Minoru Hokari (1971-2004) was a brilliant and pathbreaking young scholar who passed away in his young 30s. He made outstanding contributions towards 'cross-culturalising' historical practice and towards developing a respectful collaborative research strategy with Indigenous Australians. A graduate of Hitotsubashi University (MEc 1996) and the Australian National University (PhD 2001), Minoru conducted fieldwork among Gurindji elders, whom he acknowledged as exceptional historians in their own right. His untimely death in 2004 curtailed a very promising career. He had a profound impact on a wide range of people, including many fellow students. As a result, there are scholarships named in his honour at both the University of New South Wales, where he started his PhD, and at the Australian National University, where he completed it.