In both world wars, many enemy aliens were interned in Australia

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Alan Torcello

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In both world wars, many enemy aliens were interned in Australia. Were the Australian Governments in each war responding to real threats of internal subversion and spying or were these Governments responding to the surge in narrow race patriotism and the fears of the general community? Your answer must make reference to examples from both world wars.

At the outbreak of both World Wars many people of an alien nature in Australia were interned into protective custody. As an example during the First World War 6,890 Germans were interned, of whom 4,500 were Australian residents before 1914; the rest were sailors from German navy ships or merchant ships who were arrested while in Australian ports when the war broke out, or German citizens living in British territories in South-East Asia and transported to Australia at the request of the British Government. Some internees were temporary visitors trapped here when the war began. About 1,100 of the total were Austro-Hungarians, and of those around 700 were Serbs, Croats and Dalmatians from within the Austro-Hungarian Empire who were working in mines in Western Australia. The government’s overriding rhetoric for this action was the social cohesion of Australian society in a time of war. Both Pam MacLean and Kate Darian-Smith argue that the early responses of government were for conformity and a united goal in a time of war, termed ‘equality of sacrifice’ and ‘equality of service’. Darian-Smith commenting on the Second World War further states that that this conformity was achieved through censorship, coercion, sweeping legislative powers contained in the Commonwealth War Book and enforced through National Security Regulations, and propaganda. One facet of the propaganda used was the circulating of warnings that there was an enemy within our society; the spy, the saboteur, the secret agent. Darian-Smith argues that the ‘us and them’ mentality of wartime encouraged pre-existing intolerances and prejudices. Although there was some limited intelligence that Australia may be a prime target for the Germans; it was on the whole a fabricated enemy.  This paper will attempt to show that this act was in itself an ideological tool used by government to distract and coerce the populace from the social divisions within their society and mobilise its war effort, in other words this scenario was used as a control mechanism by the super-structure. The argument will also maintain that the psychological topography of racism or British superiority in Australian society was so ingrained that it could be used as a control mechanism, if the government created the right environment like the ‘enemy in our midst’.

The Australian psychological topography is an important starting point in our discussion, especially in regards to the Great War. Edward Said in his thesis relates a certain mindset attributed to the British, one of chivalry and mental superiority of the white race. He uses Balfour’s speech in the House of Commons in 1904, to illustrate his contention. In this speech Balfour, justifying the colonial mindset, relates reiterates the responsibility of the superior British to spread civilisation across the globe. It is oblivious from his speech that Balfour and his countrymen believe this superiority to be real. This mindset was inevitably transferred to their colony, Australia. The flow on effect of this mindset can be seen in the migration policy aptly named the ‘White Australia policy’. Although prior to the Great War immigration intake policies had been relaxed to take in some non-British migrates. Still identifying with its white Australia policy, Dutton argues that there was a small influx of German immigrants and had the Great War not interfered Australia would have publicised its need for migrants in countries such as Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Northern Italy, and parts of Russia; to make up for the shortcomings in the number of emigrants from Britain. However the Great War changed this temperament quite markedly.

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Dutton argues that the Australian attitude towards Europeans turned from moderate welcoming to outright hostility, he goes on to state that it was the Commonwealth in its policies that created this environment of nationalist hatred and jingoistic fervour. Not a difficult mania to create considering its predisposed mentality of white supremacy. As a consequence of the mass wartime mobilisation of a nation a regime of stringent controls of the movement and conduct of its populace was introduced, the advent of this chain of events was to monumentally change the dynamics of citizenry in Australia. To graphically illustrate this point Dutton ...

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