Settler Colonial Dynamics Across the Coral Sea: Australia and the Contours of French Settlement in New Caledonia

In 1903, settlers in Nouméa celebrated the 50th anniversary of the French annexation of New Caledonia. They welcomed an Australian delegation – the first to represent the Commonwealth overseas since federation in 1901, and the introduction of the racially exclusionary White Australia policy. This article traces the circulation of ideas about settler self-government across the Coral Sea in the wake of federation, examining the ways in which the political, economic, and racial aspirations of settlers in the French colony were shaped by their observation of developments in Australia. We argue that attempts to adapt Australian models to New Caledonian realities ultimately affirmed affinities between settlers across the Coral Sea, strengthening transimperial forms of whiteness.