'No Maoris No Tour' New Zealand Protests 1959-60 booklet

item details

Name'No Maoris No Tour' New Zealand Protests 1959-60 booklet

ProductionCitizens' All Black Tour Association; publisher; April 1960; New Zealand

Classificationprinted ephemera, pamphlets

Materialspaper, printing ink, metal

Materials SummaryPrinted paper booklet held together with two metal staples.

DimensionsOverall: 142mm (width), 195mm (height), 2mm (depth)

Registration NumberGH024985

Credit lineGift of Leslie and Shirley Megget, on behalf of Joyce Megget, 2016

Overview

The slogan ‘No Maoris No Tour’ simply and effectively presented the Citizens’ All Black Tour Association’s demand to fight racial discrimination in the selection of the All Black team to tour South Africa in 1960 – and to fight it on New Zealand soil. This was the first time that direct protest action against sporting contacts with South Africa had been seen in city streets, and it was in response to the New Zealand Rugby Union’s decision to bow to South Africa’s apartheid laws and send the All Blacks without Māori players.

The Citizens’ All Black Tour Association was the first explicitly anti-tour (rather than anti-apartheid) organisation, and it was supported by a wide spectrum of New Zealanders. The association organised one of New Zealand’s largest petitions, with over 150,000 signatures collected. However, the tour went ahead without Māori players.