The imperial commitment : the Singapore strategy in the defence of Australia and New Zealand, 1939-1942

Abstract

Such were the views of a leading Melbourne newspaper, the Argus, in 1859. The Australian colonies, having attained self-government and the removal of commercial disabilities, were faced with the imminent withdrawal of British troops and had to consider their own responsibilities for defence. Eighty years later, Victoria, the colony in question, was one of the constituent parts of the Commonwealth of Australia, a fully autonomous dominion within the British Commonwealth of Nations. An enemy now most seriously threatened the key to the imperial position. On 10 May 1940 Nazi Germany launched its blitzkrieg against western Europe. In less than one month the Channel ports fell under German control. On 22 June an armistice provided for the occupation of a large area of France, including the northern and Atlantic coasts, by German troops. During the anxious and hectic days of the Battle of Britain which followed, an official in the Australian Department of External Affairs took the time and trouble to copy out in longhand the eighty-year old editorial from the Argus. He placed the copy on file among papers dealing with the problem of Australia's immediate defence. In New Zealand, too, the government and people were eager to match the United Kingdom1s 'Dunkirk spirit' and would have found the extract an equally valuable guide to policy… Show more