15–19 April: Travel to Napier, meeting with the Hawke's Bay P.C. Association, around the coast to Gisborne and Tikitiki with the East Coast-Poverty Bay P.C. Association. 19 April–8 May: Travel to Whakatane and train with the Bay of Plenty Association. 9–12 May: At Palmerston North, N.Z.P.C. Federation Conference. 12–14 May: Travel to Hamilton. Visit Family Pre-School centres around Hamilton, Paeroa, Tauranga and Matakana Island. 15 May: Travel to Auckland. 16 May: Return to Australia. Their experiences in the North were repeated throughout their stay in New Zealand. They experienced their first traditional Maori welcome on Te Ohaki Marae, near Kaitaia. There, as on the rest of the tour, they stayed in the homes of Maori play centre parents. They visited Te Hapua Play Centre and stayed the night on the marae. This is New Zealand's most northerly centre and is entirely Maori. Because of isolation and lack of material wealth, this group has had to use imagination and initiative in making equipment and building up their centre. Te Ahu Ahu, one of the first rural centres established in Northland, was a good example of Maori-Pakeha co-operation. Olga and Dorothy were surprised at the equality of the Maori's place in New Zealand society and began to see that when the Maori contributed to the community, he was more readily accepted. However, they also visited centres where there was little co-operation, where Maoris had left because of Pakehas and vice versa. They were able to talk about these problems to both Maori and Pakeha. Gradually, they recognised that people of both races found it necessary that for there to be harmony in the centres and elsewhere they had to seek mutual recognition in a more positive way. They began to see that racial cooperation is an active two-way process. Not all their time was spent on serious work. They were shown all the tourist sights, rural and urban development, but it was from the people they met that they got their greatest understanding of the New Zealand way of life. There were some unexpected developments. This was a pioneer visit and Dorothy and Olga had to withstand a universal curiosity. So many people wanted to see them and to question them, that it became a problem to keep the purpose of the tour in mind and not be distracted by invitations that came from people everywhere. Public interest was aroused, and in them; newspaper editors saw a good story. Reporters and photographers almost became travelling companions. It was an interesting commentary on our stereotype of the Aborigine, that local people were not prepared for Dorothy and Olga. Preconceived ideas of Aborigines as primitive were shaken by the reality of two selfpossessed women, with the result that at times reactions were uncertain. It is difficult to do more than generalise about the benefits of the tour. On the whole, it was successful. Difficulties were met. The amount of travelling undertaken and the continual changing of personnel and places confused and imposed a strain on them. This was evident when I met From left: Pearl Allen, Dorothy Knight, Betty Brown and Olga Yuke in Whangarei during the visitors' first day in New Zealand.