Australia & the Pacific by Ian Hoskins

Author:Ian Hoskins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: NewSouth Publishing
Published: 2021-09-08T00:00:00+00:00

‘a substantial abrogation of Australian sovereignty’

What were the values Australians were defending? Japan and Germany had been allied since the Tripartite Pact of 1940. Both countries agreed to respect the establishment of ‘a new order’ in each other’s spheres, Europe and East Asia. Those new orders were totalitarian, antidemocratic and violently repressive. Nazi Germany was genocidally racist. Against them were ranged not only the Allied military forces but also a collective of 26 countries, including Australia, called the ‘United Nations’ – a precursor of sorts to the United Nations (UN), formally established in October 1945. Their Declaration, signed in early 1942, made a commitment to defend ‘life, liberty, independence and religious freedom … human rights and justice’.52 This was the philosophical basis of Australia’s war. That UN values ran through Australian society, notwithstanding the deep vein of racism and exploitative self-interest also to be found there, is evidenced by the belief of the aforementioned un-named soldier in Changi in ‘the simple recognition of the importance of another human being’s experience’.53

John Curtin made mention of the ‘United Nations’ in an exultant letter to General MacArthur when the latter arrived in Australia on 17 March 1942 to take command of the American forces already assembled there to take the fight to the Japanese. ‘This is a momentous occasion for the peoples of the United Nations’, the prime minister wrote, ‘ … You have come to Australia to lead a crusade the result of which means everything to the future of the world and mankind’. And he continued, ‘At the request of a sovereign nation you are being placed in Supreme Command of its Navy, Army and Air Force …’54 That referred to the process which would see MacArthur become the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Australia and the near Pacific. From 18 April, MacArthur had formal command of some 370 000 Australian combat troops. His theatre of command was subsequently called the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) to distinguish it from the South Pacific Area which included Norfolk Island and New Zealand. Delighted though Curtin was with MacArthur’s appointment, the US did not consult Curtin about the demarcation and neither was he pleased with it. The Americans held sway, as did MacArthur.

That was the reality of Curtin’s ‘look’ to America to which Paul Keating referred approvingly in 1992. His speech was intended both to shift the focus of Anzac Day from Gallipoli to New Guinea and make a claim for the mantle of a sovereign foreign policy for the Labor Party. The address was delivered amidst that renewed interest in Australia’s New Guinea and Papuan campaign which prompted the memoirs of Ted Fulton and Tod Schacht. There was considerable academic review at this time too. One unifying theme was a critical reassessment of the Australian–US relationship and the role of the divisive figure of General MacArthur, whose counsel Curtin generally accepted over his Australian officers. The conclusions often sat awkwardly with Keating’s nationalist and polemical revisionism. Lex McAulay’s popular history

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