Loathe thy neighbour

A major project, “Anzac neighbours: 100 years of multiple ties between New Zealand and Australia”, takes a new approach to Australian/New Zealand relations. The research, a collaborative effort of Professor Peter Hempenstall and Associate Professor Dr Philippa Mein Smith of the History department, and Dr Shaun Goldfinch of the Political Science department, moves beyond assumptions of separate histories to demonstrate the continuous interactive dimensions of Trans-Tasman relations from 1880 to 2000.

Dr Philippa Mein Smith, Dr Shaun Goldfinch and Dr Peter Hempenstall demonstrate the continuous interactive dimensions of trans-Tasman relations from 1880-2000. Click here to view a larger version

The research aims to address a gap in knowledge which the researchers say impoverishes the histories of Australia and New Zealand, and diminishes public commentary in both countries. The project has been awarded $345,000 for three years (2003-2005) from the Marsden Fund of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Love thy Neighbour The usual approach of “Loathe thy Neighbour” rather than “Love thy Neighbour” focuses on rivalry, as in sport, and on difference – if Australia notices at all.

The stereotyped views that Australians and New Zealanders hold of each other are so familiar that they are even seen in our cartoons and advertisements.

Yet in delving into the history of the two countries, the researchers are able to demonstrate a close and complex “family” relationship on multiple levels – political, intellectual, cultural, social and economic – since European contact.

For a few short months New Zealand was actually part of what was to become Australia, when it was annexed by New South Wales in 1840. New Zealand being granted separate crown colony status in 1841 did not end the link, and while it was separated from the Australian continent by the stormy Tasman Sea, this was easier to cross than the even larger distance between eastern and western Australia at that time. Immigrants, labour, goods and capital moved easily between the colonies as did economic and political &#233lites, Maori, missionaries and trade union leaders, entertainers and crooks.

Links formed at the highest intergovernmental level. Edward Gibbon Wakefield applied his planned settlement model to both South Australia and New Zealand, and the colonies co-operated widely on everyday issues, including a royal commission into the rabbit problem in 1888.

One hundred years ago, we adopted a shared model of state development, balancing new export economies with a fresh start at consolidating an ideal society. The Australian Settlement established at Federation was really an Australasian settlement with key elements developed in New Zealand. Its five planks – “White Australia”, industry protection, wage arbitration, state paternalism and “imperial benevolence” – were in reality a colonial settler response to the perceived global threats of the time and adopted on both sides of the Tasman. Again, in tandem some 80 to 90 years later, Australia and New Zealand responded to global forces by deciding that the workers’ welfare state, a feature in both countries, had to be pensioned off.

At one time it even looked like New Zealand would become part of an Australasian Federation. Some say that this did not happen, partly because New Zealanders, then as now, did not want to be swallowed up by their larger neighbour.

Did the Federation of 1901 mean the end of Australasia and the beginning of a separate Australia and New Zealand? This is the view of New Zealand historian, James Belich, who claims that after 1901 New Zealand turned away from Australia and back towards Britain in a process he calls “re-colonisation”. Instead of being sister colonies, New Zealand and Australia became competitors, hawking similar primary products to the northern hemisphere, until Britain joined the EEC in 1973.

Foreign policy also took divergent paths – Australia turned towards Asia and the United States while New Zealand moved away from the US, abandoning the ANZUS pact in 1985.

Similarly, the cultures diverged – Australia became more Americanised, but at the same time more self-consciously Australian. New Zealand remained more British for a while, but also drew more strongly on Polynesian elements, from the indigenous Maori, and from the Pacific Islanders who became a significant part of the population.

Yet links continued in myriad and complex ways. Significantly, both nations have tried to find national identity in their ANZAC stories. New Zealand youth shares the Australian trend towards pilgrimages to Gallipoli as part of the (also shared) tradition of the Big OE. And while Australia has criticised New Zealand for “not pulling its weight” in defence, first for withdrawing from the ANZUS alliance, and then for refusing to take part in the invasion of Iraq, New Zealand and Australia often work together as regional peacekeepers, in East Timor and Solomon Islands, for instance.

We also share many “cultural icons”. Phar Lap was born in New Zealand, Fred Hollows, the famous Australian eye doctor, grew up in New Zealand, and both cultures claim Russell Crowe and pavlova as their own.

At the religious level, too, there have been many links. Marist and Christian Brothers established Roman Catholic Schools in both countries and Seventh Day Adventists considered Australia and New Zealand one mission field for well over a century – reflected in the Adventist owned Sanitarium, which provided Weetbix and Vegemite to generations of Australians and New Zealanders.

In that other religion, sport, links are also extremely important. New Zealand teams play in Australia’s domestic rugby league, soccer and basketball competitions and Super 12 rugby union generates loyal followings in both countries.

A trans-Tasman business &#233lite has developed, as Australia has become a magnet for New Zealand business talent and as companies spread across Australasia. New Zealanders have top CEO jobs in Australia, and vice versa. Much as in the 19th century, Australian companies dominate the banking industry and shopping malls across the country are overwhelmingly Australian owned.

Indeed, trans-Tasman trade has become increasingly significant following the 1983 Closer Economic Relations pact, one of the most comprehensive free-trade agreements in the world. Australia is New Zealand’s biggest trading partner and New Zealand ranks fifth in Australia. In the professions and academia, New Zealanders and Australians hold important jobs in both countries. Professions are organised into Australasian associations while medical specialists belong to trans-Tasman colleges.

Government links, both formal and informal, are extensive, and have been so for a long time. Officials frequently deal at informal levels over such things as trade and defence issues, and New Zealand now has membership or observer status on the majority of Council of Australian Government’s intergovernmental committees. We are also moving towards shared business law, financial regulation and standards.

In short, the two countries share a history of cooperation, and while Australia is more important to New Zealand than vice versa, the trans-Tasman relationship is important to Australia, too, both for economic and security reasons, and in fashioning identity in both countries.

Meanwhile, the “Anzac Neighbours” researchers aim to do their part in”thickening” New Zealand’s ties with Australia. Because of their research and insights, they are being drawn into the first Australia-New Zealand Leadership Forum in Wellington in May 2004.

[Note: This column draws on two Marsden project articles: a keynote address by Philippa Mein Smith to the History Teachers Association of Australia in Brisbane in October 2003, “The Ties that Bind (and Divide) Australia and New Zealand”, History Now, 9: 4 (Autumn 2004), and Shaun Goldfinch, “Taking each other for granted”, Australian Financial Review, 5 March 2004.]