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7.15 Category 2: Australia’s emotional allegiance to Great Britain
7.15.1 Discourses of connections and allegiance relegated to the past.
With the legislative changes that occurred in the interwar period regarding Great Britain’s
move away from its colonies (namely through the Westminster Statute), Crossroads: Asia
and Australia in world affairs (Cowie, 1980) identifies the lingering emotional allegiance the
wider Australian public, as represented through government policies and decision making,
still felt towards Great Britain, post WWI and up to the outbreak of WWII. In particular, the
textbook states: “sentiment and tradition also played a vital part in giving focus to Australian
attitudes. A potent and deep-seated emotional loyalty to Britain still guided both the leaders
and the people of Australia” (Cowie, 1980, p. 219, emphasis added). Through terms such as
potent and emotional loyalty, the textbook explicitly articulates a strong connection to Great
Britain. However, by using past tense, the textbook infers that this expressed loyalty to Great
Britain is relegated to the past, not influencing contemporary government policies or the
hearts and minds of Australians. Other terms in the section of the textbook that discuss
Australia’s participation in WWII, are those such as: “Empire”; “allegiance to the sovereign”;
“loyal support”; and “loyalty to the crown” (Cowie, 1980, p. 219). This further demonstrates
Australia’s connection to Great Britain in the first half of the twentieth century. Through this
and other examples in Crossroads: Asia and Australia in world affairs (Cowie, 1980) and
other textbooks which also cover Australia’s allegiance to Great Britain, such as The modern
world emerges (Lawrence et al., 1986), the inclusion of British content is justified due to
connections between Australia and Great Britain. British history as a standalone topic, unlike
in earlier time periods, is rarely included, demonstrating the move away from allegiance to
and dependence on Great Britain towards the growth of Australia as an independent nation.
The modern world emerges (Lawrence et al., 1986) includes the following statement,
explaining the context of Australia’s status as a dominion of the British Empire as:
A dominion was a self-governing country responsible for law and order inside the
country and for assisting in its own defence. Yet in 1901, as a dominion, Australia
had no right to a totally independent foreign policy…[therefore]…If Britain declared
war on another country, then Australia automatically became involved; if a peace
settlement was arranged by Britain, then Australia also had to accept its conditions,
whether it agreed with them or not. (Lawrence et al., 1986, p. 288)
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