Tom Mboya’s Australia: Kenya, Papua New Guinea and the end of Empire

The Menzies Australia Institute is hosting Dr Jon Piccini, Senior Lecturer at the Australian Catholic University, to deliver the 2024 Reese Memorial Lecture on the title 'Tom Mboya’s Australia: Kenya, Papua New Guinea and the end of Empire'.

The Reese Memorial Lecture is given in honour of Dr Trevor Reese, a distinguished historian of the British Commonwealth and Australia and Reader at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, the Institute’s home from 1982 to 1999. The lecture is given by an emerging scholar in the disciplines of history or political science.

Kenyan politician and trade unionist Tom Mboya visited Australia and the then Territory of Papua and New Guinea in 1964. Mboya was Oxford-educated, well-tailored, and spoke eloquently on the need for moderation as decolonisation unfolded. He seemed to personify a future for Africa that was liberal and pro-Western. Mboya was, however, not so easily characterised, variously labelled a democrat and a dictator, moderate and radical, nationalist and sellout. One reporter dubbed him “a visitor from another planet”.

In this talk, Dr Piccini will explore how Mboya’s visit was received in Australia. This requires thinking beyond the logo map of a ‘nation for a continent’: in 1964, Papuans were Australian citizens (of a sort), Indigenous peoples continued to be denied full citizenship, while settler-Australians grappled with a post-imperial identity. Mboya was keenly aware of this.

Drawing on Commonwealth government records, his own personal papers and voluminous commentary, Dr Piccini will show how Mboya’s Australian visit was read in diverse ways and served equally dissimilar purposes. “The moderate Mr Mboya”, as one editorial put it, sat alongside the radical. By embracing his polyvalent persona, Mboya could serve multiple and sometimes-conflicting agendas, while pursuing his own brand of South-South dialogue.

The lecture will be held from 17:00-18:30, followed by a drinks reception.

Note: This is a free event, which means we overbook to allow for no-shows and avoid empty seats. While we generally do not have to turn people away, this does mean we cannot guarantee all ticket holders a place. Admission is on a first come, first served basis. Those without tickets will not be admitted.

Jon is Senior Lecturer at the Australian Catholic University. He is a historian of twentieth-century Australia and its global entanglements. He is the author of two books, Human Rights in Twentieth Century Australia (Cambridge University Press, 2019) and Transnational Protest, Australia and the 1960s: Global Radicals (Palgrave, 2016). He is currently working on an intellectual and cultural history of Australian engagement with decolonisation after the Second World War.

Host or Publisher School of Global Affairs