This book draws together relevant research findings to produce the first comprehensive overview of Indigenous peoples' mobility. Chapters draw from a range of disciplinary sources, and from a diversity of regions and nation-states. Within nations, mobility is the key determinant of local population change, with implications for service delivery, needs assessment, and governance. Mobility also provides a key indicator of social and economic transformation. As such, it informs both social theory and policy debate. For much of the twentieth century conventional wisdom anticipated the steady convergence of socio-demographic trends, seeing this as an inevitable concomitant of the development process. However, the patterns and trends in population movement observed in this book suggest otherwise, and provide a forceful manifestation of changing race relations in these new world settings.

1. Introduction: New World Demography John Taylor and Martin Bell Part One: International Perspectives 2. Continuity and Change in Indisgenous Australian Population Mobility John Taylor and Martin Bell 3. Flirting with Zelinsky in Aoteoroa/New Zealand: a Maori Mobility Transition Richard Bedford and Ian Pool 4. Migration and Spatial Distribution of American Indians in the Twentieth Century Karl Eschbach 5. Government Policy and the Spatial Distribution of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples James Frideres, Madeline Kalbach, and Warren Kalbach Part Two: Data Issues and Analysis 6. Data Sources and Issues for the Analysis of Indisgenous Peoples Mobility Bruce Newbold 7. Registered Indian Mobility and Migration in Canada: Patterns and Implications Mary Jane Norris, Marty Cooke, Dan Beavon, Eric Guimond, and Stewart Clatworthy Part Three: Local Contingency 8. The Politics of Maori Mobility Manuhuia Barcham 9. American Indians and Geographic Mobility: Some Parameters for Public Policy C. Matthew Snipp 10. The Formation of Contemporary Aboriginal Settlement Patterns in Australia: Government Policies and Programs Alan Gray 11. Myth of the Walkabout: Movement in the Aboriginal Domain Nicolas Peterson 12. The Social Underpinnings of an Outstation Movement in Cape York Peninsula, Australia Benjamin Richard Smith 13. Conclusion: Emerging Research Themes Martin Bell and John Taylor