Reading Māori and Aboriginal Mobilities and Encounters in Newcastle, 1853

In February 1853 a group of Māori crew on the ship William Hyde docked in Newcastle, where they met Awabakal people dancing and responded with a haka. When the William Hyde returned to New Zealand, four Aboriginal men joined the crew. In this article, by developing an analysis that moves beyond histories of Indigenous peoples as individuals to contemplate histories of Indigenous community responses to colonisation, I attempt to understand this encounter and connection which leaves only a trace in the colonial archive. Drawing on recent historiography of Indigenous mobilities, I explore the possibilities of mutual recognition of sovereignties and shared experiences of colonisation and reassess ‘traditional’ representations of Indigenous travellers.