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Story: The New Zealanders

Lampooning the Australian federation

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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.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: J-040-002

by Scatz

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Jock Phillips, The New Zealanders – Maorilanders, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/1926/lampooning-the-australian-federation (accessed 3 June 2026).

Story by Jock Phillips, published 4 March 2009, updated 1 May 2015.