across the Tasman Sea. In this cartoon New Zealand, in the person of white-robed Zealandia, prefers to hold the hands of her Pacific neighbours rather than be lured into the clutches of the Australian ogre.
Sorry, I'm sort of getting into my zone here...