Te haerenga a ngā Piringa Pāka ki Aotearoa i te tau 1981 - The 1981 Springbok tour of New Zealand

56 Days, 1982. Edited by Geoff Walker and Peter Beach

56 Days was published shortly after the 1981 Tour by C.O.S.T. as a fund raiser to pay for legal fees. C.O.S.T. (or "Citizens Opposed to the Springbok Tour") was an anti-tour protest organisation which ran parallel to, but was quite separate from, the main anti-tour group H.A.R.T. ("Halt All Racist Tours"). The work is an in-depth look of protest activity in Wellington cumulating in the second test match held at Athletic Park in Berhampore on August 29th 1981. The book contains many dramatic incidents and includes an interview with Alick Shaw who lead C.O.S.T.'s "Marshall Committee" - the group tasked with the planning and implementation of the organisation's protest strategy.

1981 : the tour, 1984. By Geoff Chapple.

One of the most detailed books published about the events surrounding the Springbok's visit. The author was directly involved in the tour protests, and was arrested twice in the course of it, but his journalistic training has produced a book that clearly presents the evidences for and against the tour. The book begins by explaining the historic background which lead up to the 1981 tour including the nature of race relations in New Zealand and the African-nations boycott of the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games due to the All Black tour of South Africa the same year. It then details the nature and atmosphere of the protests in each of the centres where provincial games and test matches took place.

By batons and barbed wire, 2003. By Thomas Oliver Newnham.

Written by a veteran activist and former Secretary of CARE ("Citizens Association for Racial Equality") this book tells the story of the tour from a protestor's point of view. It is also very well illustrated with many dramatic photographs.

Counting the cost : the 1981 Springbok tour in Wellington, 1982.

This was printed by the Victoria University History Department in 1982 but was never formally published. It emerged as a result of the department's early recognition that the 1981 tour was going to be viewed as being historically significant in years to come. As part of a student summer project it was decided to collect interviews and data while events were still fresh in people's minds. The result was this series of essays which included a social analysis of tour protestors and the roles and attitudes of a number of different social groups.

With All Our Strength, 1982. By Juliet Morris.

This book concentrates on protest activity in and around Christchurch with a special emphasis on the first test which was held at Lancaster Park (today called Jade Stadium). It also has a detailed appendix which includes songs and chants which were specially written for the 1981 tour protests.

The Police and the 1981 tour : [a survey of police attitudes : a report on Molesworth Street], 1985.

A follow-up to Counting the cost this second "paper" from the Victoria University History Department was released in 1985. This report turned its focus towards the police - a group which had received little analytical attention up to this point. It includes the results of a general survey of police and their attitudes towards the tour and an in-depth report by historian Rachael Barrowman which specifically looks at the infamous "Battle of Molesworth Street" of 29th July 1981.

The Red Squad story, 1982. By Ross Meurant.

This book takes a different approach to the tour, explaining events from the perspective of the Red Escort Group (better known as the Red Squad) - an elite anti-riot branch of the NZ Police. The author, Ross Meurant, was second-in-command of the Red Squad and later became a National Party MP in 1987. Published only a year after the tour, the views in this book are a reflection of the pro-tour attitudes that many conservative communities held during the period.