Evatt and the Manus Negotiations

Abstract

Most histories of Australian-American relations in the period immediately after the war mention, at least in passing, the curious phenomenon of Australia at tempting to bargain with the United States over the US’ rights to use a base which the Americans themselves had built on Australian mandated territory in the process of beating back the Japanese from Australian shores. Manus Island, previously shrouded in obscruity, became the focus of an extended debate both in parliament and in the press over the state of Australia's relations with the USA and whether or not Dr. Evatt's 'wheeling and dealing' on the matter had contributed to a perceived deterioration in the Australian-US relationship, considered to have been so close during the war.