The Australian discovery of Indonesia, 1945

Abstract

Using interviews and correspondence with former Australian soldiers who served in Indonesia in 1945-46 and with Indonesians who remember that period, Anthony Reid examines the beginnings of the modern relationship between Australia and Indonesia. He shows that few Australians knew or cared about Indonesia in the 1940s and that Australian soldiers were sent there ill-prepared for their encounter with a very different culture. Three accounts of individual experience suggest the range of soldiers' reactions to this situation. Show more