Bridging the Pacific: Ta'isi O.F. Nelson, Australia and the Samoan Mau

Abstract

Illuminating unexplored dimensions of the Sāmoan interwar nationalist movement known as the Mau, this article tells the story of Australians who impacted the history of Indigenous protest in the League of Nations Mandated Territory of Western Samoa ruled by New Zealand. This is a story that bridges Pacific, colonial and Indigenous worlds with the Sāmoan nationalist leader, Ta’isi O.F. Nelson, located at its epicentre. As well as shedding light on the roles played by Australians in the fraught politics of the 1920s and 1930s, it also establishes unknown or forgotten connections between Australia and the Polynesian Pacific, and of Sāmoans in Australia at this time.

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