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Jatinder Mann
Redefining Citizenship
in Australia, Canada,
and Aotearoa New Zealand
Adopting a political and legal perspective, Redefining Citizenship in Australia, Can-
ada, and Aotearoa New Zealand undertakes a transnational study that examines
the demise of Britishness as a defining feature of the conceptualisation of cit-
izenship in Australia, Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand and the impact that
this historic shi�t has had on Indigenous and other ethnic groups in these states.
During the 1950s and 1970s an ethnically based citizenship was transformed
into a civic-based one (one based on rights and responsibilities). �e major con-
text in which this took place was the demise of British race patriotism in Austra-
lia, English-speaking Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand. Although the timing
of this shi�t varied, Aboriginal groups and non-British ethnic groups were now
incorporated, or appeared to be incorporated, into ideas of citizenship in all
three nations. �e development of citizenship in this period has traditionally
been associated with immigration in Australia, Canada, and Aotearoa New Zea-
land. However, the historical origins of citizenship practices in all three coun-
tries have yet to be fully analysed. �is is what Redefining Citizenship in Australia,
Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand does. �e overarching question addressed by
the book is: Why and how did the end of the British World lead to the redefini-
tion of citizenship in Australia, Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand between the
1950s and 1970s in regard to other ethnic and Indigenous groups? �is book will
be useful for history and politics courses, as well as specialised courses on citi-
zenship and Indigenous studies.
Jatinder Mann is Assistant Professor of History at Hong Kong

Baptist University. He is the editor of Citizenship in Transnational
Perspective: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand and author of �e
Search for a New National Identity: �e Rise of Multiculturalism in Can-
ada and Australia, 1890s–1970s.
www.peterlang.com
Studies in Transnationalism, vol. 2
Cover image by Pal Bhachu

2
Mann
Jatinder Mann
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR
Redefining Citizenship
Redefining Citizenship in Australia,
Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand
“The diverse array of citizens of settler colonizer nations need to know their full story. This
clearly written and courageously comparative history demonstrates how at the end of the British

world, three nation-states redefined citizenship from a concept based upon race, status, and
Redefining Citizenship in Australia,
Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand
links to Britain to one based upon civic rights and responsibilities. This meticulously researched
book will be a must-read for scholars interested in national identity, political and legal history,
and the history of indigenous resistance.”
—Ann McGrath (AM, FASSA, FAHA), Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellow
and W.K. Hancock Professor of History, School of History, Australian National University
“This book is a groundbreaking comparative study of Canada, Australia, and Aotearoa New
Zealand and the shift from ethnic forms of British-based national identity to civic and
potentially more inclusive varieties during the 1960s and 1970s. This crucial shift in identity
has been inadequately studied until now. Jatinder Mann’s insightful and impeccably researched
book, based on a wealth of primary sources, casts new light into the connections between
national identity and citizenship in settler states. It correlates major changes in conceptions of
national self and other with the rise and decline of the British imperial system. An impressive
addition to the literature on citizenship studies, Indigenous peoples, and racialized peoples.”
—David B. MacDonald, Professor and Research Leadership Chair for the College of Social
and Applied Human Sciences, Department of Political Science, University of Guelph
“At a time when a disunited Kingdom is engaged in an almost byzantine debate about Brexit
in which some protagonists are seeking to rekindle the flames of empire, Jatinder Mann’s
impressive book offers a rigorous analysis of how the relations between Britain and its closest
dominions became severely weakened if not entirely severed.
Carefully examining the way citizenship was redefined in Australia, Canada, and New
Zealand between the 1950s and 1970s, Mann demonstrates how changing global geopolitical
relations, the strengthening of demands for indigenous people’s rights, and increasingly diverse
non-British immigration patterns moved the basis of majority settler forms of national identity
towards varying multicultural and bicultural frames of belonging.
This book is essential reading for students of the political history of British settler states,
within and across these area studies, and will be invaluable for citizenship specialists, especially
with expertise in ethnic and indigenous studies, still debating whether the British World is
being revived or is irretrievably lost.”
—David Pearson, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Social and Cultural Studies,
PETER LANG
Victoria University of Wellington

Redefining Citizenship
Studies in Transnationalism
Jatinder Mann
Series Editor
Vol. 2
The Studies in Transnationalism series is part of the Peter Lang Humanities list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.
PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Jatinder Mann
Redefining Citizenship
PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Mann, Jatinder, author.
Title: Redefining citizenship in Australia, Canada, and
Aotearoa New Zealand / Jatinder Mann.
Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2019.
Series: Studies in transnationalism, vol. 2
ISSN 2578-9317 (print) | ISSN 2578-9325 (online)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018052792 | ISBN 978-1-4331-5108-8 (hardback: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4331-5109-5 (ebook pdf) | ISBN 978-1-4331-5110-1 (epub)
ISBN 978-1-4331-5111-8 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Citizenship—Australia—History—20th century.
Citizenship—Canada—History—20th century.
Citizenship—New Zealand—History—20th century.
Naturalization—Australia—History—20th century.
Naturalization—Canada—History—20th century.
Naturalization—New Zealand—History—20th century.
Indigenous peoples—Legal status, laws, etc.—Australia—History—20th century.
Indigenous peoples—Legal status, laws, etc.—Canada—History—20th century.
Indigenous peoples—Legal status, laws, etc.—New Zealand—History—20th century.
Classification: LCC JF801 .M338 2019 | DDC 323.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018052792
DOI 10.3726/b15770
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.
© 2019 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York

29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com
All rights reserved.

Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
This book is dedicated to John. Thank you so much for all your love,
support, and encouragement. This is for you, handsome…
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Redefining Citizenship in Australia, 1950s–1970s 9
Chapter 2: Redefining Citizenship in Canada, 1950s–1970s 53
Chapter 3: Redefining Citizenship in Aotearoa New Zealand,
1950s–1970s 99
Chapter 4: Comparisons 143
Conclusion 157
Bibliography 165
Index 181
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As with my first monograph, the writing of this book has been a journey
that has taken place in different countries and continents, and I would like
to thank those who have supported me throughout this venture. This book
emerged out of my Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship research project at the
University of Alberta (U of A) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I would like
to thank Peter Lang Publishing for agreeing to publish my second monograph.
In particular, I express gratitude to Meagan Simpson for commissioning the
manuscript, and Jennifer Beszley and Luke McCord for seeing it through to
production. I would like to thank my Research Assistant, Ken Ng for his help
with putting the index of the book together. Additionally, I express my grat-
itude to Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) for its generous subvention,
which contributed to the publication of this monograph.
An article based on parts of Chapter 1 entitled “The End of the British
World and the Redefinition of Citizenship in Australia, 1950s-1970s” was
published in the Chinese Journal of Australian Studies. An article based on parts
of Chapter 2 entitled “The End of the British World and the Redefinition of
Citizenship in Canada, 1950s-1970s” was published in the Asian Journal of
Canadian Studies. An article based on parts of Chapter 3 entitled “The End
of the British World and the Redefinition of Citizenship in Aotearoa New
x REDEFINING CITIZENSHIP IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, AND AOTEAROA
Zealand, 1950s–1970s” was published in National Identities. A scholarly book

chapter based on parts of Chapter 2 entitled “The Redefinition of Citizenship
in Canada, 1950s-1970s” was published in Jatinder Mann (ed.), Citizenship
in Transnational Perspective: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand (New York:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). I would like to thank the publishers of the jour-
nals and edited book for their permission to publish these sections of the book.
I owe thanks to many institutions and people for their assistance during
the process leading to the completion of this manuscript. In particular, I ac-
knowledge the U of A, the Australian National University (ANU), Carleton
University, the Victoria University of Wellington (VUW), King’s College
London, and HKBU. I thank all my friends and colleagues in these insti-
tutions for their constant encouragement and support in the writing of this
book. I would especially like to mention the School of Politics and Interna-
tional Relations at the ANU, the School of Indigenous and Canadian Stud-
ies at Carleton University, and the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand
Studies at VUW, for providing me with a scholarly home and material support
which enabled me to carry out the research for my three case studies.
I would also like to express my immense gratitude to Professor Janine Bro-
die for her considerable guidance, support, and feedback during my Banting
Postdoctoral Fellowship at the U of A. Actually, the thanks even goes as
far back as when I applied for a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship (the most
prestigious fellowship of its kind in Canada) and she kindly agreed to be my
mentor/supervisor. My project benefitted immensely from having Janine as
my mentor/supervisor, and I will forever be grateful for this.
I am thankful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Coun-
cil (SSHRC) of Canada for awarding me a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship,
without which this book would not have been possible. I am also grateful to
the Office of the Vice-President (Research) at the U of A for its extremely
generous research support, which enabled me to carry out my research in Can-
berra, Australia, and Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. Thanks are also
due to the International Council for Canadian Studies for awarding me the
inaugural Avi Arensen Canadian Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship, which en-
abled me to conduct my research in Ottawa, Canada.
The staff members at Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwa-
natanga, Library and Archives Canada, the National Archives of Australia,
the National Library of Australia, and the National Library of New Zealand
Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa were always very helpful. I would also like
to thank the permission holders of the following personal papers and fonds
Acknowledgments xi
for their kind permission to consult restricted parts of them: Al Grassby Pa-
pers, Sir Billy Snedden Papers, Lester B. Pearson Fonds, Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Fonds, Jack Pickersgill Fonds, Richard Albert Bell Fonds, and the David Watt
Ballantyne Papers.
Lastly, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my friends and fam-
ily all across the world for your constant support and belief in me. It was not
always easy writing this book, and I often had to dig deep, but your words of
encouragement always helped. I hope to continue thanking you all for many
more books to come.
Jatinder Mann
Hong Kong, March 2019
ABBREVIATIONS
ALP—Australian Labor Party

EEC—European Economic Community
FCAATSI—Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres
Strait Islanders
MP—Member of Parliament
UK—United Kingdom
UN—United Nations
US—United States
INTRODUCTION
Adopting a political and legal perspective, my book undertakes a transnation-

al study that examines the demise of Britishness1 on the conceptualisation of
citizenship and the impact that this historic shift has had on Indigenous and
other ethnic groups in Australia, Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand. During
the 1950s and 1970s an ethnically based citizenship was transformed into a
civic-based one (based on rights and responsibilities). The major context in
which this took place was the demise of British race patriotism in Australia,
English-speaking Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand. Although the timing
of this shift varied, Aboriginal groups and non-British ethnic groups were now
incorporated, or appeared to be incorporated, into ideas of citizenship in all
three nations. The development of citizenship in this period has traditionally
been associated with immigration in Australia, Canada, and Aotearoa New
Zealand. However, the historical origins of citizenship practices in all three
countries have yet to be fully analysed. This is what my book does. The dif-
ferences between Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand on the one hand and
Canada on the other will be particularly enlightening, as the latter contained
a majority non-British population: French-Canadians and other long-standing
European groups. Furthermore, the Māori population of Aotearoa New Zea-
land had long-standing political representation in the national parliament,
2 REDEFINING CITIZENSHIP IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, AND AOTEAROA
which was not the case in Australia and Canada, which represents another
fascinating dimension to the study. The overarching question addressed by my
book is: Why and how did the end of the British World lead to the redefini-
tion of citizenship in Australia, Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand between
the 1950s and 1970s in regard to other ethnic and Indigenous groups?
There has been no study of the redefinition of citizenship in terms of
ethnicity and Indigeneity in Australia, Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand
during the 1950s and 1970s in the transnational British World perspective.2
Although Heidi Bohaker and Franca Iacovetta3 have examined migrants and
First Nation groups in Canada between the 1950s and 1970s, they focused
on citizenship programs (i.e., integration policy) rather than citizenship leg-
islation, which is the subject of this book. What is more, they did not place
developments with both groups in the context of the demise of Britishness,
which is the most original aspect of my book. Anna Haebich,4 although look-
ing at both migrants and Aboriginal groups, focused on assimilation policy as
she described it between the 1950s and 1970s, and did not place her study in
the context of the decline of British race patriotism as the basis of national
identity in Australia.5
Most literature on citizenship in Australia has tended to trace its devel-
opment from Australians advancing from the status of being “subjects to cit-
izens.”6 Specifically, the majority argue that the key turning point for Aus-
tralians was the British Nationality and Australian Citizenship Act of 1948. But
this was not the case. As I have shown in my article on “The Evolution of
Commonwealth Citizenship,” this Act was an attempt by Australia to pre-
serve the common status of British subjects that Canada’s unilateral action
of introducing its own national citizenship had jeopardised. Therefore, the
Australian Act actually affirmed Australia’s Britishness.7
This book has many unique features. These include the transnational ap-
proach, which will enable the impact of a broad concept of national identity
on the conceptualisation of citizenship in relation to other ethnic groups and
Indigenous peoples to be explored through the experiences of three different
countries. The comparisons that will be made between each will be important
in themselves, but they will also bring unique characteristics or features of
each country to the forefront.
My book consulted government archives, citizenship acts, naturalisation
legislation, parliamentary debates, newspaper editorials, and speeches and
personal papers of key figures in the period to chart the impact of the demise
of Britishness on the definition of citizenship in terms of Aboriginal and other
Introduction 3
ethnic groups in Australia, Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand. The specific
archival sources I consulted included: Cabinet records, files of Foreign/Exter-
nal Affairs, and those of the Attorney-General Departments that deal with
the formulation of legislation and its operation. The focus on these sources in
all three national archives of the countries of my study enabled me to pursue a
comparative examination of policy, which is one of the most unique features
of the book. The book also engages with key secondary sources.8
Specifically, the book focuses on key points in the redefinition of citizen-
ship during the period of my study in terms of other ethnic and Indigenous
peoples. So, for Australia, I looked at the major citizenship legislation between
the 1950s and 1970s; particularly the 1973 Australian Citizenship Act, which
removed the status of British subject from Australian citizenship. Alongside
studying the actual Act itself, I consulted government documents leading to
its introduction;9 key personal papers of political figures that were responsi-
ble for it, such as Minister for Immigration Al Grassby;10 parliamentary de-
bates regarding its passage; and newspaper editorials on the public reaction
to the legislation. On the Indigenous side, the 1967 referendum on whether
the Commonwealth government should be allowed to legislate for Aborigi-
nal people (this had previously been the purview of state governments) and
if they should be counted as a part of the national census was the key event
during the 1950s and 1970s. As with the abovementioned 1973 Australian
Citizenship Act, I studied the referendum itself; consulted government docu-
ments on the decision to hold it;11 looked at the personal papers of key figures
involved in its adoption, such as Prime Minister Harold Holt;12 examined par-
liamentary debates regarding the referendum; and explored popular reaction
to it, through newspaper editorials.
In the case of Canada, I focused on the major points in the redefinition
of citizenship towards other ethnic and Indigenous groups between the 1950s
and 1970s. The 1977 Canadian Citizenship Act was the most significant piece
of legislation during this period in terms of other ethnic groups, as, similarly
to the Australian Act above, it removed the status of British subject from
Canadian citizenship. As with the Australian Act, I actually focused on the
1977 Canadian Citizenship Act itself; consulted government documents lead-
ing to its introduction;13 studied the personal papers of key figures responsible
for its framing, such as Minister for Manpower and Immigration Bud Cullen;14
explored parliamentary debates regarding its adoption; and examined newspa-
per editorials for popular reaction to the proposals. On the Indigenous side, a
particular highlight is the Diefenbaker government’s move in 1960 to extend
the franchise to all Aboriginal people in the country. As with the above 1977
Canadian Citizenship Act, I focused on the actual legislation itself; examined
key government documents leading to its introduction,15 as well as personal
papers of key figures responsible for it, such as Minister of Citizenship Ellen
Fairclough;16 studied parliamentary debates surrounding its adoption; and ex-
plored popular reaction to the legislation through newspaper editorials.
The Aotearoa New Zealand case study is an interesting one, as unlike
Australia and Canada, the Indigenous people in its territory had political
representation in the national parliament from its establishment as a nation
(although it was not proportionate to their numbers in the population). How-
ever, it did have a similar experience to the two countries in terms of its cit-
izenship legislation towards other ethnic groups. The 1977 British Nationality
and New Zealand Citizenship Act was the most important piece of legislation
as it also removed the status of British subject from Aotearoa New Zealand
citizenship. As with both the Australian and Canadian cases above, I focused
on the actual legislation itself; consulted the government documents leading
to its introduction;17 explored the personal papers of key figures responsible for
it; examined the parliamentary debates surrounding its adoption; and studied
newspaper editorials for the popular reaction to the proposals.
In terms of structure, the book consists of three chapters on Australia,
Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand, and a fourth chapter on comparisons.
Going into more detail, Chapter 1 on “Redefining Citizenship in Australia,
1950s–1970s” argues that in the 1950s, Australia very much identified itself
as a British country and an integral part of a wider British World, which had
the UK at its centre. However, by the 1970s, this British World had come to
an end, as had Australia’s self-identification as a British nation. During this
period, citizenship in Australia was redefined in a significant way from being
an ethnic (British)-based one to a more civic-founded one which was more
inclusive of other ethnic groups and apparently Aborigines. This chapter ar-
gues that this redefinition of citizenship took place primarily in the context of
this major shift in national identity. After having established the context of
the end of the British World in Australia (with a focus on the UK’s applica-
tion for entry into the EEC and the British withdrawal from “East of Suez”),
it explores the Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1955, the Nationality and Cit-
izenship Act of 1960, the Citizenship Act of 1969, and the Australian Citizenship
Act of 1973, to illustrate the way in which citizenship became more inclusive
of other ethnic groups in the country. It then studies Aboriginal policy dur-
ing the 1950s, the awarding of the right to vote to Aborigines in 1961, the
Introduction 5
1967 constitutional referendum, and the International Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, between the 1960s and
1970s, to highlight the way in which citizenship in Australia also appeared to
incorporate Aborigines at this time.
Chapter 2 on “Redefining Citizenship in Canada, 1950s–1970s” also main-
tains that in the 1950s, English-speaking Canada very much identified itself
as a British country and an integral part of a wider British World which had
the UK at its centre. Canada’s bicultural nature, with the French-Canadians,
complicated this self-identity in that country. However, by the 1970s this
British World had come to an end, as had Canada’s self-identification as a
British nation. During this period, citizenship in Canada was redefined in
a significant way from being an ethnic (British)-based one to a more civic-
founded one—which was more inclusive of other ethnic groups and apparent-
ly Indigenous peoples. This chapter argues that this redefinition of citizenship
took place primarily in the context of this major shift in national identity.
After having established the context of the end of the British World in Cana-
da (with a focus on the Suez Crisis of 1956 and the UK’s application for entry
into the EEC) it explores the Canadian Citizenship Acts of 1957, 1962, 1967,
and 1977 to illustrate the way in which citizenship became more inclusive
of other ethnic groups in the country. It then studies the amendments of the
Elections Act in 1950 and the Indian Act in 1955, the awarding of the right to
vote for First Nations in 1960, and the 1969 White Paper, to highlight how
citizenship in Canada also appeared to incorporate Indigenous groups at this
time.
Chapter 3 on “Redefining Citizenship in Aotearoa New Zealand,
1950s–1970s” asserts that in the 1950s, Aotearoa New Zealand very much
identified itself as a British country and an integral part of a wider British
World which had the UK at its heart. However, by the 1970s this British
World had come to an end, as had Aotearoa New Zealand’s self-identification
as a British nation. During this period, citizenship in Aotearoa New Zealand
was redefined in a significant way from being an ethnic (British)-based one to
a more civic-founded one—which was more inclusive of other ethnic groups
and apparently Māori. This chapter argues that this redefinition of citizenship
took place primarily in the context of this major shift in national identity.
After having established the context of the end of the British World in Ao-
tearoa New Zealand (with a focus on the UK’s application for entry into the
EEC and the British military withdrawal from “East of Suez”) it explores the
popular pressure from mainly Dutch immigrants against distinctions between
natural-born and naturalised citizens in 1955, the British Nationality and New
Zealand Citizenship Acts of 1959 and 1963, and the Citizenship and Aliens Act
of 1977 to illustrate the ways in which citizenship became more inclusive of
other ethnic groups in the country. It then studies the Māori Affairs Amend-
ment Act of 1967, the Race Relations Act of 1971, the Māori Affairs Amendment
Act of 1974, and the Treaty of Waitangi Act of 1975, to highlight the ways in
which citizenship in Aotearoa New Zealand also attempted to incorporate
Māori, although this proved to be highly problematic, and still unresolved at
this stage.
According to Chapter 4 on “Comparisons” between the 1950s and 1970s,
Britishness declined as the foundation of national identity in Australia,
English-speaking Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand. This was primarily
due to external shocks for the three countries: the Suez Crisis of 1956 was
the starting point of the process in Canada. The UK’s application for entry
into the EEC was a common turning point for all three countries. The UK’s
withdrawal from East of Suez in 1967 was the end point of the process in Aus-
tralia and Aotearoa New Zealand. The decline of the British connection led
to a shift from an ethnic-centred (British) citizenship to a more civic-based
one that was more inclusive of other ethnic groups and apparently Indigenous
peoples in Australia, Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand. The highlights in
Australia were the British Nationality and Australian Citizenship Act of 1967,
the Australian Citizenship Act of 1973, the awarding of the right to vote to Ab-
origines in 1960, and the 1967 referendum, which gave the Commonwealth
power to legislate for Aborigines. In Canada, the key points were the Canadi-
an Citizenship Acts of 1967 and 1977, the awarding of the right to vote to First
Nations on the federal level, and the White Paper of 1969. The highlights in
Aotearoa New Zealand were the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizen-
ship Act of 1959, the Citizenship and Aliens Act of 1977, and the Maori Affairs
Amendment Acts of 1967 and 1974. The chapter draws comparisons between
the Australian, Canadian, and Aotearoa New Zealand experiences and offers
some explanations for any similarities and differences.
Notes
1. This was the belief that Australia, English-speaking Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand
were an integral part of a wider British World.
2. Carl Bridge and Kent Fedorowich, eds., The British World: Diaspora, Culture and Identity.
(Abingdon, Oxford: Routledge, 2003).
Introduction 7
3. Heidi Bohaker and Franca Iacovetta, “Making Aboriginal People ‘Immigrants Too’”: A
Comparison of Citizenship Programs for Newcomers and Indigenous Peoples in Postwar
Canada, 1940s–1960s,” Canadian Historical Review 90, no. 3 (September 2009), 427–61;
David Pearson, “Theorizing Citizenship in British Settler Societies,” Ethnic and Racial
Studies 25, no. 6 (November 2002), 989–1012, looks at citizenship in Australia, Canada,
and New Zealand, but he took a sociological perspective and adopted a theoretical ap-
proach.
4. Anna Haebich, Spinning the Dream: Assimilation in Australia, 1950–1970 (North Freman-
tle, WA: Fremantle Press, c2007).
5. The most recent work on this is Jatinder Mann’s The Search for a New National Identi-
ty: The Rise of Multiculturalism in Canada and Australia, 1890s–1970s (New York: Peter
Lang, 2016). James Curran and Stuart Ward’s The Unknown Nation: Australia After Em-
pire (Parkville, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2010) also focuses on Australia’s
self-identification as a British nation. A comparable work on the demise of Britishness in
English-speaking Canada is José Igartua’s The Other Quiet Revolution: National Identities in
English Canada, 1945–1971 (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007). There has not been any in-
depth book-length work on the decline of Britishness in Aotearoa New Zealand. Howev-
er, James Belich does explore it in a broader history of Aotearoa New Zealand in Paradise
Reforged. History of the New Zealanders from the 1880s to the Year 2000 (Auckland: Penguin
Books, 2002). Stuart Ward also explored Aotearoa New Zealand’s self-identification in a
broader comparative chapter on Australia, Canada, and New Zealand: “The ‘New Nation-
alism’ in Australia, Canada and New Zealand”: Civic Culture In the Wake of the British
World” in Britishness Abroad: Transnational Movements and Imperial Cultures, edited by
Kate Darian-Smith, Patricia Grimshaw, and Stuart Macintyre (Carlton, Victoria: Mel-
bourne University Press, 2007).
6. This is literally the beginning of the title of Alistair Davidson’s book, From Subject to
Citizen: Australian Citizenship in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1997).
7. Jatinder Mann, “The Evolution of Commonwealth Citizenship, 1945–48 in Canada, Brit-
ain and Australia,” Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 50, no. 3 (July 2012): 293–313.
8. I relied on the existing secondary literature to establish the context of the demise of Brit-
ishness in the three countries. The key sources in this regard are Jatinder Mann, “The
Introduction of Multiculturalism in Canada and Australia, 1960s–1970s,” Nations and
Nationalism 18, no. 3 (July 2012); Jatinder Mann, ‘“Leavening British Traditions’”: Inte-
gration Policy in Australia, 1962–1972,” Australian Journal of Politics and History 59, issue
1 (March 2013); Jatinder Mann, ‘“Anglo-Conformity’”’: Assimilation Policy in Cana-
da, 1890s–1950s,” International Journal of Canadian Studies 50 (December 2014); Mann,
The Search for a New National Identity; Curran and Ward, The Unknown Nation; Igartua,
The Other Quiet Revolution; Neville Meaney, ‘“In History’s Page’: Identity and Myth” in
Australia’s Empire, edited by Deryck M. Schreuder and Stuart Ward, The Oxford History
of the British Empire Series, general editor Wm. Roger Louis (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2008); Ward, “The ‘New Nationalism’ in Australia, Canada and New Zealand”;
James Curran, The Power of Speech: Australian Prime Ministers Defining the National Image
(Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2006); Phil Buckner, ed., Canada and the
End of Empire (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005); and Stuart Ward, Australia and the British
Embrace: The Demise of the British Ideal (Carlton South, Victoria: Melbourne University
Press, 2001).
9. National Archives of Australia (NAA), A5925 462/LEG: Legislation Committee—
Cabinet Minute—Australian Citizenship Bill 1973.
10. National Library of Australia (NLA), MS 7798: Personal Papers of Al Grassby.
11. NAA, A406 E1967/30: 1967 Referendum constitution alteration—main file. NAA, A406
E1967/30 Part P: Referendum, 1967: Constitution alteration—Report on conduct of ref-
erendum.
12. NAA, M2684 116: [Personal papers of Prime Minister Holt] 1967 Referendum—“Yes”
campaign, 1966–1967. NAA, M4299: [Personal Papers of Harold Holt].
13. Library and Archives Canada (LAC), RG19-F-2: Secretary of State—Citizenship Legis-
lation, 1952–1976. LAC, RG3260-0–8-E: Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Fonds, 1967–2012.
14. LAC, R11236-0–8-E: Jack “Bud” Cullen Fonds, 1969–1984.
15. LAC, RG26-A-2-A: Miscellaneous Re: Indian administration, 1942–1963. LAC,
RG6-F-4: Indians—Indian conferences, general, 01/1959–06/1972.
16. LAC, R12805-0–0-E: Ellen Fairclough Fonds, 1951–2004.
17. Archives New Zealand (ANZ), R13024762: General—Naturalisation of Aliens and New
Zealand Citizenship, 1972–1978. ANZ, R20761256: Commonwealth Affairs—Legislation
and constitutional affairs— Nationality— NZ Citizenship: General [11/71–09/76],
1971–1976.
·1·
REDEFINING CITIZENSHIP
IN AUSTRALIA, 1950s–1970 s 1
In the 1950s Australia very much identified itself as a British country and an
integral part of a wider British World which had the UK at its centre. Howev-
er, by the 1970s this British World had come to an end, as had Australia’s self-
identification as a British nation. During this period, citizenship in Australia
was redefined in a significant way from being an ethnic (British)- based one
to a more civic-founded one which was more inclusive of other ethnic groups
and apparently Aborigines. This chapter will argue that this redefinition of
citizenship took place primarily in the context of this major shift in national
identity. After having established the context of the end of the British World
in Australia (with a focus on the UK’s application for entry into the EEC
and the British withdrawal from “East of Suez”) it will explore the Nationality
and Citizenship Acts of 1955 and 1960, the Citizenship Act of 1969, and the
Australian Citizenship Act of 1973 to illustrate the way in which citizenship
became more inclusive of other ethnic groups in the country. It will then
study Aboriginal policy during the 1950s, the awarding of the right to vote
to Aborigines in 1961, the 1967 constitutional referendum, and the Interna-
tional Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,
between the 1960s and 1970s, to highlight how citizenship in Australia also
appeared to incorporate Aborigines at this time.
10
REDEFINING CITIZENSHIP IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, AND AOTEAROA
Theoretical Background
Before exploring these several themes, it will be useful to briefly discuss the
theoretical background to citizenship in Australia during the 1950s and
1970s—namely, the distinction between normative citizenship (citizenship
as status) and substantive citizenship (citizenship as rights and obligations).
T. H. Marshall formulated “citizenship” as a designation given to those who
are full participants of a community. Through this he enlarged citizenship to
incorporate civil rights, as well as political and social citizenship.2 According
to Wayne Hudson and John Kane, though, “What most Australians under-
stand by citizenship is a mixture of legal and political citizenship….The history
of legal and political citizenship in Australia, however, is problematic.”3 This
relates to the fact that in the 1950s, citizenship in Australia was very much
normative—it did not entail extensive rights and obligations. And to compli-
cate things even more, British migrants could attain this status on much eas-
ier terms in comparison with non-British migrants. Aboriginal Australians,
though possessing the “status” of Australian citizens, were deprived of rights
which are usually associated with citizenship through a swathe of restrictive
legislation—at both the federal and state levels. Helen Irving emphasised that
“The political rights we most readily associate now with citizenship were…
not what defined a citizen but what followed from being a citizen.”4 David
Dutton argued that “The legal meaning of Australian citizenship has never
been singularly defined, and must even now, be sought in the common law,
and a multitude of Commonwealth and state statutes dealing with immigra-
tion, passports, the franchise, jury service, employment in the public service,
and social security.”5 According to Sangeetha Pillai, “The commencement of
the NCA 1948 signified the emergence of Australian statutory citizenship….
However, this did not symbolize a radical shift in notions of formal member-
ship of the Australian community, but rather a relatively gradual evolution
from previous statutes which had shaped such notions without using the lan-
guage of citizenship.”6 Nevertheless, by the 1970s, citizenship in Australia was
considerably more substantive compared with the 1950s, and all migrants were
put on an equal basis in terms of attaining this citizenship. Ann-Mari Jordens
neatly encapsulated this redefinition, “Over 30 years, the presence of large
numbers of non-British migrants in Australia slowly eroded the conception
of Australian citizenship from a status based on British ethnicity and culture
to one based on equality of rights and responsibilities.”7 However, I will argue
that a shift in national identity rather than increasing multi-ethnicity was the
Redefining Citizenship in Australia 11
main reason for this redefinition. Jordens added that a “culturally normative
conception of citizenship was clearly reflected in the definition of ‘alien’ em-
bodied in the [1948] Act….A nation’s understanding of itself is revealed by
the categories of people it regards as foreign, alien and ‘other’….From 1948 to
1987 Australia’s citizenship legislation defined an alien as ‘a person who does
not have the status of British subject and is not an Irish citizen or a protected
person.’”8 Turning to Aborigines and citizenship, the most that one can really
say about when Aboriginal groups became Australian citizens is that, primar-
ily during the 1960s, Aboriginal groups gradually secured the substantive citi-
zenship rights that up to that point had been withheld from them at the State
and Commonwealth levels as State and Commonwealth statutes that limited
their citizenship rights were slowly repealed.9 Susan Dodds maintained that
“In considering ways of thinking about Australian Aboriginal citizenship,
the history of European engagement with indigenous Australians acts as a
constant reminder of the gap between abstract idealisations of liberal dem-
ocratic citizenship and the reality of colonial and post-colonial Australian
social policy….Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were not simply
‘overlooked’ in the process of nation building; their status as rights bearers
was actively undermined.”10 Ann Curthoys stated that “In Australia there
have been for a long time two distinct yet connected public and intellectu-
al debates concerning the significance of descent, belonging and culture….
One revolves around the cleavage between indigenous and non-indigenous
peoples, and especially the status of indigenous claims deriving from a history
of colonization….The other debate centers on the immigrant, and his or her
challenge to Australian society at large.”11 This chapter contributes to both
of these debates.
Context of the End of the British World

Having established this theoretical background, the chapter will now turn to
exploring the context of the end of the British World as the major reason for
the redefinition of citizenship in Australia between the 1950s and 1970s. In
the post-Second-World-War period, Australia was very much a British soci-
ety and an integral part of a wider British World. The British Nationality and
Australian Citizenship Act of 1948 is an excellent and very appropriate example
of this. Although this Act established the concept of Australian citizenship
for the very first time, it emphasised British Nationality over Australian Citizen-
12
ship. Furthermore, the status of British subject was preserved and white immi-
grants12 from the British Commonwealth were given preferential treatment in
terms of naturalisation.13 The Suez Crisis of 195614 was a further demonstra-
tion of Australia’s identification as an integral part of a wider British World.
Throughout the episode the Australian government fully supported the UK’s
position of overturning President Nasser’s decision to nationalise the Suez
Canal. Australia offered unequivocal support for the UK, as it considered it-
self a British country. The UK was still the centre of a wider British World,
and, therefore, backing the UK was still regarded as supporting the “mother-
country.”15
However, in the early 1960s the first signs that Australia’s Britishness was
beginning to wane started to emerge. The first application of the UK govern-
ment for entry into the EEC in 1961 marked the beginning of the unraveling
of the belief that Australia was part of a wider British World. It came as a
psychological shock to the Australians, as they had previously received re-
peated assurances from the British that there was no question of them making
a choice between Europe and the Commonwealth. However, the Australian
government became increasingly concerned by the lack of communication
from London during 1960 and 1961, when the UK was reconsidering its posi-
tion towards the EEC. Despite repeated requests for information, the British
refused to indicate which way they were thinking until a more solid agree-
ment had been secured with the Six (this was the six original members of the
EEC—France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
The latter three were collectively known as Benelux).16
There were increasing rumours and speculation in early 1961 about a re-
versal of British policy. This led to the Australian government’s sudden in-
terest in European economic matters. Minister for Trade John McEwen an-
nounced to the Cabinet in February that although the entire picture was not
clear, it appeared as if the UK was shifting closer and closer towards something
along the lines of full membership of the EEC. The Australian Prime Minister
Robert Menzies expressed the deep concerns of the Australian people about
this eventuality. He specifically drew attention to the political and strategic
effects that Britain’s decision would have on the Commonwealth. If Britain
were to join the EEC, how would it then consider Australia, Canada, and the
rest of the Commonwealth?17
But unlike the UK, Australia did not have an alternative geographic
grouping to redirect its interests to. Thus, the Australian government decid-
ed to use whatever means it could to ensure that British entry into the EEC
would not lead to a fundamental shift in Australia’s long-standing political

and economic ties to the UK. Menzies’ subsequent tough probing of the Brit-
ish government illustrated the level of Australia’s concerns. The issue of Brit-
ain and Europe had initiated a re-evaluation of the very concept of “British
interests,” rather than being seen as just a temporary conflict of interest be-
tween Australia and Britain. Menzies increased the pressure by stating that
the UK had a very hard choice between the Commonwealth and Europe. On
31 July 1961, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan announced his gov-
ernment’s decision to seek membership of the EEC.18 Macmillan’s EEC state-
ment resulted in a diverse range of responses in Australia. The Sydney Morning
Herald represented the general feeling, however, announcing that the British
action was one of the most historic statements of the century.19
If the UK’s application for membership of the EEC initiated the break-
down of Britishness in Australia, its resolve in 1967 to end its military role
“East of Suez” was the culmination. This move was significant in itself as it il-
lustrated the end of the UK’s military world role. To commentators in both the
UK and Australia it appeared that the decline of one of the last symbols of the
Anglo-Australian relationship would result in the demise of Australia’s long-
standing British self-identification. This was due to British race patriotism in
Australia being founded on the idea that Britons in Australia and the UK had
a community of interest, which the British decision to withdraw from “East
of Suez” acted blatantly against. But some time before the UK announced its
move, there had been increasing problems in the British-Australian strategic
relationship, which had led to Australia progressively becoming a part of the
US sphere. Nevertheless, this had not affected Australia’s Britannic identity
in any significant way, as it had always (with a few noteworthy exceptions)
preserved a differentiation between sentiment and interest, particularly when
it came to foreign policy. Moreover, although the UK had not yet become a
member of the EEC, its failed bid in 1961–63 had most definitely resulted in
Australia questioning their future relationship and had led to initiatives to
broaden Australian trade.20
As expected, there were Australian protests aimed at the British over
their announcement. Alexander Downer, Australian High Commissioner in
London, tried to persuade the British government that it would be a travesty
of history if the UK were to be simply a European power. But largely, Downer’s
emotive reaction was not typical of most Australians’ views in 1967, or indeed
of those of the new Holt government. Although Foreign Minister Paul Has-
luck did suggest to Prime Minister Harold Holt that connections of familial
14
ties and common wartime experiences should be emphasised in communica-

tions with the UK, this was only a small component of the overarching Aus-
tralian plan. Even the most ardent disciples of the British heritage had been
compelled to accept the existence of this new world.21
Holt attempted to articulate a unique Australian identity based on both
a British heritage and the European migrant cultures. In an Australia Day
speech in 1967 he acknowledged: “Ours is not a long story as the history of
many other nations is counted but in that time we have evolved our distinc-
tive national identity and character […] We have been assisted to do so by our
heritage of British democracy and the cultures of European civilization.” But
he did not elaborate on what this apparently special Australian character and
identity of the country entailed.22
The end of Britishness and the question of whether an Australian na-
tionalism could be located to replace it coalesced in the late 1960s under
Prime Minister John Gorton. Although Holt asked important questions, Gor-
ton’s public addresses on this subject were an illustration of the confusion and
problems faced by national leaders in the late 1960s. Acknowledging that
they could now develop a homegrown national identity, but at the same time
wanting to hold onto the British connection, they found themselves on the
horns of a dilemma. Hence, Gorton attempted to push an idea of “Australian-
ism.” In his opinion, the development of a sense of national pride represented
a central goal for his government.23
The Whitlam government has often been associated with an unexpect-
ed emergence of a more autonomous and confident Australian nationalism;
however, Gorton can be regarded as a predecessor of this drive, particularly in
his arts policy initiatives. By establishing the Australian Council for the Arts,
facilitating the re-emergence of the Australian film industry, and laying the
basis for the introduction of an Australia Film and Television School, Gorton
was linking himself and his government with an emerging faith in Australia’s
cultural uniqueness. While Holt had laid the foundation for a federal arts pro-
gramme, Gorton took it up and supported it, not so much because of a newly
discovered love of the arts, but instead due to his political search for a “new
nationalism.” Therefore, he promoted home-grown dance, music, opera, and
above all, television and film. He had limited success in the achievement of
this goal, however.24
The Sunday Australian captured the substance of the “new nationalism” in
early 1972: “A splendid opportunity exists to build a multi-national society,
rich and diverse in its origins but cohesive in its identity […] Australia must
be a country in which our people are concerned with a common purpose and a
sharing of common identity.”25 This talk of Australia as a multi-national society
but with a particular focus on national cohesion, along with somehow also pos-
sessing a clear idea of community and identity, combined the key concepts and
contradictions of the “new nationalism.” The decline of the idea that Australia
was a part of a wider British World was helped by the long-drawn-out way in
which the UK entered the EEC, which occurred in 1973, a dozen years after the
original application. It was also assisted by the realisation by Australian leaders
that the nation’s trading future was in Asia, which for the majority of its past
had been its psychological enemy. A white British Australian identity was no
longer wanted and no longer appropriate as the nation attempted to come to
terms with its presence in a changed world. In the early 1960s, then, the con-
cept of Australia as a “British” country started to lose credibility and relevance.
Later in the decade the “new nationalism,” which emphasised a domestic Aus-
tralian identity, arose as a possible replacement for Britishness. But this entire
period was one of questioning and uncertainty. Thus, apart from an emphasis on
national cohesion and uniquely Australian creative effort, there was not much
substance to the “new nationalism.”26 This was the context in which nationality
and citizenship legislation was amended during the 1960s and 1970s.
The Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1955

The Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1955 was the first notable reform of citi-
zenship legislation in Australia (in that a new piece of legislation was actually
introduced) since the inaugural British Nationality and Australian Citizenship
Act of 1948. The slowly changing views on British nationality vis-à-vis Aus-
tralian citizenship amongst certain sections of the Australian population in
the 1950s were on display in a letter from a Sidney W. Smith to Prime Minis-
ter Robert Menzies on the occasion of the census:
The collector forced me to put British. Now, Sir, my parents came to this country at a
very early age with their British parents. I was born at Maitland N. S. Wales sixty-six
years ago and am proud to call myself an Australian and I take it as an insult to be
forced to cross it out by an Immigrant Census collector. Trusting you will see fit for
this Commonwealth to have its own identity in future.27
Menzies queried the situation with Harold Holt, the Minister for Immigra-
tion; Secretary of the Department Sir Tasman Heyes produced a memoran-
dum in which he outlined the legal position:
16
So far as our own law is concerned, it is set down, as you know, in the Nationality and
Citizenship Act that certain persons are “Australian citizens” and “British subjects.”
(Certain others are “protected persons”—the natives of our trust territories.) Every-
one who is an Australian citizen is a British subject. There is no provision in the Act
enabling anyone to claim that he is of Australian “nationality.”28
Although Heyes did qualify his remarks with “To sum up the answer to your
questions seems to me to be that you are—(a) an Australian citizen and a
British subject under Australian law; (b) of Australian nationality so far as
international law is concerned.”29 With this information, the Prime Minister’s
Department could respond to Sidney W. Smith along the following lines:
The Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948/53 distinguishes between citizenship and
nationality. Under that Act a person born in Australia is, with certain exceptions,
an Australian citizen. By virtue of the Act, such a person is also a “British subject.” It
seems, under the circumstances, that you would not have been incorrect in showing
your nationality as Australian. However, the form impliedly requested that in the
case of British Commonwealth citizens their nationality should be shown as British.30
So, even the Commonwealth government was beginning to recognize that

more and more Australians preferred referring to themselves as “Australian”
citizens as opposed to “British” subjects.
Other issues in regard to Australian citizenship at the time included why
there were not a higher number of immigrants applying for naturalization, and
whether the legal conditions in relation to naturalization were too strict.31 In
August 1954 an ALP MP for Port Adelaide, Albert Thompson, took this even
further, asking Holt “whether any consideration has been given to the high cost
to New Australians of making an application for naturalization in connection
with newspaper advertisements and the fee that is charged.”32 He added that “If
not, can the matter be examined with the object of lessening the cost because
of the necessity for having all people who are willing to confirm to the laws of
the country naturalized?”33 The Minister for Supply, Howard Beale, replied that
he would have the issue investigated and provide Thompson with an answer.34
However, the broader issue of numbers of immigrants not seeking Austral-
ian citizenship was raised again the following month, this time by another Par-
liamentarian, Alan Bird, the ALP member for Batman: “It is apparent from the
figures to which I have referred, that for some reason or other, many eligible
persons are not keen to seek naturalization….I appeal to the Government to
give urgent consideration to this matter, because it is essential that those eligi-
ble to apply should do so as quickly as possible.”35 He continued with “Does the
Government think that the requirements of the Nationality and Citizenship
Act are too stringent? Does it consider that the fee which is charged is too high,
and that the nature of the naturalization ceremony is a deterrent?”36 Bird also
raised the specific issue of the £5 payment for naturalization: “I also ask the
Minister whether he thinks that the payment of the fee of £5 might deter some
immigrants from seeking considering naturalization….A fee for naturalization
was not charged until 1932, and since that time it has remained the same.”37
In October 1954 Holt responded to this repeated pressure, stating that the
issue “was considered by the recent Australian Citizenship Convention and
the Commonwealth Immigration Advisory Council.” He added that “certain
recommendations relating to that and other matters have come to me and…
those recommendations are now receiving my consideration with a view to
their presentation in Cabinet.”38 The following month, Heyes wrote to his
Minister arguing that:
Our suggestion was that fees be abolished. I understand the proposal has now been made
that all persons, British or alien, applying for Australian citizenship should pay a fee of
£1. This would mean an increase (10/-) for British applicants and a reduction (£4) for
aliens. I would not suggest that we strongly oppose such a policy of “non-discrimination”
but merely offer the comment that we may be criticised for simultaneously changing fees
to the disadvantage of British people but to the advantage of non-British migrants.39
Therefore, the reference to the “disadvantage of British people” demonstrated

the continuing strength of Britishness in Australia at this time. Nonetheless,
Holt took Heyes’ advice and suggested to Cabinet that the £5 charge for natu-
ralization be removed: “The fee of £5 represents a substantial deterrent to new
settlers who might otherwise become Australian citizens….Apart from this
aspect it is suggested that it is wrong in principle that fees should be charged
for the conferment of the status of Australian citizen upon new settlers who
have been found worthy of it in all other respects.”40
The government finally introduced the Nationality and Citizenship Bill in
April 1955. In introducing the bill, Holt maintained that “The House might
be interested to know that the action now being taken is part of a more com-
prehensive approach designed to encourage the person who is qualified on all
counts by residence to become a full citizen of Australia.”41
The Leader of the ALP Opposition, Arthur Calwell, who was also the
Minister for Immigration responsible for the original 1948 British Nationality
and Australian Citizenship Act, expressed his general support for the bill:
The requirement of a five-year period of residence proceeding naturalization has nev-
er been altered, and I hope that it will never be altered. Some people have said that
18
it would encourage New Australians to become naturalized if they were allowed to

acquire citizenship within twelve months of their arrival in the country….Under the
bill it is proposed to eliminate the requirement to advertise and also to lower the fee
that is charged. These are steps in the right direction.42
So, the Cabinet had not decided to remove the naturalization fee altogeth-
er. Another Parliamentarian, Percy Clarey, the ALP member for Bendigo,
commented that “At the same time, they will be able to appreciate more, not
only the advantages of Australian citizenship but the responsibilities that are
associated with it.”43 He added that:
The second desirable feature of the bill is that it will make the conferring of citizen-
ship a less formal matter than has been the case in the past. By the amendment of
the principal act and by an endeavor to let the person who is becoming a naturalized
Australian citizen see that the Australian people welcome him as a citizen, as a per-
son with whom they will be living in the future, and as a person whom they trust to
discharge the responsibilities of citizenship.44
The latter was a reference to the introduction of public citizenship ceremonies,

a departure from the previous situation whereby new citizens only read out their
citizenship pledge to a judge. Bird, who had been a long-time campaigner for
reform of the nationality and citizenship legislation, suggested that:
The Government should embark upon a vigorous press campaign to give plenty of
publicity by means of advertisements and informative articles to the matter. The sub-
ject could also be covered in radio broadcasts, in addition, leaflets should be printed
on a large scale in foreign languages to inform immigrants just how good things will
be for them when they become Australian citizens.45
Thus, Bird’s thinking was that through this advertising campaign drawing
attention to the ways in which naturalisation had been made easier, mi-
grants would be more willing to seek citizenship. Although the Nationality
and Citizenship Act of 1955 did not introduce any groundbreaking changes
to citizenship legislation, it showed that gradual change was taking place.
Britishness in Australia would have to decline for more substantial changes
to take place.
The Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1960

The Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1960 built on the previous changes in
1955. One of the main thrusts for change was agitation on the part of natu-
ralised citizens on the distinctions that were made between them and natural-
born British subjects when it came to the privileges of citizenship. In 1957

attention was drawn particularly to the fact that the “Minister may deprive
of citizenship any person who within five years after naturalization is sen-
tenced to imprisonment for 12 months or longer.”46 The following year the
government responded to this criticism by conceding that the point was a fair
one: “From the point of view of a new settler naturalization should give full
citizenship rights available to native born Australians….The Minister tells
us something of the support for the view that the present formal discrimina-
tion against naturalized or registered citizens should be discontinued.”47 In a
memorandum produced by Minister for Immigration Athol Townley on the
“Amendment of Nationality and Citizenship Act—Grounds for Depriving
Naturalised Persons of Australian Citizenship,” attention was drawn to the
fact that equivalent Canadian legislation, although broadly similar to Aus-
tralia’s, did not contain a provision depriving a naturalised citizen of their
citizenship if they were imprisoned within five years of being naturalised.48
This continued a long-term trend of Australia, Canada, and Aotearoa New
Zealand constantly comparing their nationality and citizenship legislation
with each other, as they were based on the same model.
Townley acknowledged the concern expressed by some surrounding the
deprivation of citizenship provisions in the current legislation, while at the
same time trying to assuage this concern in a speech at the opening of the
Citizenship Convention in 1958:
A surprising variety of people during recent months have expressed some concern
about what they believed to be discrimination between naturalized Australian citi-
zens and natural-born Australian citizens as a result of certain provisions, particularly
Section 21, of the Nationality and Citizenship Act. These provisions, as some of you
know, can be used to deprive a naturalized citizen of his Australian citizenship under
certain conditions, such as if he commits acts of disloyalty or certain crimes. In actual
fact these provisions have almost never been invoked.49
The Australian government then proceeded to determine exactly what its

Canadian counterpart had done in the recent revision of its own citizenship
legislation, especially in regard to the distinctions between naturalised and
natural-born citizens.50 It received extracts from the parliamentary debates
in the Canadian House of Commons surrounding the passage of the legisla-
tion at the end of 1958, specifically, a speech by Minister for Citizenship and
Immigration Ellen L. Fairclough on the introduction of the bill from its High
Commission in Ottawa:
20
Mrs. Fairclough: Mr. Speaker, the primary purpose of this bill is to remove certain
discriminations which now exist against other than natural-born Canadian citizens
in relation to loss of Canadian citizenship and, in addition, to make it clear that a
person who does not take the oath of allegiance in good faith at the time of acquiring
Canadian citizenship is liable to have his Canadian citizenship revoked, subject to
the right of such person to a hearing before a commission of court as provided by the
act. The bill also makes provision for obtaining a ruling from an independent tribunal
if doubt exists as to whether a person has ceased to be a Canadian citizen under the
act.51
Secretary of the Department of Immigration Sir Tasman Heyes replied to his

counterpart in the Department of External Affairs in August 1960 that:
The debates in the House of Commons have been read with interest. What strikes us
most forcibly here is not what was said, but what was apparently left unsaid, in regard
to the continued existence of Section 18 of the Canadian Act, whereby naturalized
Canadians (as distinct from “natural born” citizens) can apparently still lose citizen-
ship through residence abroad….We shall be interested to learn of any intention of
the Government to amend Section 18, or of any pressure which may develop for such
amendment. It was considered here that removal of discrimination between natural-
ised and Australian born people inevitably entailed repeal of Section 20 of our Act,
corresponding in principle to the Canadian Section 18.52
Heyes followed this up with a further request in August 1960 for the Aus-
tralian High Commission in Ottawa to “ascertain where there has been any
change in Canadian Citizenship law or if any change is contemplated.”53 The
Department of External Affairs received a prompt reply the following month:
“In reply to your memo number 271 of 1st September, 1960, no significant
change has been made in the Canadian Citizenship Act, nor has there been
any open political pressure of any magnitude for such change.”54
So, the government decided to introduce a Nationality and Citizenship
Bill in October 1960, but it did not deal with the main concerns expressed
particularly by Dutch migrants about the discrimination against them and
other naturalised citizens; instead, it focused on more practical matters of the
naturalisation process. I would argue that this was a reflection of the contin-
ued strength of Britishness at this time, as it was still considered important to
differentiate between naturalised and natural-born citizens:
Except in the details referred to below, the above Bill is in accordance with Cabinet
Decision No. 938 dated 2 August, 1960, which authorised the introduction of a Bill
to amend section 36 of the Nationality and Citizenship Act—(a) to provide that
an applicant for citizenship should state to an officer the information in support of
his application required by section 36, eliminating the present requirement of that
section for the information to be contained in a statutory declaration, and (b) to

abolish the present requirement of section 36 for an applicant to produce certificates
of character from three Australian citizens.55
In an explanatory memorandum on the legislation, Minister for Immigration

Alexander Downer outlined one of the main motivations behind the bill:
“These amendments are designed to simplify the rather complex application
procedure for Australian citizenship….This has been found to be beyond
what could reasonably be expected from alien new settlers, and is proving a
serious deterrent to many would-be applicants for naturalization.”56 He then
drew particular attention to one of the current requirements that it was the
intention of the legislation to change:
Many migrants who wish to become Australian citizens are extremely diffident about
asking Australian citizens to certify that they are persons of good repute, as they
are now required to do so, knowing full well that in many instances the Australian
citizens are not really in a position to vouch for them. Some new settlers are anxious
not to impair their good relations with their Australian acquaintances, sometimes
achieved only after careful cultivation, by a request which might embarrass their
friends.57
Downer attempted to bring a personal touch to what was practical legislation

in his second reading speech on the bill later that month:
Thus, a somewhat cold, legal process will give way to what I hope will be always a
friendly encounter between an applicant and a Departmental official. Without wish-
ing to claim too much, I am hopeful that, if the House agrees to this simplification
of procedure, the whole machinery of naturalization will become easier, more co-
operative, and more attractive to the many thousands we are anxious to clothe with
full citizenship rights.58
The reference to “full citizenship rights” should be particularly noted, as this

was an important shift in political rhetoric on the issue. The continued prev-
alence of Britishness was apparent in Downer’s comment on the proposed leg-
islation being “an example of the Government’s constant desire to bring more
and more of our settlers from Europe and other lands into the all-embracing
status of British subjects and Australian Citizens.”59 The legislation passed
and came into law by December 1960. In a press statement by Downer that
month he said application for naturalisation by migrants was now so sim-
ple that every eligible person could apply without difficulty. However, he ap-
pealed directly to those migrants that were eligible to apply for naturalisation
but had not yet done so, “We want you to apply for Australian Citizenship….
22
But you must remember it is a worthwhile prize and you must be worthy of
it.”60 He added that “It is the most valuable gift Australia can offer you….We
have made it easier for you to seek it….Now I hope you will take advantage
of the new and freer legislation.”61 The essence of the legislation then was
encapsulated in some notes on the citizenship bill: “The purpose of this Bill,
therefore, is to help migrants to become Australians in law without any real
weakening of the conditions governing the grant of citizenship.”62 Hence, the
legislation was not exactly groundbreaking. But it again illustrates the gradual
change that was taking place on the issue. More substantive change would
have to wait until the demise of Britishness, which was just about to begin
with the UK’s first application for entry into the EEC in 1961.
The Citizenship Act of 1969

The Nationality and Citizenship Act was changed in 1955, 1960, 1969, and
1973. As mentioned above, the 1955 and 1960 amendments were minimal,
as views took another decade to begin to shift.63 The significant changes in
1973 have rightly been given considerable attention by scholars. However,
the 1969 changes were also important, and in some ways laid the foundation
for the subsequent changes in 1973. Therefore, I will focus on them next.64 In
late 1967 the West Australian suggested amending Australian naturalisation
ceremonies so that applicants would only be required to swear allegiance to
the Queen of Australia. It justified this move in terms of the goal of increas-
ing rates of naturalisation and highlighted that non-British migrants had no
basis for cherishing British ties.65 Commonwealth Director of Migration G. E.
Hitchins wrote a letter early the following year to Peter Heydon, Secretary
of the Department of Immigration, in which he recommended amending the
Oath of Allegiance to remove the reference to the “Queen, her heirs and suc-
cessors” and simply asking the applicant to declare their loyalty to “Australia
and the Constitution” as well as contemplating whether the renunciation of
former allegiance was really required and considering a reduction in the qual-
ifying period for naturalisation to perhaps three years. He added that there
was some opposition by certain migrants to swearing allegiance to the Queen,
whereas they would not be against declaring loyalty to Australia.66
A Departmental Committee to review the Nationality and Citizenship Act
1948–1967 also made some recommendations on amendments. In particu-
lar, with the aim of placing more importance on Australian citizenship, it
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To the land of corruption I must go.
[190]
The goddess here declares that, like other fertility goddesses, she comes from the fruitful supernatural
country of Tamaonchan, the home of the maize. Piltzintecutli, the Sun-god, seeks her, but, like Ishtar in
Babylonian myth, she must betake herself to the Underworld, until it is once more time to resume her
growth-assisting labours. We have here good grounds for positing the existence of a popular myth which
would seem to have recounted how the divine lovers dwelt happily in Tamoanchan until Xochiquetzal
was forced to quit the blest abode or was carried off, and was sought for by the Sun-god, a myth like
that of Proserpine or Orpheus. It may refer to the sun seeking the flower, or may have a bearing upon
the myth of Ixnextli, a variant of Xochiquetzal, who was expelled from Paradise, and of whom the
interpreter of Codex Vaticanus A says: “Ixnextli, who is the same as Eve, is always weeping, her eyes
dim with ashes, a rose in her hand, emblematical of her grief, being in consequence of her having
gathered it. And accordingly they celebrate a fast every eight years on account of this calamitous event;
the fast was on bread and water. They fasted on the eight signs preceding the entrance of the rose, and
when that sign arrived, they prepared themselves for the celebration of the festival. They affirm that
every series of five days comprised in this calendar was dedicated to this fall, because on such a day
Eve sinned. They were accordingly enjoined to bathe themselves on this night in order to escape
disease.” Regarding this myth the interpreter of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis says: “They represented
her as Eve always weeping and looking at her husband, Adam. She is called Ysnextli, which signifies
‘eyes blind with ashes’; and this refers to the time subsequent to her sinning by plucking the roses. They
accordingly declare that they are still unable to look up to heaven, and in recollection of the happy state
which she lost, they fasted every eight years on account of this fall.” It is significant that the goddess
pictured beside this statement is called “Suchiquezal.”
(From Codex Fejérváry-Mayer.)

(From Codex Borgia.)
FORMS OF XOCHIQUETZAL.
XOCHIQUETZAL
(From the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer.)
Diego Muñoz Camargo, in his Historia de Tlaxcala, equates Xochiquetzal with Venus and states that:
“She dwells [191]above the nine heavens in a very pleasant and delectable place, accompanied and
guarded by many people and waited on by other women of the rank of goddesses, where are many
delights of fountains, brooks, flower-gardens, and without her wanting for anything, and that where she
sojourned she was guarded and sheltered from the gaze of the people, and that in her retinue she had a
great many dwarfs and hunchbacks, jesters, and buffoons, who entertained her with music and dancing
and whom she sent as her confidants and messengers to the other gods, and that their chief occupation
was the spinning and weaving of sumptuous artistic fabrics, and that they were painted so beautifully
and elegantly that nothing finer could be found amongst mortals. But the place where she dwelt was
called Tamohuanichan Xochitl ihcacan, Chicuhnauh-nepaniuhcan, Itzehecaya, that is, ‘the house of the
descent or of birth, the place where are the flowers, the ninefold enchained, the place of the fresh, cool
winds.’ And every year she was honoured with a great feast, to which many people from all parts were
gathered in her temple.” He continues: “They say that she had formerly been the spouse of the Rain-
god, Tlaloc, but that Tezcatlipocâ had abducted her, and brought her to the nine heavens, and made her
the goddess of love. And then there was another goddess, Matlalcuêyê, the goddess to whom were
attributed witchcraft and soothsaying. Her Tlaloc had made his consort after Tezcatlipocâ had carried off
his wife Xochiquetzal.” 32
Another myth, given by Boturini, recounts her temptation of the holy ascetic Yappan, who dwelt in a
desert place in order to lead a continent and solitary life, so that he might win the favour of the gods. He
took up his abode on a rock called Tehuehuetl, but the gods conceived a doubt of his piety, and sent an
enemy of his, Yaotl (enemy), to watch his movements. Even this bitter foe found nothing to cavil at in his
conduct, and women sent by the gods to lead him from the paths of rectitude were sternly repulsed. The
divine beings were about to consider his apotheosis, when [192]Xochiquetzal, feeling that her reputation
as a tempter of men was at stake, angrily assured them that she was able to effect his seduction.
Descending to earth, she sought out the hermit, whom she assured of her admiration and esteem, and
asked by what path she might ascend to his rocky seat. All unsuspicious of her intent, Yappan
descended from his place on the rock and assisted her to climb the rugged eminence. Yappan forgot his
vow of chastity, and when the goddess had departed, found himself deserted by the angry gods to the
mercies of his enemy, Yaotl, who slew him out of hand. The gods transformed the slain man into a
scorpion, and Yaotl having also slain Yappan’s wife, Tlahuitzin, whom he had abandoned for the life
ascetic, she was transformed into an animal of the same species, and crawling under a stone, found her
husband there. But the gods, wrathful at Yaotl’s excessive cruelty, changed him into a locust. 33
FESTIVALS
Chicomexochitl (“Seven Flower”).—In the sign ce ocelotl, on the day chicomexochitl, the artists united to
hold festival to the goddess, and the laundresses, says Sahagun, 34 fasted forty days. “They joined
together, twenty or more, to obtain a better quality of pictures and weaves and to this end offered up
quails and incense.” This was one of the movable feasts.
In an illuminating passage in his disquisition upon the Aubin tonalamatl (p. 123) Seler says: “As I have
remarked at the opening of the section, the goddess Xochiquetzal is properly the expression of the day-
sign xochitl. But owing to the transference of the series of rulers of the day-signs to the weeks in the
peculiar way affected by the calendar-makers, that is, by a general shifting of one member, 35
[193]Xochiquetzal has been brought into association with the sign ce quauhtli (one eagle). But in
Telleriano-Remensis at this week the hand-mark 36 which indicates the feast-day proper of the ruler of
the week stands at the first day itself—the sign ce quauhtli, that induced the calendar-makers to effect
the above-described dislocation in the second half of the list of rulers. For more than one reason the day
ce quauhtli must really have seemed to the priestly savants specially appropriate to the goddess
Xochiquetzal, and above all, because this day was one of the five which fell at the beginning or western
quarter of the tonalamatl disposed in columns of five members. Hence these five days were collectively
regarded as dedicated to the earth-goddesses, and as the days in which the ghostly women dwelling in
the west, the Ciuateteô, swooped down upon earth, striking the children with epilepsy and beguiling the
men to lust and sin.” These Ciuateteô were stregæ, witches, succubi, and their characteristics, which
are touched upon in the section dealing with Tlazolteotl, will be more fully outlined elsewhere.
Quecholli.—The people of Tlaxcallan held a festival to Xochiquetzal in the month quecholli, when the
Mexicans celebrated the feast of Mixcoatl. At the Tlaxcaltec feast numbers of young women were
sacrificed to the goddess, “to the honour of love,” and the prostitutes were also in the habit of offering
themselves for immolation, we are informed by Torquemada, 37 first haling the “honest” women through
the mire and subjecting them to the foulest abuse. The Tlalhuica, who lived in the hot lands south of
Mexico, themselves, like the Tlaxcaltecs, a people of Nahua race, held a festival in honour of
Xochiquetzal in the month tepeilhuitl, which the Mexicans dedicated to the Tlaloque, gods of rain, as is
related by the interpreter of the Codex Magliabecchiano. Torquemada, too, 38 states that the Tlaxcaltecs
sacrificed many children to Xochiquetzal and to the mountain-gods (Tlaloque) evidently at this season.
Xochiquetzal was also connected with the festival of the atamalqualiztli, [194]celebrated every eight
years. In the picture of that feast in the Sahagun MS. we observe her seated at a loom. From these
considerations it is manifest that the verdurous and “watery” attributes of the goddess connected her
with the Tlaloque, but that she was not actually of their company.
TEMPLES
In Tlalhuica, not far from Cuernavaca or Quauhnauac, stands the pyramid of Xochicalco, one of the
most perfect specimens extant of Nahua architectural skill. There is reason to believe that Xochiquetzal
was originally the local deity of one of these mountains the waters from which irrigate the fields below, 39
and it seems probable that the teocalli of Xochicalco typified this eminence. We know that the teotlalpan,
or “Place of Divine Earth,” in the sacred precinct at Mexico, was sacred to Mixcoatl, a deity who was
perhaps of Otomi origin, and that it was probably symbolic of a mountain in the Otomi country of which
he was the presiding deity, so that the probability is borne out by analogy. In the country of the
Tlaxcaltecs stood the heights of Xochtecatl, “Goddess of the Flowery Land,” a mountain, according to
Torquemada, about six miles in circumference, which was the nucleus of a settlement, and was
surrounded by graves hewn out of the solid rock. This, perhaps, provides a fuller illustration of the theory
advanced above.
NATURE AND STATUS
The original home of Xochiquetzal seems to have been among the Tlalhuica and Tlaxcaltecs. But as the
latter were closely connected with the Mexicans racially, there is good reason to believe that she was
also an original member of their pantheon. In any case she had a place in the metropolitan calendar,
and the contention of the compilers of both interpretative codices, as well as of the native author of the
picture writings in the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas, that she is to be equated with
Tonacaciuatl, the [195]female member of the creative pair, seems to have been a later development.
But Xochiquetzal is more especially the goddess of flowers, the female counterpart of Xochipilli-
Macuilxochitl. As has been mentioned, she was probably at first the goddess who presided over some
lofty mountain whose streams watered the sun-dried plains beneath and clothed them in abundant
florescence, perhaps that very mountain of Xochtecatl to which allusion has been made, and which
stood in Tlaxcaltec territory. As the “feminine” of Xochipilli, however, she certainly partook of his festive
and frivolous character, and thus presided over the song, the dance, and all sportive amusements. By a
further slight effort of imagination she came to be regarded as the goddess of illicit love, or of the
sensuous side of intercourse between the sexes, not so much a goddess of degraded animal passion,
like Tlazolteotl, as a figure bearing a close resemblance to the Apsarasas of Hindu myth, lovely and
voluptuous, and, like them, addicted to the game of throwing the dice (patolli). A further step established
her as the patron goddess of the prostitutes who existed for the pleasure of the unmarried warriors and
who resided with them in the great common house of the bachelors. From this circumstance arose the
obscene character of the feast of Quecholli among the Tlaxcaltecs and the Tepeilhuitl festival among the
Tlalhuica.
Xochiquetzal was also in some measure the patroness of pregnant women, according to the interpreter
of Codex Vaticanus A, and these worshipped and sacrificed to her in order that they should not give
birth to girls. She is herself figured in Codex Borgia as the great parturient, and in Codex Vaticanus B
(sheet 39) as has been indicated above.
She had also, like Xochipilli, an artistic significance, as the patroness of weavers and artists. She was
revered by the women who practised the former art, the invention of spinning and weaving was
attributed to her, and many kinds of craftsmen paid her honours. She had, moreover, a magical side to
her character; in the Aubin tonalamatl she is seated opposite the dancing wizard, and she is furthermore
one of [196]the Tzitzimimê, or deities of the darksome night, among whom she is symbolized by the
spider.
[Contents]
MACUILXOCHITL = “FIVE FLOWER,” OR XOCHIPILLI = “FLOWER PRINCE”
Area of Worship: Tehuacan, Cozcatlan, Teotitlan del Camino, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Minor Names:
Auia teotl = “God of Pleasure.”
Mazatl = “Deer.”
Auiatl = “The Jovial.”
Symbol: The sign five-flower.
Calendar Place:
Ruler of the eleventh day-sign, ozomatli.
Seventh of the thirteen day-lords.
Ruler of the twentieth day-count, xochitl.
Festival: The Xochilhuitl (“Feast of Flowers”), one of the movable feasts.
Compass Directions: South; West.
Relationship: Brother of Ixlilton; son of Piltzintecutli.
STONE FIGURE OF MACUILXOCHITL.
(In the Uhde Collection, Berlin.)
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA (as Macuilxochitl)
Codex Borgia.—Sheet 15: In this place the god wears as breast-ornament a human lower jaw, which,
combined with the green band to which it is tied up, may possibly express the day-count malinalli. He
has a large feather nape-ornament. The upper part of his face is white, with a dark band over the nose
and cheek, and white painting over the mouth, in the semblance of an outspread hand. He wears a cap
with vertically projecting bands painted in the colours of the green jewel chalchihuitl.
Sahagun MS.—Here he is represented with a white hand painted on his mouth and a feather crown
surmounted by a crest.
General.—Like the other gods of dance and sport, Macuilxochitl wears the four balls of the toualli
emblem on his shield and sometimes carries the staff with the heart. Like Ixtlilton, he had probably once
a bird’s-head mask, which in the course of his evolution degenerated into a feather crest and a wing
[197]on his back. The deterioration of this feature can be observed in the stone effigies of his counterpart
Xochipilli.
STONE FIGURE OF MACUILXOCHITL.
(In the Uhde Collection, Berlin.)
STATUES
A stone figure of Macuilxochitl found in Cuernavaca represents the god seated in a squatting attitude,
and it is evidently intended to show him as an onlooker at the ball-game. He wears a pointed headdress
or mitre, on the top of what would seem to be a cotton head-covering. A head of the god in stone is
included in the collection of the Natural History Museum at Vienna. In this the nose-plug is prominent
and he wears round earrings. The wing-ornament stands well out behind the head and the face seems
to look out of a bird helmet-mask, on both sides of which are large, circular holes, through which
feathers or cotton ear-plugs fall. The difficulty of working in stone has evidently restrained the sculptor
from representing the upper and lower portions of the bird’s beak, and the helmet-mask bears a strong
resemblance to that of Xochipilli in the Codex Magliabecchiano, if the beak in that representation were
removed. A statue of the god found in the Calle de las Escalerillas in Mexico City on December 13,
1900, is almost identical with the first of those two statues, and agrees with the second in that here we
have the circular holes at the side of the headdress with the dependent feathers or cotton plug. The best
known of the representations of this god, however, is the clay model found by Seler at Teotitlan del
Camino. It represents Macuilxochitl in a sitting position and is brilliantly coloured. The face of the god
looks out of a bird helmet-mask, highly conventionalized, and which has practically lost all its birdlike
characteristics. The two circular holes below the ear are, however, still represented. The upper part of
the face is painted yellow, but under each eye is an oblong patch painted in variegated colours, such as
appears on the faces of the gods of grain. Around the mouth is a large white patch, in which we may
see the white hand motif conventionalized. The body-paint is red and the garment white, except that
portion at the neck, which is blue. Small golden [198]bells adorn the necklace and wristlets. In this
statuette we have evidently a very late and highly developed figure of the deity, showing a considerable
departure from the earlier drawings and statues of him. In the Anthropological Museum at Berlin is a
stone statue of Macuilxochitl, also in a squatting attitude, in which the circular motif above the ear, with
its accompanying plug, is strongly in evidence. A number of stone statuettes of the god were found at
Tepeaca in the state of Puebla and are now housed in the Natural History Museum at Vienna. These do
not differ from the examples already described, save that in one of them the Greek fret-pattern takes the
place of the circular ear-plug motif. A stone figure of the god was found amid the ruins of the Castillo de
Teayo, a teocalli, or pyramid, in Vera Cruz. In this, which is also a squatting figure, the god is covered by
a mantle which is surmounted by the bird’s comb, as seen in Magliabecchiano and elsewhere. Around
the head are three of the circular holes above mentioned, one above each ear and one at the back of
the head, from which depend a double strip of cotton or other textile.
(From Codex Borgia, sheet 15.)

FORMS OF MACUILXOCHITL.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA (as Xochipilli)
Codex Vaticanus B.—Sheet 26: In this MS. the god is painted a light yellow colour. His light hair is
bound with a jewelled strap ornamented on the frontal side with a conventional bird’s head. Round his
head he also wears the fillet of the Sun-god, ornamented with a feather tuft. As a breast ornament he
has a large gold disk suspended from a broad gold chain, hung with bells. His right hand clasps a
bundle of grass, and in his left he bears a staff embellished with turquoise mosaic and flowers, probably
intended for a rattle-stick. Above the twilight symbol of the west in the water are instruments of
mortification. On sheet 32 he is represented as of a blue colour with a jewelled chain in front of his
mouth.
Codex Fejérváry-Mayer.—The description of the god in this MS. is similar to that just given. In his hand
he supports [199]a dish with ornaments, a bangle for the upper arm, a feather tuft and a neck-chain.
Codex Borgia.—Sheet 13: In this codex he is seen seated on a royal throne. His body and the lower
part of his face are coloured red, the upper facial region is painted yellow, but contains a small,
rectangular field, half-red and half-white, while round the mouth is executed a butterfly design, after the
manner of Tonacatecutli and the maize-gods. His blue ear-plug has a jewelled thong dependent from it,
and his nose-plug is reproduced in the colours of the chalchihuitl jewel. On his head he wears the strap
decorated by two large jewelled disks. On the frontal side is the stereotyped bird-ornament, while from
the whole, four ends branch off. Surmounting this representation is the symbol of the night-sky, the
dusk-enveloped eye. His nape-ornament consists of red and white feathers blended together. On his
breast is a large disk of gold, secured by strings of greenstone beads. His loin-cloth is adorned with
jewelled disks, and to the back-bow is fastened a coxcoxtli bird’s head, which serves as a “mirror-tail,” or
back-mirror. A portion of the ends of his loin-cloth is coloured like the chalchihuitl jewel. In front of his
mouth is a flower from which two jewelled thongs project.
Codex Magliabecchiano.—The mantles worn by Xochipilli are alluded to in the MS. which accompanies
the paintings in this codex as “mantas de un selo señor o de Cinco Rosas y manta de Cinco Rosas”
(see sheets 5 and 6). There is also a picture of him on sheet 47. The figure on the red quemitl which he
wears is similar to that worn on sheet 20 of Codex Borbonicus by the god Cinteotl, and is, perhaps, a
butterfly motif.
(From the Sahagun MS.)

(From Codex Magliabecchiano, folio 35.)
FORMS OF XOCHIPILLI.
STATUES
Stone effigies of Xochipilli were set up in the tlachtli courts. In the Museo Naçional at Mexico there is a
stone statue of the god which represents him as sitting cross-legged, as if watching the ball-game. He
wears the mask of a player or dancer. By the aid of such statues of Xochipilli, which are [200]found in
considerable numbers all over the eastern Mexican slope, the transition from the bird-helmet to the
rudimentary crest may be studied. 40
POTTERY FIGURE OF XOCHIPILLI.
(Found at Teotlan del Camino.)
MYTH
The only mythical matter of importance concerning Macuilxochitl or Xochipilli is the nineteenth song in
the Sahagun collection, which is as follows 41:
Song of the God of Music and Games
Out of the place of flowers I come,

Priest of the Sunset, Lord of the Twilight.
I come even now, my granddam,

Thou of the thigh-skin face-painting,
Lady of the Sunset,
I, priest of the Sunset, Lord of the Twilight.
The god of evil omens,

The lord Tezcatlipocâ,
Shall answer to me, the Maize-god.
In the temple of the octli-god

The rabbit has come to life again.
It runs about.
By my god was it created.
I will bring down the fire-drill, fire will I twirl
On the mountain of Mixcoatl in Culhuacan.
Raising my voice, I strike the little mirror;

The little mirror has grown weak
In the temple of the octli-god.
The white hair grows moist,
Ripe has the octli become.
I will endeavour to elucidate the above strophes, the obscurity of which is apparent. The god declares
that he comes from Tamoanchan, the mythical paradise of flowers and vegetation in the west, and that
he is the priest of the sunset and lord of the twilight, both of which are characteristic of that region. He
invokes his mother, or grandmother, Tlazolteotl, by names with which her worshippers were familiar.
[201]He warns Tezcatlipocâ that he has the power to avert his evil omens, probably by means of
merriment and carousing. The rabbit was the Mexican symbol of intoxication by octli. This strophe
regarding it comes, as it were, from the worshipper, who states that his god Macuilxochitl or Xochipilli
has created or re-created the rabbit, or spirit of the octli beverage. Sahagun calls Xochipilli a god of fire,
and we know that he was associated with the sacrificial fire-drill, which was also the symbol of sexual
union and licence. Seler thinks that this song shows “the relation which exists between the pulque (octli)
gatherings, the deity of feasts and the fire-drill.” 42
Statues of Xochipilli in Museo Naçional, Mexico.

(From Codex Laud.)
FORMS OF XOCHIPILLI.
FESTIVALS
Xochilhuitl.—Of the feast of flowers over which this god presided Sahagun says: “The great folk made a
feast, dancing and singing in honour of this sign, decorating themselves with their feathers and all their
grandeur for the areyto. At this feast the king bestowed honours upon warriors, musicians, and
courtiers.” He states (Lib. II, Appendix c, xix): “They made each year in his honour a feast called
xochilhuitl.… During the four days which preceded this feast all those who were to take part in it, men as
well as women, observed a rigorous fast; and if during that period a man had commerce with a woman
or a woman with a man, they held that the fast was soiled; that the god held it for a high offence, and
that he would visit the offenders with maladies in their privy parts.… Before the feast everyone deprived
himself of the use of chilli pepper. They fed upon a kind of broth called tlalcuilolatolli, which is to say,
‘broth decorated with a flower in the middle.’… Those who fasted without the use of chilli or other
savoury things, ate only once a day at midday.” Those who did not fast ate fermented bread. The people
ornamented themselves with the symbols of the gods “as if they aspired to represent their images,” and
danced and sang to the sound of the drum. [202]
At midday they beheaded a great number of quails and made offerings of their blood before the image
of the god. They also pierced their ears in his presence. Others pierced the tongue with the spines of
the maguey, and passed through it a great number of osier reeds. Another ceremony consisted of
making five tamalli (cakes) of maize, which they called “fasting bread.” These were placed beneath an
arrow called xochimitl (“flower-dart”) and were offered to the idol as from the whole community. Those
who wished to make a separate offering gave the god five tamalli upon a wooden platter, and chilmolli
soup in a vase. Maize in all shapes and forms was also offered up. On the same day all the great folk in
Mexico who lived near the frontiers of an enemy brought the slaves whom they had captured to the
capital for sacrifice.
NATURE AND STATUS
This god appears to have had a highly developed cult among the peoples of Tehuacan, Cozcatlan, and
Teotitlan del Camino. He is primarily a god of flowers and food, that is of abundance, and as such he
equates with the god Cinteotl, with whom some of the sacred hymns even seem to confound him. But
there are strong reasons why he should not be wholly identified with Cinteotl, as Seler attempts to do,
and as the Mexicans certainly did not do, unless in later times. (See Cinteotl.) It may be, however, that
he was originally a god of vegetation, who later became more especially a god of flowers, the cult of
which was one particularly favoured by the people of Mexico. However this may be, there is no doubt
that the joyous and sportive side of the god developed at the expense of all others, and we find
Sahagun speaking of him under his two names as “the god of those who served for the amusement or
pastime of the great.” 43 He is, indeed, the god of merriment, of dance and sport, of the ball-game, the
jester or buffoon, and moreover presides over the gambling game of patolli, which he is seen patronizing
in the Magliabecchiano MS. According to Jacinto de la Serna, he is the [203]god of the great gamblers
who frittered away their substance. As the god of sport he is frequently represented by the ape, the
beast of mimicry and diversion.
But he had also a more worthy side, for to artists of all kinds, painters, weavers, and musicians in
especial, he stood as the patron of all artistic effort, and those engaged in it celebrated their worship of
him at the xochilhuitl festival. Several of the mantle designs in the Codex Magliabecchiano indicate that
as a flower-god he was not forgotten by the weavers’ caste.
He has associations with several other gods besides Cinteotl, especially with Ixtlilton (q.v.), who is
spoken of as his brother, and with the Ciuateteô, or deceased warrior women, probably because as a
food-god he was supposed to come from the west, the place of plenty, where they resided, or, more
likely, because of the hunger for earthly excitement displayed by these pleasure-starved dead women,
debarred from the sensuous delights of earth. His connection with the octli-gods as the god of
merriment and abundance of victuals and festive good things is plain; and he is very naturally the male
counterpart of the goddess Xochiquetzal (q.v.). As hailing from a locality where planetary mythology was
in an advanced condition, and where the worship of the morning star was practised, he may have had
an astronomic significance, but what this was precisely is by no means clear. We probably assess his
nature correctly if we allude to him as a god of pleasure, feast, and frivolity.
[Contents]
XIPE TOTEC = “OUR LORD THE FLAYED”
Area of Worship: Plateau of Anahuac, Zapotecs, Yopis.

Minor Names:
Tlaltecutli = “Lord of the Earth.”
Anauatl yteuc = “Lord of the Seaboard.”
Tlatauhqui Tezcatlipocâ = “The Red Tezcatlipocâ.”
Itztapaltotec = “Our Lord of the Flat Stone.”
Youallauan = “Night Drinker.”
Symbol: In Codex Borgia a quail with its head torn off seems symbolical of this god. [204]
Calendar Place: Lord of the fifteenth day, quauhtli, and of the fourteenth week, ce itzcuintli; with
the Fire-god, lord of the twentieth tonalamatl division, ce tochtli.
Festival: Tlacaxipeuliztli.
Compass Direction: West.

(From the Sahagun MS., Bib. Laurenziana.)
FORMS OF XIPE.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
Codex Vaticanus B.—Sheet 92: Xipe is depicted in this codex as clothed in the flayed skin of the
sacrificed human victim, which, after the dreadful rite, was drawn over the priest’s body and worn for a
number of days. The slit eyes of the mask he wears shows that this also is composed of human skin. He
wears a nasal rod and plate having the general appearance of the peculiar peaked cap with which he is
sometimes represented. The ends of his loin-cloth are slit and coloured white and red. Sheet 62. As
ruler of the fourteenth tonalamatl division and god of the fifteenth day-count, Xipe is represented on this
sheet as a red Tezcatlipocâ. The limbless body is red, the costume of the same colour, but with a face-
mask of yellow, tinted to represent dead human flesh, with the chapfallen jaw of the dead, narrow slit
eyes, as on sheet 92, and a red streak running over the eye, the full length of the face, indicative,
perhaps, of the place where the operation of flaying was commenced. Here the nose-cap is also
reminiscent of Xipe’s peculiar peaked cap, its ends especially resembling those of that headdress. Two
red and white bands, the colours of the roseate spoonbill, depend from the ear. The hair is bound by a
fillet on which are twin ornaments of dull gold, and above this rise two rows of quetzal feathers.
Codex Vaticanus A.—Plate xiv, Duc de Loubat’s reproduction: As a back-device he wears the three
banners which are also shown of him in the picture in Duran’s collection. As god of the fourteenth
tonalamatl division, he holds a shield, banner, and a bundle of spears, while half of his shield is painted
in dark and light red rings.
Codex Borgia.—Sheet 49: In the Codex Borgia, Xipe is shown in his character of the patron god of the
warrior’s death by combat, or the stone of sacrifice. He wears a [205]wig made from the downy feathers
of the eagle, which, however, does not altogether conceal his flame-coloured hair, two forelocks of
which recall the hairdressing of Tlauizcalpantecutli, the god of the planet Venus. Underneath is shown
his small petticoat or apron of green zapote leaves. From his mouth protrudes a double-jewelled string,
which, perhaps, signifies the fertilizing rain, for as god of human sacrifice he has a connection with the
gods of fertility. He is similarly represented on sheet 25, where he is also shown as ruler of the
fourteenth tonalamatl division, and the picture indeed bears a close resemblance to that in Codex
Vaticanus B, except that his breast-ornament, carved from a snail-shell, is attached to his variegated
feather necklace. In this place he also wears a feather wig with a red crest made of the plumes of the
roseate spoonbill, alternating with chalchihuitls on leather and the heads of rattle-sticks.
(Front.) (Back.)
STONE IMAGE OF XIPE.
Image of Xipe found at Castillo de Teayo, showing him dressed in the skin of the sacrificed victim.
Codex Borgia Group Generally.—In this group generally Xipe stands as the representative of the sign of
the day quauhtli. His insignia are the same as those of the red Tezcatlipocâ, with striped face-painting,
but executed in red and yellow without the human skin, or other special characteristics, and decorated
only with the warrior’s headdress and Tezcatlipocâ’s ring-shaped breast-ornament. The head and neck
are covered with cloth, on which are stuck downy feather-balls. He holds in some places a severed arm,
which he appears to be smelling or about to devour.
Codex Borbonicus.—In this codex Xipe is represented as Tezcatlipocâ, and has the face-painting of the
red phase of that god, with the smoking mirror at his temple, the characteristic white ring, and the
peculiar form of feather back-ornament, which is to be seen in some other Tezcatlipocâ pictures of this
codex. But he wears on his head-fillet, instead of jewelled disks, an ornament of beaten gold, the crown
of roseate spoonbill feathers, the ends of the bands shaped in swallow-tailed fashion, and other insignia
pertaining to his own regular dress. The quetzalcomitl on his back carries a banner painted in light and
dark red, his especial colours, and he also bears a shield painted in light and dark red concentric
[206]circles. In this codex he holds a fire-pan, painted with large patches of rubber gum, in which is
inserted the rattle-stick with Xipe’s bands and loops coloured red and white, or light red and dark red
with bifurcated ends.
Vienna Codex.—Xipe is represented here in the flayed human skin and designated by the date “Seven
Rain.”
Codex Nuttall (Zouche).—Sheet 83: In this codex there is a good representation of the god, especially
as regards his headdress. He is depicted as the warrior secured to the stone of combat, whose eye
sheds tears at the thought of approaching death, and he bears in his hands the bâtons with which the
military victims defended themselves against their adversaries (see Festival).
Sahagun MS.—This describes him as having a brown face covered with the feathers of the quail, and
with open lips (chapfallen jaw?). His crown has parted ends, and he wears a wig of curled feathers. He
has golden ear-plugs. Round the hips he has a woman’s short skirt of zapote leaves, and shells
decorate his feet. His shield is red, with concentric circles, and he carries a rattle-staff.
MASKS, VASES, ETC.
The well-known mask of Xipe in the British Museum represents the mask of the sacrificed victim. On the
back or inside, the carving of the god shows him wearing his full insignia, with the peculiar headdress
and rattle-staff. Another mask of Xipe in the Bauer collection is of a most individual character. It was
found near Tezcuco, and bears both wind and serpent symbols. On a stone at Cuernavaca is incised a
good representation of the shield, darts, and flag of Xipe, with date ce ocelotl (“one ocelot”). On a cup in
the Aldana collection Xipe is seen wearing the flayed skin, with a necklace, evidently of intestines. His
hair is dressed in a manner resembling that affected by the warrior caste, and he carries the rattle-staff.
STATUES
Representations of Xipe in statuary are considerably numerous. Several found in the Valley of Mexico
are housed [207]in the Uhde collection, Berlin. Two of these represent the god as wearing the victim’s
flayed skin and one of them is pitted with marks, evidently indicative of blood-spots. The crown with
feathers of the roseate spoonbill is well exemplified in one of these, but in the other a mitre-like
headdress superimposed upon a circular crown, from which depend large ribbons or paper ornaments,
is noticeable. In another of these figures the headdress is a sort of barret-cap with knobs or studs. Still
another figure of the same class shows the god with a very large stepped nose-ornament. All carry a
rattle-staff and three bear a shield. A most striking statue of Xipe was discovered at the Castillo de
Teayo site, at Vera Cruz. The head, which is round and bullet-shaped, bears an extraordinary
resemblance to that of the well-known Egyptian figure of the Sheik-el-Beled in the Boulaq Museum. In
this statue the god wears the skin of the victim, and the manner in which it was tied on to the priest is
well illustrated by the knotting at the back. The faces, of course, are masks of the sacrificed victim.
ELEMENTS OF XIPE’S INSIGNIA
Although Xipe is so frequently portrayed as possessing the outward characteristics of a red

Tezcatlipocâ, few of the Mexican deities possess insignia so individual, or so rich in manifold elements.
The Xipe dress was a favourite one with Mexican kings and military chieftains, and, in the Codex
Vaticanus A, King Motecuhzoma II is represented as wearing the costume on the occasion of his victory
over Toluca. Tezozomoc also states that Axayacatl wore this dress, 44 and on the eve of a fierce
engagement Tlacauepan, brother of Motecuhzoma, donned it at the latter’s special request. The
elements of Xipe’s costume are as follows 45:
(1) The painted crown of feathers of the roseate spoonbill, with bifurcated ends.
(2) The gilded timbrel. [208]
(3) The jacket of spoonbill feathers.
(4) The petticoat or apron of zapote leaves, overlapping each other like tiles.
(5) The jaguar or ocelot-skin scabbard.
(6) The round shield covered with red spoonbill feathers, showing concentric circles of darker tints,
sometimes noticeably bisected, one-half of which is again subdivided obliquely into a smaller upper
portion containing a chalchihuitl on a blue field, and a larger lower portion, covered with jaguar or ocelot-
skin.
Xipe’s dress has three forms:
(1) That of the red god, of the colour of the roseate spoonbill.
(2) That of the blue god, of the colour of the blue cotinga.
(3) As a jaguar or ocelot.

Pottery figure. (Valley of
(From the Sahagun MS.) Pottery Figure found near Tezcuco. Mexico.)
FORMS OF XIPE.
MYTHS
The interpreter of Codex Vaticanus A says of Xipe: “Amongst those who began to follow the example of
Quetzalcoatl and his austerities by their own acts of penance, Totec is very famous, who, on account of
his having been a great sinner, first stood in the house of sorrow called Tlaxipuchicalco, where, having
completed his penance, he ascended the mountain Catcitepulz (‘the mountain which speaks’), which
mountain was covered with thorns. There continuing his penance, he cried from thence very strongly,
reproving his people of Tulan, calling to them to come and do penance with him for the enormous guilt
which they had incurred in forgetting the services and sacrifices of their gods and having abandoned
themselves so much to pleasure. They say that Totec was accustomed to go about clothed in a human
skin and so it has been the custom till those times. In the festivals, likewise, which they celebrated to
Totec, men clothed themselves in the skins of those whom they had slain in war and in this manner
danced and celebrated the festival of the sign dedicated to him (for from him, they say, wars originated),
and accordingly they paint him with these insignia, viz. a [209]lance, banner, and shield. They hold him in
the utmost veneration, for they say that he was the first who opened to them the way to heaven; for they
were under this error amongst others; they supposed that only those who died in war went to heaven,
as we have already said. Whilst Totec still continued doing penance, preaching and crying from the top
of the mountain which has been named, they pretend that he dreamed this night that he beheld a
horrible figure with its bowels protruding, which was the cause of the great abomination of his people.
On this, praying to his god to reveal to him what the figure signified, he answered that it was the sin of
his people, and that he should issue an order to the people, and cause them all to be assembled,
charging them to bring thick ropes, and to bind that miserable spectre, as it was the cause of all their
sins, and that, dragging it away, they should remove it from the people, who, giving faith to the words of
Totec, were by him conducted to a certain wild place, where they found the figure of death, which,
having bound, they dragged it to a distance, and drawing it backwards, they fell all into a cavity between
the two mountains, which closed together, and there they have remained buried ever since; none of
them having effected their escape, with the exception of the innocent children who remained in Tulan.”
A few lines farther on the interpreter says: “The two masters of penance were Quetzalcoatle and Totec,
who was called by another name, Chipe; who, having taken the children and the innocent people who
remained in Tulan, proceeded with them, peopling the world, and collecting along with them other
people whom they chanced to find. They further add that, journeying in this manner with these people,
they arrived at a certain mountain, which not being able to pass, they feign that they bored a
subterranean way through it and so passed. Others say that they remained shut up and that they were
transformed into stones, and other such fables.”
The first part of this myth is, of course, merely ætiological of the practice of making vows to Xipe to
capture and immolate [210]an enemy in his honour, as, we shall see in the paragraph dealing with his
festivals, was done on that occasion. But I would point out that it possesses some importance as
providing further evidence regarding the existence of the ascetic life in Mexico, most of the myths
dealing with which, like that under discussion, are connected with the Toltecs, the people of
Quetzalcoatl. Xipe, who plays the part of the Toltec Jeremiah, is here the subject of a tale which is also
recounted of Tezcatlipocâ, with whom he is frequently confounded or identified, perhaps because both
were great gods of the sacrificial stone, or for the reason that practically all Mexican cults tended to
gravitate towards Tezcatlipocâ in late times.
That portion of the story which details the burial en masse of the Toltecs is, of course, the widespread
tale of the disappearance of the old hero-race underground—the fate which overtook Charlemagne and
his peers, King Arthur and “the auld Picts” at Arthur’s Seat, near Edinburgh, Barbarossa and his men,
and many another group of paladins. The whole may allude, in the ultimate, to mound-burial. It is
strange too—or quite natural, as we believe in, or doubt, the penetration of America by alien influences
—to find in Mexico an incomplete variant of the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. I should not be
surprised to find that Xipe piped the Toltec children into the Underworld, for Tezcatlipocâ, with whom he
was identified, or at least the captive who represented that god at the Toxcatl festival, and who had a
year of merriment in which to prepare himself for his fate, went through the city at intervals, playing upon
a flute. This almost universal myth may allude to the ancient belief that the souls of the dead travelled
with the wind, and were the cause of its sighing and whistling. 46 We know, too, that the whistling of the
night wind through the mountains was regarded by the Mexicans as of evil omen, and that Yoalli Eecatl
(The Wind of Night) was one of the names of Tezcatlipocâ. 47 [211]
The following song from the Sahagun MS. is in celebration of Xipe:
Wherefore dost thou disguise thyself, O Night-drinker?

Put on thy golden garment.
O my god, thy rich sacrificial water descended;

The lofty cypress tree has become a quetzal;
That which was a serpent has become a quetzal.
The fire-serpent, the famine, has left me.
It may be that I shall go thence to perish,

I, the young maize-plant.
My heart is like a chalchihuitl;
But I shall yet see gold in that place.
I shall be satisfied when I can say
The warrior chief is born.
Let the maize be ready in abundance, O my god.

I look towards thy mountain, I, who worship thee.
I will be satisfied
When the maize ripens,
When the warrior chief is born.
I believe the god to have been called “Night-drinker” from the circumstance that, in the belief of certain
barbarous peoples, vegetation is more greatly assisted in its growth by night than by day, that it “drinks,”
or is saturated by, the mists and vapours of the night season, which are believed to emanate from the
moon. 48 Indeed, dew is believed to be caused by the moon, 49 which is regarded as the great source of
all moisture, as the sun is the great source of all heat. 50
Xipe is here entreated by the young maize-plant to don his golden garment, the rain, as, indeed, one
translation of this song states it to be, taking a reasonable liberty with the original. When the rain comes
the cypress glitters like a quetzal-feather, a Mexican euphuism for a glittering gem, or anything very
precious. The xiuhcoatl, or fire-serpent, is the terrible weapon of Uitzilopochtli, with which he slew his
rebellious brothers and sister, the enemies of his mother Coatlicue, [212]as Indra slew those of his
mother, both of these events occurring immediately after the birth of the gods thus compared. (In the
case of Indra the weapon was a thunderbolt.) The fire-serpent in this place evidently symbolizes the
scorching, torrid heat which brings about famine. If the rain continues not, the maize-plant, the young
heart of which is green as jadeite, and from which the golden maize will emerge later, may perish.
Finally the worshipper (?) states that he will remain unsatisfied until the plumed and full-grown plant,
symbolic of the warrior and all that he fights for, has come to fruition.
My reading of this song differs considerably from those of other authorities, but I may, perhaps, be
pardoned if I say that I prefer my own elucidation as at least more circumstantial and more in line with
the facts of Mexican belief.
FESTIVAL
Tlacaxipeuliztli.—The best description of this festival is that of Sahagun (bk. ii, c. xxi) who tells us that on
the last day of the month of that name the Mexicans celebrated a solemn festival to Xipe and
Uitzilopochtli. On the afternoon of the day prior to that on which the feast was to take place they held a
solemn areyto, or dance, and they watched all the night in the temple called calpulco 51 with those who
were to be sacrificed on the morrow. They shaved the hair from the tops of their heads, at the same time
drawing blood from their own ears to offer to the gods. When daybreak had come, they conducted the
captives to the temple of Uitzilopochtli, where they were sacrificed and flayed, from which circumstance
the feast took its name. Many of the victims were called Xipeme or Tototectin (plurals of the god’s
name). The masters of the captives, or those who had captured them in war, formally handed them over
to the priests at the foot of the teocalli, and these took them by the hair of the head to make them mount
the steps more quickly. If they refused to walk to the stone of sacrifice they were dragged thence. When
their hearts had been withdrawn they were offered [213]up to the gods, and the body cast down the steps
of the teocalli, where other priests received it for flaying. The hearts of the unfortunates thus slaughtered
were thrown into a tub of wood and took the name of quanochtli, or “nopal wood,” of which the tubs
were made.
The flaying process was undertaken by a caste of elderly and probably inferior priests, the
quaquacuilton. 52 Before the bodies of the sacrificed were so treated they were carried to the temple,
where the “master” of the captive had made his vow to capture and consecrate a victim to the god. The
body was broken up at this place, and a leg was dispatched to court for the table of the king, the
remainder being divided among the great, or the master’s parents. The dreadful repast was usually
partaken of in the house of him who had taken the captive prisoner in war. They cooked the flesh with
maize and gave a little to each in a small porringer. The dish was called tlacatlaolli, or “man and maize.”
After having eaten, the feasters became intoxicated on octli. On the following day, having watched all
the night, they went to amuse themselves by examining the other captives, and in watching them being
baited on the stone of combat. These latter were known as uauantin, “the pierced,” with reference to the
wounds they received. 53
Before the sacrificial rites took place the captors of the victims gathered together, and when the victims
had been dispatched the captors, or certain priests (it is not clear which), drew on the skins of the flayed
victims, and took up positions on hillocks of hay or heaps of chalk or rubbish. Others approached them,
and defied them to combat by words and pinches. A skirmish ensued, and those who were captured did
not escape scot-free, being rather roughly handled. This mock combat over, the real business of the day
began in terrible earnest. The wretched captive [214]was secured by one ankle to the temalacatl, or
stone of combat, and wooden bâtons on which eagle-down had been stuck, in imitation of a maquahuitl,
or obsidian-edged sword, were placed in his hands. Four warriors now came against the victim, two of
the ocelotl corps of knights and two of the quauhtli or Eagle Corps, and having raised their shields and
weapons to the sun, one of them attacked the captive tied to the stone. If he defended himself with
address, two or even three of his opponents attacked him, and if he still made good his resistance, all
four fell upon him, “intermingling their blows with dances and numerous poses.”
Prior to the combat a solemn procession was formed to the temalacatl. A body of priests, dressed in the
insignia of one or other of the gods in whose honour the festival was held, issued from the yopico (“in
Yopi land”), the temple of Xipe, followed by the tecutlis, or knights, already alluded to, who flourished
their weapons and made a martial show. Arrived at the temalacatl, they marched round it, and seated
themselves on carven stools called quecholicpalli (“perch of the strong bird”). The priest who took
charge of the proceedings was called Youallauan (Night-drinker), one of the names of the god, and
when all were seated, an orchestra of trumpets, flutes, and conch-shells struck up, mingled with
whistling and singing. The performers wore on their shoulders streamers of white feathers mounted on
long staves, which, as we have seen, was part of the Xipe dress, and sat between the priests and the
stone of combat.
When the frightful overture had concluded, a captive was placed on the stone by the person who
devoted him to sacrifice, and a beaker of octli was given him to hearten him to fight well. This he
presented to the four points of the compass, and then sucked its contents through a reed. A priest then
took up his stand in front of the doomed man, and holding a living quail before him as before a god, tore
off its head. Another priest clad in a bear-skin secured the captive to the stone and handed him his
weapons, and then his captor danced before him, as before a divinity. The combat then took place, and
in the unusual event of a victim [215]overcoming the four well-appointed warriors who opposed him, a
fifth, who must be a left-handed man, rushed in, raised the exhausted victor in his arms and threw him to
the ground, where he was dispatched by the Youallauan.
The victim’s heart was then thrown into the wooden tub before alluded to, after it had been held up to
the sun. Another priest now took a hollow reed and introduced it into the opening from which the heart
had been removed. Having drawn off a sufficient quantity of blood, he went to offer it up to the sun. The
master of the captive who had been slain then filled a bowl with the blood of his victim, which vessel was
gaily decorated with feathers and which contained a tube, similarly ornamented. With this he went the
round of the temples, smearing the blood upon the lips of the idols with the feathered tube. He next
divested himself of the gay feather cloak he wore for the occasion and carried the flayed corpse of his
captive, or what remained of it, to his house, after royal and other requirements had been met. As has
been said, he feasted his family and friends on the body, but did not himself partake of it, as he was
regarded as the ritual father of the deceased. “The skin of a victim also belonged to his captor, and this
he gave to those who dressed themselves in skins (in consequence of a vow), and so attired, paraded
the streets of the town. Others wore the heads of wolves.” 54
“When the captive had been slain, all who were present, priests, warriors and others, began to dance
the areyto round the temalacatl, the captors of the victims carrying the heads of the slain. This areyto, or
dance, was called motzontecomaitotia (dance with decapitated heads). The cuitlachueue (old jackal 55),
godfather of the captives, took in his hands the cords which had held them to the temalacatl and raised
them to the four cardinal points in sign of adoration. After that ‘he groaned, he wept for the dead.’
“The foreigners with whom Motecuhzoma was at war [216]came to assist secretly at the spectacle. These
were the men of Uexotzinco, Tlaxcallan and Nonoualco, Cempoallan, and many other places. The
Mexicans pretended not to see them, and they were thus able to behold the fate reserved for captives in
Mexico. When all was over, everyone ate a tortilla called uilocpalli, or pigeon-seat, a kind of little paté
made with uncooked maize. Next day everyone assisted at an areyto of great solemnity, which was
commenced in the royal palace. All were dressed in their best and carried tamallis and tortillas of
roasted maize, called momochtli, which they wore instead of collars and garlands. They carried also red
feathers and stalks of maize. The areyto ceased at midday, and the nobles ranged themselves three
and three in the royal palaces. The king appeared, having upon his right the King of Tezcuco and on his
left the Lord of Tacuba. A solemn dance then took place, which lasted until the sun went down, after
which they commenced another dance, in which everyone took hands and danced in a serpentine
figure. The old soldiers and recruits came to this dance, bringing with them female partners and even
public women. This lasted also on the place where the captives had been slain till nearly midnight, and
they continued to celebrate these feasts for nearly twenty days, until they had arrived at the kalends of
the month which they called tozoztontli.”
Twenty days after the festival those who wore the skins of the slain removed them, but it would seem,
from what Sahagun says, that certain devotees wore these from the festival of tlacaxipeuliztli at the end
of that month to the beginning of the following tlacaxipeuliztli. Persons afflicted with skin diseases or
weak sight frequently made a vow to be present at this ceremony. The devotees then performed
ceremonial ablutions in a bath in the temple, in which water was mixed with maize flour, or, more strictly
speaking, they were bathed by others. They then shampooed their heads and did penance for the death
of the captive. After this the captor erected a tripod in the court of his house, on the top of which was a
petlatl, or mat rolled into a ball, on which he placed [217]all the paper ornaments which the captive had
worn at his sacrifice. “He then chose a courageous young man who wore those papers, and who took a
shield in one hand and a cudgel in the other, and went through the streets as if looking for an evil-doer.
Everyone was afraid, and cried, ‘Behold the telzompac (noble one) comes!’ If he caught anyone he took
his mantle, and all the spoil he took he brought back to the captor. The captor then placed in the middle
of the court of his house a joist in the form of a column, which indicated that he had made captives in
war, and which was the blazon of his honour. Then he took the thigh-bone of the captive, ornamented it
with the papers, and attached it to the top of the column in his courtyard. He then invited his parents,
friends, and the men of his quarter, in presence of whom he hung the bone up, and then he gave them
to eat and drink. Family songs were sung. All these things were done in the twenty days before they
arrived at the uei tozoztli.
The goldsmiths, of whose caste Xipe was the patron, probably because the yellow human skin in which
he was represented as being clad typified an overlay of gold-foil, held a festival during tlacaxipeuliztli in
the yopico temple sacred to the god, sacrificing and burning victims to him, and covering a human
representative of him with ornaments and precious stones, a crown of feathers, golden necklaces and
earrings, and scarlet sandals. They then placed him upon a throne and offered him the first fruits and
flowers of the season, together with bunches of maize-seed.
The mode of sacrifice by shooting to death with darts or arrows was employed in connection with Xipe
as well as in the case of Tlazolteotl (q.v.). A captive was secured to a scaffold and shot with darts, so
that his blood might fall upon the ground. This usage may be regarded as of the nature of sympathetic
magic to secure rainfall.
TEMPLES
At least three buildings were erected to the honour of Xipe at Mexico. 56 The first of these, known as
yopico (“in Yopi [218]land”), has already been alluded to, and was probably the principal place connected
with his worship. It was at this temple that the ceremonies of the tlacaxipeuliztli festival took place. The
second, called yopico calmecac, appears to have been situated in the quarter of Tlatelolco, and, as its
name implies, was evidently a monastery or place of instruction. At another edifice, the yopoci
tzompantli, the heads of the victims slain at the festival of the god were exhibited. In front of the first of
these stood the temalacatl, the stone to which the captives were secured when they fought with the
Mexican warriors before they were finally sacrificed.
PRIESTHOOD
The Xipe yopico teohua, or priesthood dedicated to the service of Xipe, is enumerated among the
various classes of priests charged with the service of the gods, 57 and held in their keeping Xipe’s
insignia and the accessories for his festival. They resided in the yopico calmecac or monastery.
NATURE AND STATUS
Xipe is pre-eminently a god of seed-time and planting. 58 He is the Tlaltecutli, or “Lord of the Earth,” and
in a secondary sense, the god of the warrior’s death on the stone of combat, because of the association
between the food-supply and military service for the purpose of gaining captives. There can be no
question that Xipe was of Zapotec origin; indeed, that is manifest from the name of his temple, Yopico,
which means the “land of the Yopi” or Tlappeneca, a people of Zapotec affinities, and his cap was
known as yopitzontli, “the Yopi head.” One of his names was Anauatl itecu, or “Lord of the Coastland,”
and we know from Herrera 59 that he was especially worshipped in the district of Teotitlan, [219]which
commands the road to Tabasco. Both Sahagun and the interpreter of Codex Vaticanus A uphold his
alien origin.
Just as the Egyptian priests of Ammon at Thebes once a year killed a ram, flayed it, and clothed the
image of their god in the skin, just as the Celtic priest wore the skin of a bull at certain festivals, so the
Mexicans slew and flayed a man, in whose skin they clothed their priests and those who desired to be
closely associated with the god. The idea underlying this practice would appear to be the renewal of the
life of the deity. It seems to have some bearing on the phenomena of the system known as “totemism,”
regarding the real significance of which we know so little, despite the seeming erudition which has of
late years been lavished upon its consideration, for, as we have seen, the captor of the slain victim was
not permitted to eat of his flesh, although that may only have been taboo to him because he stood to the
doomed man in the relation of a sponsor. Xipe represents the earth “flayed,” that is bare, and ready for
sowing. The flaying of the captive and the dressing of the god’s representative in the skin may have
been of the nature of sympathetic magic, as a suggestion to the earth to rehabilitate itself in its covering
of yellow maize.
It is precisely the agricultural god whom in Mexico we must expect to find clothed in all the attributes of
the warrior, and truly Xipe does not disappoint us in this respect. He is armed cap-à-pie, and his dress
was the favourite harness of Mexican royalty when it went forth to battle, as witness the Spartan
suggestion of Motecuhzoma to his brother on the eve of a great combat. 60 The Codex Vaticanus A calls
him “il guerreggiatore attristato.” Thus at his feast the sacrifice takes the form of a combat. Indeed, he
represents the warrior caste, by the efforts of whom the altars of Mexico were supplied with human
victims, and the maize-crop was consequently secured.
Xipe is in some measure associated with that sacred bird [220]the quail, which has been connected with
sacrifice in many lands. This bird frequently takes refuge in the last sheaves of grain in a harvest-field,
and thus, perhaps, came to symbolize the corn-spirit driven from its last stronghold. In Normandy in the
harvest-field the reapers pretend to catch a quail and dispatch it. 61 The quail was sacrificed to the Tyrian
Baal, 62 and is associated by Robertson Smith with the god Eshmun-Iolaos. 63 The bird-like character of
Xipe’s dress may assist us in the belief that he was partially evolved from some bird of the quail species
commonly found in the maize-field. He bears a strong resemblance to the Maya god F.
Xipe was probably a maize-god of the Yopi who came to partake of the character of an Aztec grain-and-
sacrifice deity, his own type of immolation, the shooting by arrows, being partially superseded by the
warrior’s death upon the temalacatl. It would seem that, as the god of a people of Nahua race, but older
in their occupation of the land than the Aztecâ and Chichimecs, he probably took much the same line of
development after his worshippers settled in the Yopi country as Tezcatlipocâ and Uitzilopochtli took in a
more northern environment, that the resemblance was recognized by the Aztecâ (as is shown by his
affinity with Tezcatlipocâ, with whom, indeed, he is identified as Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipocâ, or “the Red
Tezcatlipocâ”), and that under their guidance his festival took a similar form to that of the gods in
question. His festival is certainly a mytho-dramatic performance explanatory of the preparation of the
earth for the sowing of grain, the soil being rehabilitated by the death of the captive warrior. [221]
[Contents]
XILONEN = “YOUNG MAIZE MOTHER”
Area of Worship: Originally Huichol tribes; later, Valley of Anahuac.

Festival: Uei tecuilhuitl, in the eighth month.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
Sahagun MS. (Biblioteca del Palacio).—The face is painted half red, half yellow, and the goddess wears
a crown of paper decorated with quetzal-feathers. Her collar is of green precious stones and her
overdress is “the colour of spring flowers” (red). Her skirt is of the same hue. She wears sandals, and
carries a shield with horizontal lines. In her hand she holds a red rattle-board.
FESTIVAL
The Uei tecuilhuitl.—The festival to Xilonen was the uei tecuilhuitl, or “great festival of the chiefs,” which
lasted eight days and was celebrated when the maize-plant had almost reached maturity. Our chief
authorities for its events are Sahagun 64 and Torquemada. 65 The former states that at this period of the
year (June–July) the women wore their hair unbound, in order that the maize might be prompted to grow
in equal luxuriance. During the days of the festival such persons as visited the temple were permitted to
drink abundantly of chian pinolli (a beverage manufactured from the seed of the chian tree, mingled with
maize-flour and aloe honey) and as much maize-porridge as could be grasped in the hand, to symbolize
the plenty which would follow the ripening of the grain. The food thus supplied was the gift of the chiefs,
from which circumstance the festival took its name. Dancing commenced each night at sunset, and was
accompanied by singing, the scene being illuminated by the glare from burning pine-torches.
The dancer around whom interest chiefly centred was the xalaquia (“she who is clothed with the soil”), a
slave girl who represented the goddess, wearing her red face-paint, [222]large square headdress and
variegated raiment. She was constantly guarded by three old women called her “mothers,” and was
sedulously instructed in the dancing-school for the part she had to play. In all likelihood she was kept in
complete ignorance of her impending fate. Day after day she danced, surrounded by the women of the
community, who shook their long hair, and it was believed that the maize-crop would be vigorous or the
reverse as her terpsichorean exertions were spirited or listless. On the last day of the rites, the
priestesses of the Maize-goddess, attired in her insignia, gathered together in the teopan, or temple-
precinct, and accompanied the victim in a performance which lasted throughout the night. When day
broke, the chief nobles and warriors of Mexico joined the women and danced a solemn areyto, the men
dancing in front and the women behind them. In this manner they danced to the foot of the teocalli of the
goddess, which they ascended, the victim being carried on the back of one of the priests, after the
manner of a bride being borne to her husband’s house. Arrived at the summit, she was decapitated and
her heart offered to the goddess. Until she was sacrificed no one might eat of the new maize, lest it
should fail to ripen.
ITZPAPALOTL.
(From Codex Borbonicus, sheet 15.)

ITZPAPALOTL.
(From Codex Telleriano-Remensis, sheet 18, Verso.)
PRIESTHOOD
The Cinteotzin (Lord of Maize), says Sahagun, had charge of affairs at the festival of Xilonen (see
Cinteotl).
NATURE AND STATUS
Xilonen appears to be nothing more than a deification of the young, tender ear of the maize-plant. Her
name, the season at which her rites took place and the youth of the xalaquia who represented her would
seem to bear this out. She was originally a goddess of the Huichol tribes, and, by some circumstance of
evolution or imagery, came to symbolize for the Nahua the maize in the earlier stages of its ripeness,
thus to some extent resembling Cinteotl. Payne and also Seler in some places seem to confound her
festival [223]with that of Chicomecoatl, and offer no reasons for thus traversing the statements of the
older authorities, which are definite enough and which in this instance I prefer to follow.

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Zealand, 1950s–1970s” was published in National Identities. A scholarly book

ALP—­Australian Labor Party

Adopting a political and legal perspective, my book undertakes a transnation-

1967 constitutional referendum, and the International Convention on the

Context of the End of the British World

would not lead to a fundamental shift in Australia’s long-­standing political

ties and common wartime experiences should be emphasised in communica-

The Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1955

So, even the Commonwealth government was beginning to recognize that

Therefore, the reference to the “disadvantage of British people” demonstrated

it would encourage New Australians to become naturalized if they were allowed to

The latter was a reference to the introduction of public citizenship ceremonies,

The Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1960

born British subjects when it came to the privileges of citizenship. In 1957

The Australian government then proceeded to determine exactly what its

Secretary of the Department of Immigration Sir Tasman Heyes replied to his

section for the information to be contained in a statutory declaration, and (b) to

In an explanatory memorandum on the legislation, Minister for Immigration

Downer attempted to bring a personal touch to what was practical legislation

The reference to “full citizenship rights” should be particularly noted, as this

The Citizenship Act of 1969

(From Codex Fejérváry-Mayer.)

(From the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer.)

NATURE AND STATUS

MACUILXOCHITL = “FIVE FLOWER,” OR XOCHIPILLI = “FLOWER PRINCE”

Area of Worship: Tehuacan, Cozcatlan, Teotitlan del Camino, Oaxaca, Mexico.

(In the Uhde Collection, Berlin.)

ASPECT AND INSIGNIA (as Macuilxochitl)

STONE FIGURE OF MACUILXOCHITL.

(In the Uhde Collection, Berlin.)

(From Codex Borgia, sheet 15.)

ASPECT AND INSIGNIA (as Xochipilli)

(From the Sahagun MS.)

(Found at Teotlan del Camino.)

Song of the God of Music and Games

Out of the place of flowers I come,

I come even now, my granddam,

The god of evil omens,

In the temple of the octli-god

ALP—Australian Labor Party

would not lead to a fundamental shift in Australia’s long-standing political