• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

Australian consciousness [26 August 1908]

29 May 2012 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This article contends that the Australian consciousness was increased with the visit of the American fleet to Australian shores (a naval visit that was a mammoth task in those days) and that Australia needed to join in common interest with the USA to prevent “the flooding” of European countries in the Pacific by people from Asia. Published in The Brisbane Courier, 26 August 1908.]

Australian consciousness.

Where so much is bizarre and fatuitous in the comments of English and American newspapers on the visit of the American fleet to Australian waters, it is like leaching an oasis with shading palm trees and refreshing wells to come upon the sane criticism of the London “Times” as expressed in a leading article which is summarised in this morning’s cable messages.

The greatest newspaper in the world recognises that the enthusiastic reception accorded to Admiral Sperry and his sailors may be expected to represent the beginning of a lasting friendship between Australians and Americans from the standpoint of mutual interest. It is further observed that the efficiency of the American navy has been put to a severe test by the long voyage from New York through the Straits of Magellan, and across the Pacific, although the conditions were those of peace. No modem navy has been put to such a test, voluntarily or otherwise; and, if no other considerations were involved, it would be safe to assume that the voyage of the American fleet was not merely for practice purposes. The advantage of the training and manoeuvring is undeniable; and Sir Harry Rawson, the Governor of New South Wales and a British Admiral, expressed delight when he witnessed last week the wonderful seamanship displayed by the American fleet in circling to and fro until the time had arrived for the official entrance into Sydney Harbour.

Speaking on this question prior to the crossing of the Pacific by Admiral Sperry’s fleet an English writer said: “It must be obvious that sixteen battleships cannot make a voyage of thirteen thousand miles without a certain amount of technical benefit; without testing, for instance, the foresight and capacities of the Navy Department; without revealing defects that might otherwise have remained undiscovered until it was too late to remedy them; without adding to the knowledge of their ships as units and as parts of a moving whole; without promoting a more thorough understanding between officers and men; and without learning much that is worth knowing of the innumerable factors of coal, water, and food supply that go to the making of an effective and self-dependent fleet in being.”

The most important fact, however, noted by the “Times” was the awakening of the Australian consciousness as a direct result of the visit of the American fleet. The national self-consciousness of Australians had been quickened by their recognition that on the other side of the Pacific there were people like themselves interested in the solution of the same problems, and with identical interests.

The “Times” adds that it may be expected that an increased devotion of public attention to the question of national defence will remain as one of the lasting effects of this notable visit of the American fleet. This is hardly a counsel of perfection. Australia will perish as the home of white men unless the national consciousness is awakened to impending dangers, the need for compulsory military and naval training, and the opportunity for joining hands with America if need be in preventing the flooding of the territories now belonging to white races in the Pacific with teeming millions from the Asiatic mainland.



Source:
The Brisbane Courier (Brisbane, Qld.), Wednesday 26 August 1908, page 4

[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]

Filed Under: articles Tagged With: American connection, American fleet visit to Australia 1908, Australian nationalism, SourceTrove, White Australia Policy, year1908

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Danger-signals from Australia [2 January 1942]
  • Australian Commonwealth: Kangaroo issues [1964]
  • Phil Ately [re the Kangaroo and Map stamps, 29 April 1931]
  • Concerning a stamp [17 July 1913]
  • [From Greek literature to the new Australian postage stamp] [23 April 1913]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
  • Australian slang
  • Clancy of The Overflow [poem by Banjo Paterson]

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • rob buntine on No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
  • Carol on Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Annie Crestani on Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]
  • Peter Pearsall on The Clarence [poem by Jack Moses]
  • Trevor Hurst on Timeline of Australian history and culture

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in