[Editor: This illustration, drawn by Ambrose Dyson, regarding the British-Japanese alliance and White Australia, was published in The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 1 March 1902.]
“London, 12th February. — The Foreign Office announced the conclusion of a treaty of alliance between Great Britain and Japan.”
Britannia: “Now, my good little son, I’ve got married again; this is your new father. You must be very fond of him.”
Source:
The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 1 March 1902, p. 7
Also published in:
The Bendigo Independent (Bendigo, Vic.), 10 April 1902, p. 5 (bottom-left of page) (Supplement to The Bendigo Independent)
Editor’s notes:
This illustration was drawn by Ambrose Dyson (1876-1913).
The illustration depicts three characters:
I) A little boy (possibly “the Little Boy of Manly”, an often-used personification of Australia), who is perched at the top of a ladder, peering over the door of a garden wall. The door bears a plaque with the words “White Australia”.
II) A woman in the role of Britannia (a personification of Great Britain), with the word “Britannia” at the top of her headdress.
See: “Britannia”, Wikipedia
III) A Japanese man, with a moustache, wearing a top hat, and using a monocle. It appears that he is a depiction of the then Emperor of Japan, Mutsuhito, posthumously referred to as Emperor Meiji (Emperor of Japan, from 30 January 1867 to 30 July 1912).
See: 1) “Mutsuhito”, Wikipedia
2) David Krigbaum, “Historic birthdays: Emperor Meiji (1852)”, Wayfarer Daves Travel & History Blog, 3 November 2021 (see a picture of Emperor Meiji with a moustache).
For an article regarding the news story which prompted the illustration, see: “The Far East: England and Japan: Treaty of Alliance formed”, The Age (Melbourne, Vic.), 13 February 1902, p. 5
Britannia = a personification of Great Britain, usually depicted as a female warrior wearing a helmet and holding a shield and trident
See: “Britannia”, Wikipedia
Foreign Office = the department of the British government which deals with foreign affairs; known as the “Foreign Office” from 1782 to 1968, it changed its name to the “Foreign and Commonwealth Office” in 1968, then to the “Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office” in 2020
See: 1) “1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Foreign Office”, Wikisource [republication of the entry “Foreign Office” from the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)]
2) “Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office”, Wikipedia
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