Springbok Tour 1981

The cartoon shows a photo of the face of minister of police Ben Couch. The cartoonist has drawn around the face to make it seem as though he is a policeman in riot gear, In the background is a phot...

Poster showing the Red Squad running away.

Scuffle between a policeman of the Red Squad and helmeted anti Springbok rugby tour demonstrators in Wellington, 28 August 1981. Original caption reads: "A member of the 50-strong Red Squad in acti...

This programme provided a schedule of protest activities for July 1981

Two 1981 Anti-Springbok tour badges.

The central theme of opposition to sporting contact with South Africa was opposition to apartheid. This protest took many forms and involved many parts of New Zealand society from church groups to ...

A child holding an anti-Springbok Tour placard.

This T-shirt was made by HART (Halt All Racist Tours) for protestors to wear during the Springbok Rugby Tour of 1981. The list of organisations and people who were anti-tour indicates the diversity...

Barbed wire barrier protecting a rugby ground from anti Springbok tour protestors. Photographed on the 19th of August 1981 by an Evening Post staff photographer Protests were against the 1981 Spr...

This is a poster for Merata Mita's powerful feature-length documentary Patu!, which follows the growing public protests against the 1981 Springbok rugby tour of New Zealand. When Television New Zea...

Two panels. Against a montage of scenes from the anti-tour protests of 1981, the prime minister, John Key, reads a book titled 'How to make lots of money' and thinking 'Cool! I've got to remember T...

Woman protestor angered by police batoning demonstrators, Rintoul Street, Newtown, Wellington. Photographed by Evening post staff photographer Peter Avery 31 August 1981. No negative held at EP/1...

On this day in 1981, protestors against racism and apartheid in South Africa stormed the Hamilton Rugby Grounds, forcing the abandonment of the Springbok-Waikato match. The action formed part of a ...

In 1981, Auckland potter Peter Lange bought 300 cheap plain mugs, got the ceramic transfers printed, and fired the image on to the mugs. The image was given to Lange probably by a member of HART (H...

Shows in four cameos a range of characters in the rugby tour saga. The first is the 'pigheaded rugby union', then the 'self-righteous protesters', then the 'two-faced politicians' (Muldoon) and las...

Shows Muldoon, a rugby player, a protestor and a police officer skewered on a large arrow (Apartheid). They are all calling out and the demonstrator is holding a sign which says "Stop the Tour". Re...

This badge was worn by protesters against contacts between South African and New Zealand sporting teams in the 1970s. It was either worn during the lead up to the proposed South African rugby tour ...

Women's groups were prominent in the widespread protests against the 1981 Springbok tour of New Zealand. This poster, produced by Women Against the Tour, announces a march from Christchurch's Meriv...

The presence of the South African Springbok rugby team in New Zealand in the winter of 1981 sparked a fierce national debate and protest within New Zealand. This cartoon suggests the strength of th...

Photos of the 1981 Springbok tour protests from the Herald archives.

Christchurch City Libraries presents a selection of 1981 Springbok Anti-Tour posters.

The Monadnock PR 24 baton was introduced by the New Zealand Police in the early 1980s for riot control. It replaced the previous shorter baton. Operation Rugby The code-name for the police action d...

Shows the rugby boots of the New Zealand All Blacks, labelled NZRU, trampling over black South Africans in a scrum. Refers to the refusal of the New Zealand Rugby Union to bow to public pressure in...

Presents a number of pro and anti-Springbok tour perspectives from those who took part.