Indigenous Australian-Indonesian intermarriage: Negotiating citizenship rights in twentieth-century Australia

This story of Indigenous Australian-Indonesian intermarriage is one that shedslight on the changes to citizenship entitlement in Australia and the struggles ofAboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Asian peoples to lead their lives free fromgovernment intervention. Indonesian-Australian contacts remain relativelyunknown in Australian history. Early Macassan relations with the peoples ofNorthern Australia, brought to light by Campbell Macknight, stands out inAustralian history as a significant first contact with Asia. More recently ReginaGanter has continued the Macassan story into the twentieth century exploringencounters with northern communities across Australia. But the story ofwartime disruption faced by the families of Indonesian men and Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander women and their long wait for citizenship rights has yetto be told.