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Source 7.73. Treaty of Versailles extract from The modern world emerges (Lawrence
et al., 1986, p. 308).
Crossroads: Asia and Australia in world affairs (Cowie, 1980) recognises the complexities of
Australia’s gradual move away from Great Britain, especially the general trend towards
Australia’s growing independence, but that the process was not in clearly defined progressive
steps. This complexity is indicated through key terms and phrases such as “...revelled in their
nation’s separate status at Versailles...”; “...on its own Australian would be a small and
powerless nation”; and “...part of the British Empire, it could share in the strength of a great
power” (Cowie, 1980, p. 214). Building on the ‘coming of age’ discourses from the WWI
section of the textbook, here the textbook explicitly articulates the overall trend in the postwar
era of Australia continuing to dissociate from Great Britain in terms of reliance on the
former colonial power for defence and foreign policy. And, at the same time recognising that
although the general trend was towards increasing independence, there were still strategic
reasons for Australia to maintain ties with Great Britain, as expressed, for example, in Source
7.74.
Source 7.74. Australia’s increasing independence from Great Britain extract from
Crossroads: Asia and Australia in world affairs (Cowie, 1980, p. 214).
Regarding the aforementioned complexities, the textbook also includes a statement about
Australian attitudes to Great Britain (see, Source 7.75).
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