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Source 5.4. The Flag of the Empire and The Australian Flag in Queensland School Readers: Book I (Department of Public Instruction, 1933, pp. 70-72; 74-76). 162

5.6 Category 3: Australia’s Military Allegiance to Great Britain 5.6.1 Discourses of pre-WWI British superiority through military activity. The discourse of military loyalty and allegiance permeates textbooks in this era. The first example comes from the 1913 Queensland Reader Book V (Department of Public Instruction, 1913b). Here, a seven page narrative is presented in the genre of a personal reflective essay, with the author relaying recent Australian history as a way to garner patriotism. An excerpt from the poem Australasia written by William Charles Wentworth concludes the narrative providing the only example of direct linking of Australian history with British heritages. This final part of the reflective essay and accompanying poem read: ...our country will be guarded by an army powerful enough and patriotic enough to repel all attempts at invasion; and we shall possess a navy cruising around our coasts, forming our first line of defence, and ready, if need be, to aid in defending the honour and interests of that Old Land under whose imperial sceptre Australia’s sons are proud to serve. “Britannia, should’st thou ever cease to ride, Despotic Empress of old Ocean’s tide, Should’st e’er arrive that dark disastrous hour, When bowed by luxury thou yield’st to power, May this thy last-born infant then arise, To glad thy heart and greet thy parent eyes, And Australasia float with flag unfurled, A new Britannia in another world.” (Department of Public Instruction, 1913b, pp. 44-45, emphasis added) Through Australasia, Australia is viewed as an extension of Great Britain, but inferior to the power that Great Britain holds beyond its national borders; as made particularly evident in the last two lines of the poem. Through this, Australia (as a nation) is justified or legitimised by its relationship to Great Britain. This perspective of Australia as unable to be completely independent and as extension of Great Britain is expressed by stating that Australia is “a new Britannia” (Department of Public Instruction, 1913b, p. 45); a feeling of connection to Great Britain articulated overtly in order to instil in students the superiority of Great Britain over Australia, as a colony or “last-born infant” (Department of Public Instruction, 1913b, p. 45). 163

Source 5.4. The Flag <strong>of</strong> the Empire and The Australian Flag in Queensland School<br />

Readers: Book I (Department <strong>of</strong> Public Instruction, 1933, pp. 70-72; 74-76).<br />

162

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