Best we forget : the war for white Australia, 1914-18 / Peter Cochrane.

Collection type	Library
Author	Cochrane, Peter, 1950-, author.;
Call Number	306.60994 C663b
Document type	Monograph
Year	2018. 2018. 2018.
Pagination	264 pages ; 24 cm.
Publisher	The Text Publishing Company, The Text Publishing Company,
Note	Prepublication record (machine generated from publisher information) Includes bibliographical references. In the half-century preceding the Great War there was a dramatic shift in the mindset of Australia's political leaders, from a profound sense of safety in the Empire's embrace to a deep anxiety about abandonment by Britain. Collective memory now recalls a rallying to the cause in 1914, a total identification with British interests and the need to defeat Germany. But there is an underside to this story- the belief that the newly federated nation's security, and its race purity, must be bought with blood. B efore the war Commonwealth governments were concerned not with enemies in Europe but with perils in the Pacific. Fearful of an 'awakening Asia' and worried by opposition to the White Australia policy, they prepared for defence against Japan-only to find t hemselves fighting for the Empire on the other side of the world. Prime Minister Billy Hughes spoke of this paradox in 1916, urging his countrymen- 'I bid you go and fight for white Australia in France.' In this vital and illuminating book, Peter Cochrane examines how the racial preoccupations that shaped Australia's preparation for and commitment to the war have been lost to popular memory.
Place made	Melbourne, Victoria : Melbourne, Victoria :

Abstract

A racial epic -- the ANZAC legend -- Space invaders -- The declaration of White Australia -- The sentinel -- The perfect storm -- The fate of the Peruvians -- ''Willy Nilly'' -- ''No white man worthy of the name'' -- War and peace -- Versailles -- The politic s of popular memory, or, the art of national forgetting.