The politics and diplomacy of the Australian Antarctic

Abstract

During the first half of the twentieth century, Antarctica evolved from a heroic destination for the adventurous scientist/explorer into an imperial 'question' and finally into an international 'problem'. It is this period before the Cold War and the negotiation of the Antarctic Treaty that is the focus of this thesis. The study commences at Federation and concludes in 1945 and examines the political and diplomatic events that led to the creation of the Australian Antarctic Territory in 1933, and the consequences ofAustralia becoming Antarctica's major claimant state.

In examining a question of Australian foreign policy in the early twentieth century, the thesis focuses on what Carl Bridge and Bernard Attard describe as that 'older pre-1945' Australia that 'cries out to be studied and understood'. A study of Australia's involvement with the Empire's Antarctic policy offers a unique opportunity to assess the Anglo-Australian relationship on a matter relating to diplomacy rather than the much-examined relationship associated with war or peace processes. Accordingly, this thesis investigates the policy advisory role of the Department of External Affairs to determine to what extent the Department considered Australia's national interests within the wider concerns of Empire. Since Stanley Melbourne Bruce was both Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister during the crucial years of policy determination (1926-29), the thesis considers how he balanced Australian goals and aspirations against those of the Empire, particularly if competing priorities were identified. Because Antarctic exploration has been closely associated with science, this study also assesses the influence ofthe Australian scientific community on the Australian government's Antarctic policy, particularly of the Australian National Research Council (ANRC), which included Douglas Mawson. The thesis additionally explores the extent of Australian press scrutiny and considers its impact on Australian policy.

The changing balance of British imperial relations after the Great War was the crucial context within which Australian Antarctic policies evolved. Demands by the dominions for a voice in the making of the Empire's foreign policies ultimately led to the enactment of the Statute of Westminster in 1931. Australia did not adopt the Statute until 1942, preferring instead to conduct its foreign policy within the established imperial framework. The annexation of what became the Australian Antarctic Territory, however, did not have its origins as an Australian foreign policy matter. It was an imperial policy formulated at the 1926 Imperial Conference and affirmed at subsequent Imperial Conferences. Australia believed at the time that the would be implemented as an imperial venture, in collaboration with the relevant dominions. Notable studies of British Antarctic policy have not credited the dominions with any real contribution in the making of the Empire's Antarctic policy, and have seen them as little more than appendages to the imperial power. However, historical documents in Canberra reveal Australia was significantly involved in shaping and implementing the Empire's Antarctic policy, The view that Australia was a passive witness to imperial Antarctic events in the period before the Second World War cannot be sustained.