History of Australia (1901–1945)
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The history of Australia from 1901 to 1945 begins with the
Federation
The
Melbourne was chosen as the temporary seat of government while a purpose-designed capital city, Canberra, was constructed. The future King George V, then the Duke of York, opened the first Parliament of Australia on 9 May 1901, and his successor (later to be King George VI) opened the first session in Canberra during May 1927. Australia became officially autonomous in both internal and external affairs with the passage of the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act on 9 October 1942. The Australia Act 1986 eliminated the last vestiges of British legal authority at the Federal level. (The last state to remove recourse to British courts, Queensland, did not do so until 1988).
Early 20th century
The
Barton promised to "create a high court,... and an efficient federal public service.... He proposed to extend conciliation and arbitration, create a uniform railway gauge between the eastern capitals,[3] to introduce female federal franchise, to establish a... system of old age pensions."[4] He also promised to introduce legislation to safeguard "White Australia" from any influx of Asian or Pacific Island labour.
The Labor Party (the spelling "Labour" was dropped in 1912) had been established in the 1890s, after the failure of the
In writing about the preoccupations of the Australian population in early Federation Australia prior to World War One, the official Great War historian Charles Bean included the "White Australia Policy", which he defined as "a vehement effort to maintain a high Western standard of economy, society and culture (necessitating at that stage, however it might be camouflaged, the rigid exclusion of Oriental peoples)."[1] The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 was one of the first laws passed by the new Australian parliament. Aimed to restrict immigration from Asia (especially China), it found strong support in the national parliament, arguments ranging from economic protection to outright racism.[9] The law permitted a dictation test in any European language to be used to in effect exclude non-"white" immigrants. The ALP wanted to protect "white" jobs and pushed for more explicit restrictions. A few politicians spoke of the need to avoid hysterical treatment of the question. Member of Parliament Bruce Smith said he had "no desire to see low-class Indians, Chinamen or Japanese... swarming into this country.... But there is obligation...not (to) unnecessarily offend the educated classes of those nations."[10] Donald Cameron, a member from Tasmania, expressed a rare note of dissension:
[N]o race on... this earth has been treated in a more shameful manner than have the Chinese.... They were forced at the point of a bayonet to admit Englishmen... into China. Now if we compel them to admit our people... why in the name of justice should we refuse to admit them here?[11]
Outside parliament, Australia's first Catholic
The law passed both houses of Parliament and remained a central feature of Australia's immigration laws until abandoned in the 1950s. In the 1930s, the Lyons government unsuccessfully attempted to exclude Egon Kisch, a Czechoslovakian communist author from entering Australia by means of a 'dictation test' in Scottish Gaelic. The High Court of Australia ruled against this usage, and concerns emerged that the law could be used for such political purposes.[13][14]
Before 1901, units of soldiers from all six Australian colonies had been active as part of British forces in the Boer War. When the British government asked for more troops from Australia in early 1902, the Australian government obliged with a national contingent. Some 16,500 men had volunteered for service by the war's end in June 1902.[15] But Australians soon felt vulnerable closer to home. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 "allowed the Royal Navy to withdraw its capital ships from the Pacific by 1907. Australians saw themselves in time of war a lonely, sparsely populated outpost."[16] The impressive visit of the US Navy's Great White Fleet in 1908 emphasised to the government the value of an Australian navy. The Defence Act of 1909 reinforced the importance of Australian defence, and in February 1910, Lord Kitchener provided further advice on a defence scheme based on conscription. By 1913, the battlecruiser Australia led the fledgling Royal Australian Navy. Historian Bill Gammage estimates on the eve of war, Australia had 200,000 men "under arms of some sort".[16]
Historian
Catastrophic droughts plagued some regions in the late 1890s and early 20th century and together with a growing rabbit plague, created great hardship in rural Australia. Despite this, a number of writers "imagined a time when Australia would outstrip Britain in wealth and importance, when its open spaces would support rolling acres of farms and factories to match those of the United States. Some estimated the future population at 100 million, 200 million or more."[18] Amongst these was E. J. Brady, whose 1918 book Australia Unlimited described Australia's inland as ripe for development and settlement, "destined one day to pulsate with life."[19]
Religion
In the early years of the century the Church of England in Australia transformed itself in its patterns of worship, in the internal appearances of its churches, and in the forms of piety recommended by its clergy. The changes represented a heightened emphasis on the sacraments and were introduced by younger clergy trained in England and inspired by the Oxford and Anglo-Catholic movements. The church's women and its upper and middle class parishes were most supportive, overcoming the reluctance of some of the men. The changes were widely adopted by the 1920s, making the Church of England more self-consciously "Anglican" and distinct from other Protestant churches.[20][21] Controversy erupted, especially in New South Wales, between the politically liberal proponents of the Social Gospel, who wanted more Church attention to the social ills of society, and conservative elements. The opposition of the strong conservative evangelical forces within the Sydney diocese limited the liberals during the 1930s, but their ideas contributed to the formation of the influential post-World War II Christian Social Order Movement.[22]
Attempts to unite the Congregationalist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches failed in 1901–13 and again in 1917–25; they succeeded only in 1977, with the organisation of the Uniting Church in Australia. The efforts early in the century were impeded by weak organisation within each denomination. Interdenominational differences over organisation, the status of the ministry, and (to a lesser extent) doctrine also stood in the way. By 1920, the theological liberalism of unionist leaders made the entire movement suspect to orthodox members, especially Presbyterians. Most important was the opposition and apathy of the general membership of the churches. The leaders who designed plans for union had ignored the laity in the decision-making process and had failed to develop practical co-operation at the local level.[23]
So in Australia's
Culture
Australian composers who published musical works during this period include Roy Agnew, Vince Courtney, Guglielmo Enrico Lardelli, Louis Lavater and Herbert De Pinna.
First World War
Australia sent many thousands of troops to fight for Britain during the
Australia's annual holiday to remember its war dead is held on
The AIF's first experience of warfare on the
In 1919, Prime Minister
In 1916 the Labor Prime Minister,
Fisher argues that the government aggressively promoted economic, industrial, and social modernisation in the war years.[34] However, he says there was a cost in terms of a neglect in liberal-democratic values. That is, liberalism, pluralism, and respect for cultural diversity gave way to policies of exclusion and repression. He says the war turned a peaceful nation into "one that was violent, aggressive, angst- and conflict-ridden, torn apart by invisible front lines of sectarian division, ethnic conflict and socio-economic and political upheaval." The nation was fearful of enemy aliens—especially Germans, regardless of how closely they identified with Australia. The government interred 2,900 German-born men (40% of the total) and deported 700 of them after the war.[35] Irish nationalists and labour radicals were under suspicion as well. Racist hostility was high against toward nonwhites, including Pacific Islanders, Chinese and Aborigines. The result, Fischer says, was a strengthening of conformity to imperial/British loyalties and an explicit preference for immigrants from the British Isles.[34]
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Australian delegation, led by Prime Minister Hughes, wanted reparations, annexation of German New Guinea and rejection of the Japanese racial equality proposal. Hughes said that he had no objection to the equality proposal provided it was stated in unambiguous terms that it did not confer any right to enter Australia. Hughes was the most prominent opponent of the inclusion of the Japanese racial equality proposal, which as a result of lobbying by him and others was not included in the final Treaty, deeply offending Japan.
Hughes demanded that Australia have independent representation within the newly formed
Wilson and Hughes had some memorable clashes, with the most famous being:
- Wilson: "But after all, you speak for only five million people."
- Hughes: "I represent sixty thousand dead."[38]
Wilson was especially offended by Australian demands and asked Hughes, whom he regarded as a "pestiferous varmint", if Australia really wanted to flout world opinion by profiting from Germany's defeat and extending its sovereignty as far north as the equator; Hughes famously replied: "That's about the size of it, Mr. President".[39]
Hughes' success in obtaining a mandate for New Guinea is regarded by many as his greatest achievement, as Japanese control might have resulted in their invasion of the Australian mainland during the Second World War.
The inter-war years
The 1920s
After the war, Prime Minister
Following the success of the
The Country Party (today's
Other significant after-effects of the war included ongoing industrial unrest, which included the
Starting on 1 February 1927 (and lasting until 12 June 1931), the Northern Territory was divided up as
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was formed from New South Wales in 1911 to provide a location for the proposed new federal capital of Canberra (Melbourne was the seat of government from 1901 to 1927. The FCT was renamed the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in 1938.) The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the Commonwealth in 1911.
Jazz music, entertainment culture, new technology and consumerism that characterised the 1920s in the USA was, to some extent, also found in Australia. Prohibition was not implemented in Australia, though anti-alcohol forces were successful in having hotels closed after 6 pm, and closed altogether in a few city suburbs.[45]
The fledgling
Stanley Bruce became Prime Minister in 1923, when members of the Nationalist Party Government voted to remove W.M. Hughes. Speaking in early 1925, Bruce summed up the priorities and optimism of many Australians, saying that "men, money and markets accurately defined the essential requirements of Australia" and that he was seeking such from Britain.[48] The migration campaign of the 1920s, operated by the Development and Migration Commission, brought almost 300,000 Britons to Australia,[49] although schemes to settle migrants and returned soldiers "on the land" were generally not a success. "The new irrigation areas in Western Australia and the Dawson Valley of Queensland proved disastrous".[50]
In Australia, the costs of major investment had traditionally been met by state and Federal governments and heavy borrowing from overseas was made by the governments in the 1920s. A Loan Council set up in 1928 to co-ordinate loans, three-quarters of which came from overseas.[51] Despite Imperial Preference, a balance of trade was not successfully achieved with Britain. "In the five years from 1924... to... 1928, Australia bought 43.4% of its imports from Britain and sold 38.7% of its exports. Wheat and wool made up more than two-thirds of all Australian exports," a dangerous reliance on just two export commodities.[52]
Australia embraced the new technologies of transport and communication. Coastal sailing ships were finally abandoned in favour of steam, and improvements in rail and motor transport heralded dramatic changes in work and leisure. In 1918 there were 50,000 cars and lorries in the whole of Australia. By 1929 there were 500,000.
Great Depression: the 1930s
Australia's dependence on primary exports such as wheat and wool was cruelly exposed by the
Exposed by continuous borrowing to fund capital works in the 1920s, the Australian and state governments were "already far from secure in 1927, when most economic indicators took a turn for the worse. Australia's dependence of exports left her extraordinarily vulnerable to world market fluctuations," according to economic historian Geoff Spenceley.
At elections held in October 1929 the Labor Party was swept to power in a landslide, the former Prime Minister Stanley Bruce losing his own seat. The new Prime Minister James Scullin and his largely inexperienced Government were almost immediately faced with a series of crises. Hamstrung by their lack of control of the Senate, a lack of control over the Banking system and divisions within their Party over how best to deal with the situation, the government was forced to accept solutions that eventually split the party, as it had in 1917. Some gravitated to New South Wales Premier Lang, other to Prime Minister Scullin.
Various "plans" to resolve the crisis were suggested;
May 1931 had seen the creation of a new conservative political force, the
Lyons favoured the tough economic measures of the "
There is debate over the extent reached by unemployment in Australia, often cited as peaking at 29% in 1932. "Trade Union figures are the most often quoted, but the people who were there…regard the figures as wildly understating the extent of unemployment" wrote historian Wendy Lowenstein in her collection of oral histories of the Depression.[66] However, David Potts argues that "over the last thirty years …historians of the period have either uncritically accepted that figure (29% in the peak year 1932) including rounding it up to 'a third,' or they have passionately argued that a third is far too low."[67] Potts suggests a peak national figure of 25% unemployed.[68]
Extraordinary sporting successes did something to alleviate the spirits of Australians during the economic downturn. In a Sheffield Shield cricket match at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1930, Don Bradman, a young New South Welshman of just 21 years of age wrote his name into the record books by smashing the previous highest batting score in first-class cricket with 452 runs not out in just 415 minutes.[69] The rising star's world beating cricketing exploits were to provide much needed joy to Australians through the emerging Great Depression in Australia and post-World War II recovery. Between 1929 and 1931 the racehorse Phar Lap dominated Australia's racing industry, at one stage winning fourteen races in a row.[70] Famous victories included the 1930 Melbourne Cup, following an assassination attempt and carrying 9 stone 12 pounds weight.[71] Phar Lap sailed for the United States in 1931, going on to win North America's richest race, the Agua Caliente Handicap in 1932. Soon after, on the cusp of US success, Phar Lap developed suspicious symptoms and died. Theories swirled that the champion race horse had been poisoned and a devoted Australian public went into shock.[72] The 1938 British Empire Games were held in Sydney from 5–12 February, timed to coincide with Sydney's sesqui-centenary (150 years since the foundation of British settlement in Australia).
Second World War
Defence policy in the 1930s
Defence issues became increasingly prominent in public affairs with the rise of fascism in Europe and
Until the late 1930s, defence was not a significant issue for Australians. At the 1937 elections, both political parties advocated increased defence spending, in the context of increased Japanese aggression in China and Germany's aggression in Europe. There was a difference in opinion over how the defence spending should be allocated however. The UAP government emphasised co-operation with Britain in "a policy of imperial defence." The lynchpin of this was the British naval base at Singapore and the Royal Navy battle fleet "which, it was hoped, would use it in time of need."[75] Defence spending in the inter-war years reflected this priority. In the period 1921–1936 totalled £40 million on the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), £20 million on the Australian Army and £6 million on the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) (established in 1921, the "youngest" of the three services). In 1939, the Navy, which included two heavy cruisers and four light cruisers, was the service best equipped for war.[76]
Scarred by the experiences of World War I, Australia reluctantly prepared for a new war, in which the primacy of the British Royal Navy would indeed prove insufficient to defend Australia from attack from the north. Billy Hughes was brought back into cabinet by Lyons as Minister for External Affairs in 1937.[74] From 1938, Lyons used Hughes to head a recruitment drive for the Australian Defence Force.[64] Prime Minister Lyons died in office in April 1939, with Australia just months from war, and the United Australia Party selected Robert Menzies as its new leader. Fearing Japanese intentions in the Pacific, Menzies established independent embassies in Tokyo and Washington to receive independent advice about developments.[77]
Gavin Long argues that the Labor opposition urged greater national self-reliance through a buildup of manufacturing and more emphasis on the Army and RAAF, as Chief of the General Staff, John Lavarack also advocated.[78] In November 1936, Labor leader John Curtin said "The dependence of Australia upon the competence, let alone the readiness, of British statesmen to send forces to our aid is too dangerous a hazard upon which to found Australia's defence policy.".[75] According to John Robertson, "some British leaders had also realised that their country could not fight Japan and Germany at the same time." But "this was never discussed candidly at…meeting(s) of Australian and British defence planners", such as the 1937 Imperial Conference.[79]
By September 1939 the Australian Army numbered 3,000 regulars.[80] A recruiting campaign in late 1938, led by Major-General Thomas Blamey increased the reserve militia to almost 80,000.[81] The first division raised for war was designated the 6th Division, of the 2nd AIF, there being five Militia Divisions on paper and a 1st AIF in the First World War.[82]
War
On 3 September 1939, the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, made a national radio broadcast:
My fellow Australians. It is my melancholy duty to inform you, officially, that, in consequence of the persistence by Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her, and that, as a result, Australia is also at war.[4]
Thus began Australia's involvement in the six-year global conflict. Australians were to fight in an extraordinary variety of locations, from withstanding the advance of Hitler's
The recruitment of a volunteer military force for service at home and abroad was announced, the
In January 1941, Menzies flew to Britain to discuss the weakness of Singapore's defences. Arriving in London during
From 1940 to 1941, Australian forces played prominent roles in the fighting in the
A garrison of around 14,000 Australian soldiers, commanded by Lieutenant General
With most of Australia's best forces committed to fight against Hitler in the Middle East, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the US naval base in Hawaii, on 8 December 1941 (eastern Australia time). The British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse sent to defend Singapore were sunk soon afterwards. Australia was ill-prepared for an attack, lacking armaments, modern fighter aircraft, heavy bombers, and aircraft carriers. While demanding reinforcements from Churchill, on 27 December 1941 Curtin published an historic announcement:[84]
"The Australian Government... regards the Pacific struggle as primarily one in which the United States and Australia must have the fullest say in the direction of the democracies' fighting plan. Without inhibitions of any kind, I make it clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom."[85]
British Malaya quickly collapsed, shocking the Australian nation. British, Indian and Australian troops made a disorganised last stand at Singapore, before surrendering on 15 February 1942. 15,000 Australian soldiers became
Three reinforced infantry battalions awaited the advancing Japanese in an arc across Australia's north:
Two battle hardened Australian divisions were already steaming from the Mid-East for Singapore. Churchill wanted them diverted to Burma, but Curtin refused, and anxiously awaited their return to Australia. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered his commander in the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur, to formulate a Pacific defence plan with Australia in March 1942. Curtin agreed to place Australian forces under the command of General MacArthur, who became "Supreme Commander of the South West Pacific". Curtin had thus presided over a fundamental shift in Australia's foreign policy. MacArthur moved his headquarters to Melbourne in March 1942 and American troops began massing in Australia. In late May 1942, Japanese midget submarines sank an accommodation vessel in a daring raid on Sydney Harbour. On 8 June 1942, two Japanese submarines briefly shelled Sydney's eastern suburbs and the city of Newcastle.[91]
In an effort to isolate Australia, the Japanese planned a seaborne invasion of Port Moresby, in the Australian Territory of New Guinea. In May 1942, the US Navy engaged the Japanese in the Battle of the Coral Sea and halted the attack. The Battle of Midway in June effectively defeated the Japanese navy and the Japanese army launched a land assault on Moresby from the north.[84] Between July and November 1942, Australian forces repulsed Japanese attempts on the city by way of the Kokoda Track, in the highlands of New Guinea. The Battle of Milne Bay in August 1942 was the first Allied defeat of Japanese land forces.
Meanwhile, in North Africa, the
Concerned to maintain British commitment to the defence of Australia, Prime Minister Curtin announced in November 1943 that
On 14 May 1943, the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur, though clearly marked as a medical vessel, was sunk by a Japanese submarine off the Queensland coast. Of the 332 persons on board including doctors and nurses, just 64 survived and only one of the ship's nursing staff, Ellen Savage. The war crime further enraged popular opinion against Japan.[94][95]
The
MacCarthur excluded Australian forces from the main push north into the Philippines and Japan. It was left to Australia to lead
Of Australia's wartime population of 7 million, almost 1 million men and women served in a branch of the services during the six years of warfare. By war's end, gross enlistments totalled 727,200 men and women in the Australian Army (of whom 557,800 served overseas), 216,900 in the RAAF and 48,900 in the RAN. Over 39,700 were killed or died as prisoners of war, about 8,000 of whom died as prisoners of the Japanese.[98][99]
The Homefront
The Australian economy was markedly affected by World War II.[100] Expenditure on war reached 37% of GDP by 1943–4, compared to 4% expenditure in 1939–1940.[101] Total war expenditure was £2,949 million between 1939 and 1945.[102]
Although the peak of Army enlistments occurred in June–July 1940, when over 70,000 enlisted, it was the Curtin Labor government, formed in October 1941, that was largely responsible for "a complete revision of the whole Australian economic, domestic and industrial life."[103] Rationing of fuel, clothing and some food was introduced, (although less severely than in Britain) Christmas holidays curtailed, "brown outs" introduced and some public transport reduced. From December 1941, the Government evacuated all women and children from Darwin and northern Australia, and over 10,000 refugees arrived from South East Asia as Japan advanced.[104] In January 1942, the Manpower Directorate was set up "to ensure the organisation of Australians in the best possible way to meet all defence requirements."[103] Minister for War Organisation of Industry, John Dedman introduced a degree of austerity and government control previously unknown, to such an extent that he was nicknamed "the man who killed Father Christmas."
In May 1942 uniform tax laws were introduced in Australia, as state governments relinquished their control over income taxation, "The significance of this decision was greater than any other… made throughout the war, as it added extensive powers to the Federal Government and greatly reduced the financial autonomy of the states."[105]
Manufacturing grew significantly because of the war. "In 1939 there were only three Australian firms producing machine tools, but by 1943 there were more than one hundred doing so."
Australia also created, virtually from nothing, a significant female workforce engaged in direct war production. Between 1939 and 1944 the number of women working in factories rose from 171,000 to 286,000.[108] Dame Enid Lyons, widow of former Prime Minister Joseph Lyons, became the first woman elected to the House of Representatives in 1943, joining the Robert Menzies' new centre-right Liberal Party of Australia, formed in 1945. At the same election, Dorothy Tangney became the first woman elected to the Senate.
Australian trade unions support of the war, after Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941. However, in spring 1940, the coal miners struck for higher wages for 67 days under communist leadership.[109]
The steps to full sovereignty
Australia achieved full sovereignty from the UK on a progressive basis.[110] On 1 January 1901, the British Parliament passed legislation allowing the six Australian colonies to govern in their own right as part of the Commonwealth of Australia. This achieved federation of the colonies after a decade of planning, consultation and voting.[111] The Commonwealth of Australia was now a dominion of the British Empire.[112]
The Federal Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was formed in 1911 as the location for the future federal capital of Canberra. Melbourne was the temporary seat of government from 1901 to 1927 while Canberra was being constructed.[113] The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the federal parliament in 1911.[114]
In 1931, the Parliament of Britain passed the Statute of Westminster which prevented Britain from making laws for its dominions. After it was ratified by the Parliament of Australia, this formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and the UK, although Australia's States remained "self-governing colonial dependencies of the British Crown".[115]
The statute formalised the Balfour Declaration of 1926, a report resulting from the 1926 Imperial Conference of British Empire leaders in London, which had defined Dominions of the British empire in the following way:
They are autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.[116][117]
Australia did not ratify the Statute of Westminster 1931 until over a decade later, with the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942. However, the ratification was backdated to 1939 to confirm the validity of legislation passed by the Australian Parliament during World War II.[118][119] According to historian Frank Crowley, this was because Australians had little interest in redefining their relationship with Britain until after the crisis of World War II.[120]
The final step to full sovereignty was the passing of the Australia Act 1986 in the UK. The Act removed the right of the British Parliament to make laws for Australia and ended any British role in the government of the Australian States.[115] It also removed the right of appeal from Australian courts to the British Privy Council in London. Most important, the Act transferred into Australian hands full control of all Australia's constitutional documents.[121]
See also
- History of Australia since 1945
- History of broadcasting in Australia
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- ^ Robertson (1984), p. 198.
- ISBN 0-642-99375-0.
- ^ a b Robertson (1984), p. 195.
- ^ Robertson (1984), pp. 202–203.
- ^ Crowley (1973a), p. 55.
- ^ Close (1982), p. 210.
- ^ Robertson (1984), pp. 189–190.
- ^ Close (1982), p. 211.
- ^ Crowley (1973b), pp. 18–19.
- ^ Donovan, David (6 December 2010). "Australia's last brick of nationhood". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
Many people incorrectly assume that Australia became a fully independent and sovereign nation on January 1st, 1901 with Federation.
- ^ Davison, Hirst & Macintyre (2001), pp. 243–244.
- ^ "History of the Commonwealth". Commonwealth of Nations. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
- ^ Otto, Kristin (25 June 2007). "When Melbourne was Australia's capital city". The University of Melbourne Voice. 1 (8). Archived from the original on 2 April 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2010 – via University of Melbourne.
- ^ Official year book of the Commonwealth of Australia. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 1957.
- ^ .
...Statute of Westminster 1931, the Australian States remained 'self-governing colonial dependencies of the British Crown' until the Australia Acts 1986 came into force.
- ^ Bassett (1986), p. 271.
- ^ It has also been argued that the signing of the Treaty of Versailles by Australia shows de facto recognition of sovereign nation status. See Sir Geoffrey Butler KBE, MA and Fellow, Librarian and Lecturer in International Law and Diplomacy of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge author of "A Handbook to the League of Nations.
- ^ "Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 (Cth)". National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
- ^ "Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942" (PDF). ComLaw. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ^ Crowley (1973a), p. 417.
- ^ "Australia Act 1986". Australasian Legal Information Institute. Archived from the original on 4 January 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
Bibliography
- Bassett, Jan, ed. (1986). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Australian History. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-554422-6.
- Castle, Josie (1982). "The 1920s". In Willis, Ray; et al. (eds.). Issues in Australian History. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire. ISBN 978-0-582663275.
- Close, John (1982). "Australians in Wartime". In Willis, Ray; et al. (eds.). Issues in Australian History. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire. ISBN 978-0-582663275.
- Crowley, Frank (1973a). Modern Australia in Documents: Volume 1 - 1901–1939. Melbourne: Wren Publishing. ISBN 0-85885-032-X.
- Crowley, Frank (1973b). Modern Australia in Documents: Volume 2 - 1939-1970. Melbourne: Wren Publishing. ISBN 0-85885-032-X.
- Davison, Graeme; Hirst, John & Macintyre, Stuart, eds. (2001). The Oxford Companion to Australian History (2nd ed.). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
- ISBN 0-642-99502-8.
- Gibb, D.M. (1973). The Making of White Australia. Melbourne: Victorian Historical Association. ISBN 978-0-950096759.
- Long, Gavin (1952). Australia in the War of 1939–1945, Series 1. Army, Volume 1: To Benghazi. Canberra: Australian War Memorial.
- Lowe, David (1995). "Australia in the World". In Beaumont, Joan (ed.). Australia's War, 1914–18. Allen & Unwin.
- Macintyre, Stuart (1986). The Oxford History of Australia: Volume 4: 1901-42, the Succeeding Age. Oxford University Press.
- Robertson, John (1984). Australia Goes To War, 1939–1945. Sydney: Doubleday. ISBN 0-86824-155-5.
- ISBN 978-0-170059022.
- Spenceley, Geoff (1981). The Depression Decade. Melbourne: Thomas Nelson. ISBN 0-17-006048-9.
Further reading
- Bramble, Tom (2008). Trade Unionism in Australia: A History from Flood to Ebb Tide. ISBN 978-0521888035.
- Bridge, Carl, ed. (1991). Munich to Vietnam: Australia's Relations with Britain and the United States since the 1930s. Melbourne University Press.
- Casey, R. G. (September 1937). "Australia in World Affairs". JSTOR 2603816.
- Day, David (1992). Reluctant Nation: Australia and the Allied Defeat of Japan 1942–45.
- Dennis, Peter; Grey, Jeffrey; Morris, Ewan & Prior, Robin (1996). The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History.
- Edwards, John (2005). Curtin's Gift: Reinterpreting Australia's Greatest Prime Minister.
- Encyclopædia Britannica, (12th ed. 1922) comprises the 11th edition plus three new volumes 30–31–32 that cover events since 1911 with very thorough coverage of the war as well as every country and colony. Included also in 13th edition (1926) partly online.
- Chisholm, Hugh (1922). Full text of vol 30 ABBE to ENGLISH HISTORY. online free; the "Australia" article is vol 30 pp. 304–312.
- Hearn, Mark; Knowles, Harry & Cambridge, Ian (1998). One Big Union: A History of the Australian Workers Union 1886–1994.
- Jupp, James, ed. (2002). The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, its People and their Origins (2nd ed.).
- McDonald, John (2002). Federation: Australian Art and Society, 1901–2001. National Gallery of Australia.
- McLean, Ian W. (1999). "Consumer Prices and Expenditure Patterns in Australia 1850–1914". Australian Economic History Review. 39 (1): 1–28. ISSN 0004-8992. Includes a consumer price index (CPI) for the period 1850 to 1914.
- Samuels, Selina, ed. (2002). Australian Writers, 1915–50.
- Ward, Russell (1977). A Nation for a Continent: The History of Australia, 1901–1975.
- Ward, Smart (2001). Australia and the British Embrace: The Demise of the Imperial Ideal.
- Watt, Alan (1967). The Evolution of Australian Foreign Policy 1938–1965. Cambridge University Press.
- Welsh, Frank (2008). Australia: A New History of the Great Southern Land.
Primary sources
- Kemp, Rod & Stanton, Marion, eds. (2004). Speaking for Australia: Parliamentary Speeches That Shaped Our Nation. Allen & Unwin.