Australia and the World

About this Unit

An appreciation of Australia’s history, political structures and relationships with the world is
essential for an informed graduate. The unit introduces students to the patterns of human
settlement of the continent before and after 1788 beginning with the distinctive culture of the
indigenous people of Australia. From an understanding of a worldwide process of
colonisation, the origins of Australia’s social and political systems are described through
Australia’s development as part of British colonisation and decolonisation. The unit explores
Australia’s engagement with Asia and its historical and contemporary relations with Japan,
China, Indonesia, the United States, Great Britain, New Zealand and the Pacific.

Week 1 Lecture: Lecture 1: Australia and the World before 1788

 Australia and the World before 1788

 We begin this unit with a consideration of pre-history and various forms of
evidence, other than written evidence, to assist us in providing a story of earlier
civilisations. This evidence can be in a number of forms, such as rocks, plants,
fossils, remains and objects. For Australians this is important as it provides us with
a history that precedes white Australian history since 1788. This week we will also
examine the exploration of a number of European powers into Asia, the Pacific
leading to the British interest in establishing a settlement in the South Pacific in
Australia.

- Aboriginal people have occupied the continent for 10s and 100s of years

- They had a world of spoken and visual world, they had no written documents

- Pre-history: use evidence other than written documents, analyse physical

objects, Geologists (rocks), botanists (plants), zoologist(animals),
palaeontologist(fossils), archaeologist (remains of objects), ethnographers
(culture)
- Gondwana (200 million years ago) it exists because botanists have identifies
plants common across the continents

- Zoologists and palaeontologists have identified animals and fossils that show a
common heritage

- Continental plates moved over millions of years to create the modern

landforms and oceans just as volcanoes and earthquakes show that the earth is
still moving

- Humans arrived in aus 55,000 years ago, crossing from Asia when sea levels
were low (based on cave paintings in NT)

- Where did the name Australia come from? European’s originally called the
continent Terra Australis Incognita

- Macrobius was a Roman philosopher AD 400-500 whose concept of the world

had an ocean at the equator, balanced by two hot zones (Africa), two temperate
zones (Europe and an unknown south land) and two polar freezing zones.

- Trade and knowledge started moving across the continents

- Arab spice trades reached Indonesia- settled and bought their religion

- There is no evidence that the Arabs travelled to New Guinea or Australia

- Macassans from Indonesia fished in Northern Australian waters and mixed

with Aboriginal people

- They exchanged words which survive in their dialects today

- The late 15th Century was the start of the Great European Age of discovery of
sea as improvements in design of sailing ships that they could travel further
and more safely

- This was led by the Portuguese (prince henry of the navigator)

- The Portuguese explored south along the African coast, rounding the Cape of
Good Hope in 1487 to find the Indian Ocean and reach India in 1498

- The Spanish monarchs financed Christopher Columbus to sail west to reach

China.  Instead in 1492 he reached the Americas.
 - He found the Americas in 1492

- Portugal and Spain were the superpowers of the 15th and 16th centuries where
they both were seeking sea routes to the wealth of Asia and discovered new
countries that could be colonised

- The pope drew a line along the Atlantic, all territory west of the line would
belong to Spain and the east would belong to Portugal

- Magellan in 1519-21 rounded Cape Horn, South America and entered (and
named) the Pacific Ocean

- He was seeking a new route to the Spice Islands.

- ailed diagonally north-west across the Pacific toward the Phillipines -  and
missed Australia

- Dutch had commercial interests in the East Indies from 1595

- Discovery of Australia’s northern coast line from 1605-6

- Dutch visits to Western Australia from 1611, with Dirk Hartog landing in 1616

- 1640s – major Dutch exploration ordered by Anthony van Diemen, governor

of Dutch East Indies under command of Abel Tasman

- Dutch navigators explored Australia’s northern coastlines

- Mid 18th century scientific interest provided the monument for British interest
in the unknown southern continent

- Stars were used as navigation

- In executive command, in knowledge of navigation and of all the natural

sciences, and in material equipment’ Cook’s expedition was better equipped
than any previous venture to the Pacific.

- Knowledge of all known voyages to the Pacific

- Astronomical tables and a chronometer meant he could calculate longitude 

   Does Gammage consider Australia ‘wild’ before 1788?

    How did early Europeans perceive the Australian landscape when they first saw it?
   Did they recognise the importance of fire in shaping it?
   What were the aims and effects of Aboriginal people in firing the land?
   What lesson would you draw for the present from Gammage’s article?

Week 2: Lecture 2: Aboriginal Australia before 1788

 The first Australians: prehistory or different history (before 1788)

 Kinship networks and indigenous cosmology
 Aboriginal knowledge and ceremonies
 The biggest estate on earth
 This week we introduce you to Australia before white settlement and raise the
question as to whether what we know about this period is ‘pre-history’ or a
different kind of history - one that is simply not written down. We consider forms
of history that tell us a story of Australia before 1788 and introduce you to the idea
of ‘the biggest estate’, using the term '1788' as a shorthand for Australia before
British invasion. This week we also consider the intricate techniques of land
management, known as The Law, that governed both indigenous ecology and
indigenous social arrangements of 1788, and consider the extent to which The
Law can be considered to prevail, despite the disruption of British settlement.

- Life before 1788

- The first Australians (aboriginals and Torres strait islanders)
- Prehistory: a problem of evidence or a challenge to think beyond the written word
- People came by sea from south east Asia, probably during Pleistocene Epoch
- It is generally though that aboriginal and Torres strait islanders arrived over 60000
years
- For 4000 years before 1788, first Australians interacted with people in Asia
(evidence in non-written sources)
- These interactions changed people lives, getting tools, innovation
- People relied largely on sources
 - Written and art sources depicting land before Europeans changed it
- Anthropological and ecological accounts of indigenous societies today
- Botanical evidence :what plants tell us about their response to fire

All sources used by Gammage. He has done it comprehensively. And thought differently
about what the source tells us

- History has come from oral tradition

- Paintings give information to people in artistic form
- Certain artworks can show when they were created and dates
- Gammage found high degree of accuracy, he was able to find features on paintings
- Sometimes layers of information will get us closer to the truth
- Looking at number of different disciplines: indigenous history owes much to
anthropology
- Indigenous knowledge is the greatest asset to indigenous land management, but
none of it was written down
- Through study of source, we know that the term “fire-stick farming: just scratches
the surface (slightly misleading, describe aboriginal farm clearing)
- Fire dependence species, eg some grasses will not survive without fire
- Fire promoting species eg gumtree, they encourage it with flammable oils or resins
- Fire tolerate species- they are not damaged by fire
- Fire sensitive species- those killed by fire which
- Fire-intolerant species
- Knowledge was valued, it has to be passed on through oral traditions, song lines
- Language group- shared language is important- people who speak the same
language
- Smaller groups are known as clans- not entirely accurate (hard to translate) clan
defines your identity to your country, where your own spirit lives
- Clans lived close to others, and come together for ceremonial activities
- Knowledge must be passed down
- Sometimes clans can be in conflict
 - Clans are Defined by your birth and have significance
- Bands- combination of men, women and children who hunt, gather together
- People can enter and leave bands whenever they wish
- Dreaming is to obey the law
- Dreaming stories and practices are carried by songlines that are intelligible across
language barriers, leading Gammage to say Aboriginal society is unified in
important ways
- Aboriginal cosmology, or religion, is called the Dreaming
- Two principles of the Dreaming:
- obey the Law , which governs the custodianship of the land.
- leave the world as you found it, neither better nor worse.
- ‘Custodianship’: the act of shepherding, caring for or managing the land
- Keeping country ‘clean’ by burning.
- Using country—letting it know you are there by hunting, gathering, fishing, etc.
- Protecting the integrity of country so that other people do not use it without
permission.
- Protecting dangerous places so that harm does not come out of that country.
- Protecting country, and the species related to it, from damage.
- Providing and educating a new generation of owners or custodians.
- Keeping country healthy by learning and performing ceremonies.
-

Reading:
- Gammage’s argument on fire-stick challenge the traditional concept of
Aboriginal people as primitive hunter gatherers as there were no signs of
civilisation and were seen as undeveloped.

- As a result of this, the Europeans assumed the land was terra-nullius and took
over the country.
 - Gammage argues that fire-stick farming has maintained “long-term plant
templates” as well as prevented bushfires by “arranging Australia’s vegetation
with fire”.

- Challenging the traditional concept which allowed them to live in changing

environments due to their adaptations and ideas.

- The idea of terra-nullius is that the first Australians lived in Australia without
altering their habitat.

- They shaped their way of living to serve their needs which is what Europeans
had already done.

- People had to prevent killer fires, or die. They worked hard to make fire
malleable. Their survival proves their success.

Week 3: Lecture 3: Peopling Australia since 1788

This week we introduce you to the people who have made Australia their home since 1788.
This week will introduce you to the idea of a settler society; consider the reasons for British
settlement in Australia, including Australia as a convict settlement. We will explore
immigration in the 19th and 20 centuries, from the British Isles and non-European nations,
the Immigration Restriction Act and the impact of this act on 20th century immigration.
Finally, we will consider the important question of Australian citizenship.

- Many people have joined aboriginals in this continent

- Australia is a settler country

- A colony has foreign rulers who are not always resident

- A settler colony is populated by citizens of a European state

- Colonies exploit indigenous populations but do not necessarily dispossess them

- Settler colonies must displace indigenous peoples as they permanently occupy
land and take resource

- Colonisation means that foreign rulers can control these lands (not necessarily to
live)

- Settler society people in the colonisation power move to the colony to make it
their permanent home

- Colonisation means that the abo people are exploited are taken by the colonising
power

- Profit from trade

- The British settled Australia for: trading posts in the pacific, a convict dumping
ground, defence location, source of essential naval supplies

- Britain had a large number of criminals and nowhere to put them

- Current thoughts say it was an organised expedition- challenging project

- Hopefully the Australian continent would provide useful resources such as naval
supplies of timber for masks and flax to make sales and rope

- Australia was founded as a prison- people were not there by choice

- Convicts were sent, mostly from England

- Transportation- the convicts had no choice but to stay here due to no transport

- Convicts were also sent from its colonies

- Slavery were for life and was inherited from the slave parents

- Convict Australia was masculine and Anglo-Celtic

- From 1830s free immigration was encouraged, but who would come? As it was
far, too expensive, had bad reputation

- Why would anyone go to a place that was populated by criminals?

- There were too many men and no men there, they wanted the population to
increase naturally
- In the 19th century- single women were top priority, from 17 years old, offering
them work and finding them a husband in Australia

- Tradesmen and rural workers were needed so they can work in the bush

- Anti-Irish prejudice- first vocal prejudice on ethnic and religion grounds against
the Irish

- Ireland was in economic crisis

- The Australian colonies paid the fairs to attract migrants

- The Germans were welcomed for their skills in vine dresses who helped establish
the wine industry

- Chinese (gold miners) were the largest non-European migrants

- Most Chinese returned to China when the gold was exhausted

- Black birders were enslaved from islands such as Vanuatu to work on the sugar
plantations

- Immigration policy was central to the new Federation

- 1901- limit non-white immigration to Australia

- ‘Non-racial’ test was introduced for all non-British arrivals

- White Australia policy

- Non-European residents required certificates of exemptions to remain in

Australia and to leave (like a visa)

- There were frequent advertisements to keep Australia white

- British men and women were encouraged to come to Aus

- After WW2 Australia’s political leaders recognised that the country needed
population growth to stimulate economic growth

- Gogh Whitlam encouraged multicultural immigration from Vietnam from the

Vietnam war
Readings:

- It argues that inclusive national identity can accommodate and support

multiculturalism, and serve as an important source of cohesion and unity in
ethnically and culturally diverse societies.

- prevailed under the Howard government, threatens multicultural values.

- The article nevertheless concludes that it is necessary for supporters of

multiculturalism to engage in ongoing debates about their respective national
identities,

- Politicians and intellectuals argue that multiculturalism should be replaced by a

renewed emphasis on common citizenship and shared national identity.

- The specific focus of this article is the relationship between multiculturalism

and national identity

- National identities are important sources of solidarity, even in the context of

multicultural societies.

- For a national identity to support multiculturalism it must be conceived as

predominantly post-ethnic, and as dynamic and changing, involving an open
and ongoing dialogue about national traditions.

- National identity refers both to personal identity arising from member- ship of
a national political community, and to the identity of a political community
that marks one nation off from others

- They are not simply voluntary, but also inherited

- Australia’s national identity has shifted from a racially-based white, British

Australia, to a diverse, multiethnic, and officially multicultural Australia

- multicultural policy emerged in the early 1970s, official statements described

Australia as a ‘multicultural society
 - this meant for national identity was implied rather than explicitly addressed

- cultural identity - the right of all Australians, within carefully defined limits, to
express and share their individual cultural heritage, including their language
and religion

- social justice- the right of all Australians to equality of treatment and

opportunity, and the removal of barriers of race, ethnicity, culture, religion,
language, gender, or place of birth

- economic efficiency- the need to maintain, develop, and utilize effectively the
skills and talents of all Australians, regardless of background

   How does Moran describe national identity, particularly civic notions of national
identity?
   How has multicultural policy in Australia changed in the past 50 years?
   Do you agree that multiculturalism and the acceptance of diversity are features of
contemporary Australia’s national identity? Why, why not?
   Why does Moran suggest that an inclusive Australian identity has contributed to the
success of multiculturalism?

Week 4: Settler Violence and Aboriginal Protection

This week we look at how settler society viewed the rights of Aboriginal people in the
nineteenth century, and how the rise of the Evangelical Christian movement in Great Britain
resulted in greater awareness of settler violence. The Buxton Report recommended the
establishment of protectorates to put an end to settler violence, with the report being released
in the same year as one of the most famous atrocities, the Myall Creek massacre. We will
also see how protectorates evolved to be something far different from what the Evangelicals
envisaged. From the mid-to-late nineteenth century, in a new climate of rigid control,
Aboriginal people nevertheless found ways to make their voices heard, forming part of the
unbroken chain of indigenous resistance that has existed since colonisation.
- Look at some of the aspects of the relationship between indigenous people and
settler society in Australia

- When the British Empire created settler societies it also created frontier societies

- In the early 19th century people with strong humanitarian ideals were gaining
political power in Britain

- From the Greek word Euangelion meaning ‘gospel’ reflects the importance of the
word of God in the Bible

- Evangelicals place strong emphasis on personal salvation

- The influence of British Evangelicals spread to the rest of the Empire, including
Aus.

- Robinson arrived in Van Diemen’s land (now called Tasmania) in 1824

- Many settlers thought the remaining aboriginals should be moved to Flinders

Island

- The slaughter of Aboriginal people by settlers were not official policy

- Robinson set out from Bruny Island to travel and persuade all Tasmania
aborigines to go to Flinders island

- Robinson was regarded as a friend to Aboriginal people, he appears as a Christ-

like figure

- By 1845 the began a petition as a form of a protest to suggest there had been
verbal agreement between them, Robinson and Arthur

- Their decision to move to Flinders Island was voluntary

- Law and lawlessness in Colonial Australia

- The first NSW governor Arthur Philips was so powerful that he only took orders
from the King

- The was no parliament or democracy

- The king instructs Philip to ensure a climate of Amity and kindness with the
indigenous population
- These instructions were set out of what would happen if anybody killed or
mistreated aboriginal people

- They were protected by British law

- The law did acknowledge some indigenous rights

- 1833: The Abolishment of Slavery Act: you could no longer own slaves

- Thomas Fowell Buxton was an activist and anti-slavery campaigner

- The Buxton committee strongly believed that settler governments could not be
trusted with the welfare of the indigenous inhabitants

- Australia was considered a particularly lawless place because it had so many

convicts and ex-convicts

- The realisation came in through the persistence of the unlawful killing of

aboriginal

- Myall Creek massacre

- British law was supposed to protect indigenous people from lawless violence

- Evolution of Aboriginal protection

- The evolution of Aboriginal protection to the harshness of ‘protection’ in the early

decades

- The political influence of radical informers combined with the ongoing evidence
of the settler violence ushered in the era of protection

- One establishment of protectorates was the often-sincere belief that once white
settlement of the land was completed compensator emitters to measures to the
indigenous population would achieve a mutually satisfactory outcome

- The original duties of Aboriginal protectors were to gain knowledge of the

languages and culture of the clans and to prosecute all crimes against Aborigines

- They had to distribute food and clothing to ensure that aboriginal children
received a Christian education
 - The idea of the protectorate evolved into something aimed more at
accommodating settler society

- The first legislation to establish a new regime of control was enacted in

Queensland in 1897

- Half-castes were to be integrated into mainstream societies while the full bloods to
be relegated to the reserves

- Protection legislation: power to remove children from their natural families,

removal of people classed as ‘aboriginal’ reserves, and power to declare certain
places off limits to indigenous people

- Early 20th C: Marriage between indigenous and non-indigenous people forbidden

- Minimum working conditions, rates of pay

- No right to property or money

- Assimilation policy in 1940-1970

- Assimilation recognised the need for indigenous citizenship

- Integration was sometimes put forward in the 1960s as a moralist approach, one
that respected diversity

- For indigenous people in Unites States, Canada and NZ, self-determination was
quiet often directed towards claims for land rights

- Similarly, in Australia, the subject of political activity since the early 1960s were
also considered an important part of the right to self-determination

- In the 1960s indigenous Australians were able to vote in commonwealth elections

Reading: Food as a source of conflict between Aboriginal people and British colonists

- Aboriginal Australians (2002), have noted that food disputes were an ongoing
source of conflict between Aboriginal people and colonists.
- Aboriginal people were pushed away from their traditional hunting grounds
provoking raids on colonists’ property in which sheep and cattle were targeted to
compensate diminishing indigenous food sources

- Aboriginal people were motivated by hunger and attacked colonial farms to

compensate for the loss of traditional indigenous foods

- In the early stages of contact between Aboriginal people and colonists in the
Hunter region it was evident the latter faced food insecurity

- Their hard labour and long hours in coal mines, timber gangs and lime works
allowed little time for hunting or growing foods

- these early decades of contact Aboriginal people were acquiring a taste for
European foods, particularly corn and potatoes.

- The first signs of food conflict between Aboriginal people and colonists occurred
away from the penal settlement at Paterson and Wallis Plains, where a small
number of farms were established in 1813.

- As colonial farms emerged on the landscape, the land turned to fields of corn with
fences privatizing and alienating prime riverfront land from Aboriginal people.

- food bartering occurred between Aboriginal people and colonists at Newcastle, it

is also obvious that during the course of colonization, food emerged as a critical
source of conflict.

- Aboriginal people in the Hunter region were left in a state of hunger, alienation
and food deprivation, dependent on the benevolence of colonists for food.

- His looking at the history of food conflict in this period and in this region

- Aborigines wanted to taste European foods

 -

1. What region of nsw and period of time are covered by Greg Blyton in this article?
Hunter region of central eastern NSW from 1804 to 1846

2. Why are Newcastle’s military officers and convicts interested in trading with the
aboriginals for food in the early decades of contact? Because they had fresh fish.
Fresh meats such as duck and marsupial were also in demand

3. What were the first signs of food conflict between the aborigines and colonists in
the hunter region? Why did conflict break out when it did? The first signs of food
conflict between them occurred away from settlement at Paterson and Wallis
Plains, where a small number of farms were established in 1813.

4. When did conflict between colonists and the aboriginal in the hunter region really
erupt? In 1813 (1804?)

5. Explain the cycle of violence that erupted between the aborigines and the
colonists:

6. Consider the settler violence against the aborigines. Was it proportionate?

Week 6:

This week we examine the development of British institutions in Australia and the concept of
‘responsible government’ as Australian became less dependent on Britain. We explore the
traditional British parliamentary concepts of the British Westminster system, how it has evolved
in Australia and Australia’s changing relationship with Britain. We will look at representative
government and the right to vote, federation, the Australian constitution, and finally we will
consider the idea of Australia becoming a republic.

- Our customs and manners are drawn from British traditions

- Our understandings of civil liberties and political rights lies in ancient English
liberties

- In 1215 king John was forced to negotiate power sharing arrangements with
nobles

- The word parliament literally meant conference or speaking

- Parliament in 1265 included representatives of the church, the aristocracy and

business peoples of the town

- Traditional British liberties:

1. Established from 13-18th C

2. Parliaments make the laws
3. Parliament represent the people
4. The church has no authority to make laws
5. Legislative, executive, judiciary
6. The right to justice regardless of status or wealth
7. The right to be judged by a jury of your peers

- The monarchs cannot govern without parliaments consent

- Governors 1788-1823 had all powerful commissions- effectively autocrats

- All governors before 1850s had been serving naval or military officers so were
accustomed to military justice rather than civil justice

- British government believed that NSW and VDL were ‘peculiar’ societies unable
to manage their affairs

- In Australia the first newspaper was published in 1803

- The NSW supreme court was established in 1824 but retained a military jury

- The right to vote is called suffrage

- In 1895 following gold miners who objected to pay taxes without the vote. The
vote was given to all men over 21

- In 1902 all women over 21 could vote and stand for parliament
- Westminster system- accountable government:

 Government is formed by majority of elected members of lower house

 Prime ministers and cabinet are responsible for lower house
 Impartial public service
 Non-political military
 Constitutional monarch is the head of state

- British political institutions are called the Westminster system

- The constitutional monarch is the head of state

- Australia consisted of 5 different colonies, soon became 6 when Queensland

separated from NSW

- These colonies had independence from Britain and were self-governing entities

- Representative governments followed the model of Westminster system

- Members of parliament were not paid nor were they political parties, only
ministers would pay

- The head of state was the monarch

- The Australian colonies were wealthy

- Each state had a railway gauge

- In the federation all the former British colonies became states, it was called the
commonwealth of Australia

- The term. Commonwealth was used by the parliamentarians under Oliver

Cromwell when they overthrew the British monarchy

- When the Australian colonies federated, they became the newest nation in the
global empire controlled by Britain

- These colonies were linked by common legal structures

- Britain was ambivalent, aus is now a self-governing independent nation

- The legislation to create the commonwealth of Australia is the British law that
passed in 1900
- In the Australian states the governor is her (queen) personal representative

- Whilst the governor general and the state governors are often seen as ceremonial
figureheads, they have significant legal roles and responsibilities under the
constitution and are required to approve and sign all legislation

- During ww2, aus turned to usa for military support

- Aus acts 1986:

•Passed simultaneously in both UK and Australia

•Australia legally independent of Britain – confirmed as a ‘sovereign, independent
and federal nation’
•UK could not longer make laws that applied in Australia
•Ended all legal appeals from Australia to UK Privy Council
•Separated the Queen in person from the UK parliament
Week 6 reading:

- On 28 May 2000, hundreds of thousands of people walked across the Sydney

Harbour Bridge in support of Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-
Indigenous Australians.

- The desire for reconciliation moved people to march in numbers that had not been
seen in Australia since the Vietnam War

- I want to present an argument for imagining the republic anew.

- when the Australian Republican Movement (ARM) was formed in Sydney,

republicans have focused on the nationality of the head-of-state rather than
democratic republicanism or reconciliation.

- Republic: a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected
representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a
monarch.

- Democracy: a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible

members of a state, typically through elected representatives.

- Reconciliation: the restoration of friendly relations.

Democracy:

- debate about the republic took place in Paul Keating's Prime Ministerial Office in
1995.

- 1995 Mr Keating was toying with the idea of 'handing the republic over to the
people'.

- Keating was thinking of an indicative plebiscite on one question - republic or

monarchy

- The idea of 'handing the republic over to the - people' was designed in part to
counter any negative publicity that might emerge

- The two biggest failings of tl1e republican movement in the 1990s were the
failure to project a vision of an Australian republic that would inspire the people,
and the failure to involve the people folly in the process of change

- A common republican refrain has been that if Australians woke up tomorrow and
found themselves living under a republic, they would detect little change.

- Inspiration and passion are two things that have been conspicuously absent from
the republic debate.

- to make the republic safe and less threatening, we succeeded in making it dull and
uninteresting

Process and content:

- If ' republicanism stands for popular sovereignty', as the ARM’s John Warhurst
and Greg Barns have written, then republicans must focus their attention on
advancing proposals for a democratic process that will create a sense of popular
ownership of the republic.

- Vote: Full participation by Australians will be reached finally by creating for us

an Australian president as head-of-state in place of a foreign monarch.
 - Australian democracy will flower in an Australian republic.

- Constitution-making is where the principles that underlie a republican

Constitution can be seen in practice.

- Even if many Australians ultimately saw their first preference model rejected, they
could not claim they were not given a chance to 'have their say', and would
perhaps be more likely to accept the outcome of the Convention

Reconciliation:

- Australia Day: the Bicentenary of European invasion and settlement.

- Turnbull described 1988 as the 'year of shame'. But Turnbull's sense of ‘shame'
was not an expression of empathy with Aboriginal people.

- His republican inspiration was not drawn from the many Aboriginal flags that
flew that Australia Day. Instead, it was driven by a sense of outrage that 'every
major event (in 1988) was presided over by a member of the British Royal Family'

- Our national identity will not only be made clearer by removing the British
monarch. It can only be genuinely transformed when we achieve the final
separation from the motherland and restore Aboriginal people as the original
owners and custodians of this country.

- Australia's republican movement was separated entirely from its movement for
reconciliation, and focused solely on the campaign for an Australian President

- My argument for imagining the republic anew - drawn from my new book, This
Cott11t,y: a Reconciled Republic? - is simple but fundamentally different from the
orthodox view

- Reconciliation and the republic are not separate issues; they are intimately
connected

- For more than a decade, republicans have pretended that Australia could become a
republic by ignoring this issue.
- I put these views as a republican but also in the hope of a rethink among those
who have supported reconciliation, believing that it bears little relation to the
republic.

- But I do argue that an Australian republic that makes the first concrete steps
towards reconciliation is a republic that will matter to the Australian people.

Imagining the republic anew

- Republicans could only respond by repeating the usual arguments;

- If Australia is no longer ten-a nulliu.r, White Australia, or an exiled British

society, and if we do not wish to remain a constitutional monarchy, who are we,
what do we believe in and what common values define the democracy we live in
today?

- The Australian system of government is now over a century old. The country has
changed out of all recognition; does the structure of government need change
also? 

- Restructuring Australia provides accessible accounts of current debate on three

key issues: regionalism, republicanism and reform of the nation-state. Leading
commentators from across the political spectrum ask the fundamental questions:
what do Australians want and need from their system of government and what
role will structural reform play in delivering this vision in the twenty-first
century? 

Week 7:

Australia’s relationship with great Britain

- This week we explore the changing nature of Australia's relationship with

England, or Great Britain. In the heyday of the British Empire, from the late
nineteenth to the early twentieth century, this relationship was characterised by
Australia's participation in imperial wars. The First World War, regarded by many
as a defining moment for Australian identity, marks one significant step along the
way in this changing relationship. We explore the meaning for Australian identity
 of a number of wars in which Australia has participated. Another marker of the
relationship is the way in which Australians regard British royalty. While
Australia remains a constitutional monarchy, our attitudes to the 'mother country',
as it used to be called, changed vastly between the beginning and the end of the
twentieth century.

- Birth of Australia’s nationalism

- Radical nationalists wanted to cut ties with Britain altogether

- Deakin called himself independent Australian

- Sudan in 1885, back then it was a region not a country

- The Sudan was under British control

- Bua was a Dutch word for farmer

- After 1866 that was when gold and diamonds were found

- One the key peoples spreading the imperial message was William Henry fithchet

- Anzac stands for Australia and new Zealand army corp

- The heroes of Anzac were very different from us

- Australia’s identity is from one rooted in Australia’s British heritage

- Britain would come to Australia’s aid in a crisis

- 2nd world war: 7 dec 1942: japan attacked US base at pearl harbor

- 15 Feb. 1942: fall of Singapore

- More than 140,000 prisoners taken, including approx. 15,000 Australians

- There were several attacks in northern Australia and on Sydney while these were
significant events

- Were the 2015 centenary commemorations of the Anzac landings well supported
by Australians?
 - Have we as Australians constructed ‘sentimental myths’ around the notion of
Anzac day as a means of creating a national identity? Yes, eg. That they were
strong and brave but they were normal men
They went there as normal men, not nationalists, most were young men
Social pressure on those who did not volunteer
Others were influenced by their friends, they wanted to explore

- Do you believe that Anzac day is a ‘contested mythology?

- Frame suggests that the commemoration of Anzac day meets a ‘human need’ that
has yet to be identified. Do you agree and if so what do you think he means by
this?

Week 8:

Australians have always felt a sense of vulnerability in terms of its geographical location in
an area that is profoundly different from Australia in terms of its history, culture, language,
religion and traditions. Due to this Australia has always felt the need for a protector and while
Britain provided this role until the Second World War the US is seen to have provided this
for the past 65 years through the ANZUS alliance. This week we will explore some of the
history of the relationship and the importance of the ANZUS alliance to successive
Australian governments. We will also consider the alliance in terms of Australia’s future in
the Asian region.

Learning Outcomes
 To outline the history of the US-Australia relationship
 To describe the position the US occupies globally and its historical context
 To analyse the nature of the US-Australia relationship
 To analyse and critique perspectives on the negatives and positives of the relationship
for Australia

- American Civil War - A war between 1861 and 1865 between northern states of
the United States and eleven southern states who attempted to secede from the
Union as the Confederate States of America.
 - Versailles Peace Conference - The Conference held at the French royal palace of
Versailles where the terms of the Peace settlement of WW1 were negotiated.

- Examines Australia’s international relationships with the US

- many people moved between America and aus goldfields in mid 19thC

- the motivation of the Australian public at the time was racism mixed with security
fears

Week 10-14 lecture and readings r important

Week 10 lecture:

- Up until World War Two Australia’s engagement with Asia was limited as we
held fast to our British roots and were fearful of our Asian neighbours. However,
this changed with the war in the Pacific in 1942 and in the post war environment
became much more important as Asian nations began their economic
transformation. This week we will focus on Australia’s changing focus on Asia
from one of fear to one of opportunity.

- To identify the beginning of Australia’s engagement with Asia

- To explain Australia’s role in the Cold War

- To investigate Australia’s place in the post-Cold War era of globalisation and the
rising importance of trade with Asia

- To evaluate the effectiveness of Australia’s engagement with the regional

institutions in Asia
- Engagement with Asia has a long history that can be tracked back before
European settlement

- Structure and detailed engagement with Asia began in the post ww2 period

- Aborigines in Arnhem land were trading with mascons now part of Indonesia
before captain cooks arrival

- We tend to consider our relationship with the US as a key component of our

relationship with Asian countries and central to our engagement

- Engagement in Asia is a relatively recent development late 19th century

Australians became increasingly aware that Asia was going to be important to our
future

- We had an internal nation-building focus and because our foreign and defence
policy was Britain’s policy until 1942

- In that year, Australian parliament retrospectively ratified the statue of

Westminster that allowed Australia to take control of foreign and defence policy

- Australia only began to engage with Asia only after ww2

- The cold war was a critical factor adding to our suspicions and let to Australian
involvement in conflicts in Asia due to our security concerns and our alliance

- Asian countries brought resentment due to colonial experience

- We engage with Asia in cold war context and our lines with US and Britain

- In 1932 Australian Parliament retrospectively ratified the Statute of Westminster

that allowed Australia to take control of foreign and defence policy

- Australia overlaid our Asian fears with fears of communism

- Communist neighbours were vulnerable to a communist takeover and would fall

Impact of the Cold War on the Australian engagement with Asia

- The Korean war involved United Nations international force led by the US
protecting the South from a communist takeover

- 17000 Australian soldiers were involved, 339 were killed

- Korean war demonstrated that the Cold War was a global fight and was on of a
number of cold war conflicts

- Cold War- a state of tension between countries in each sides adopts policies
designed to strengthen itself and weaken the other, but falling short of actual ‘hot’
war

- Tension between the US and the Soviet Union

- Bipolar international system between 1947-1970

- Belief in the domino theory in US and allies like Australia- countries with
communist neighbours were vulnerable to a communist takeover

- The impact of the cold war is immense and is still being felt in the contemporary
period

- If one country became communist, neighbouring countries would also fall like
dominos

- Most historians agree that the cold war ended in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin
Wall

- Australia was also involved in a series of other cold war’s such as Malaysian
emergency

- Vietnam war was Australia first major war without British involvement

- Australia was there with the US till 1972

- 60k aus troops were involved, 521 were killed

- Were we confusing nationalism with communism?

- Whitlam ended immigration restriction acts

- He pursued a more nationalistic and assertive Australian foreign policy

- The emphasis on regionalism had an impact on Australia’s integration with Asia

- Australia has an Asia literacy problem- despite encouraging the Asian culture and
language here
- Asia has now been incorporated into national curriculum and maybe the new
study in Asian programs being rolled out will make some difference

- Few Australian’s truly understand Asian culture

Readings:

- Any Australian who looked sympathetically on Asia in the first half of the 20th
century had to reconcile these sympathies with determination to defend White
Australia

- For example, Australia’s second prime minister Alfred Deakin’s fascination with,
and passion for, Indian civilisation coexisted with support for a ‘White Australia’
policy.

- For Whitlam, a rhetorical emphasis on closer relations with Asia was a way of
distancing his party from the impression that Australia continually aligned itself
with ‘great and powerful friends’ against Asian nationalism and communism.

- Australia played an instrumental role in the formation of Asia Pacific Economic

Cooperation (APEC) at this time

- This reflected, in essence, an economic vision of Asia, based on the ideal of

Australia as a successful and prosperous trader in a regional economy free of the
distortion of tariffs.

- Keating’s government in particular tied a ‘modern’ relationship with Asia to a

wide-ranging sense of Australian national identity: one that was economically
‘open’, multicultural, republican and ‘reconciled’ in its race relations.

- Keating was also a radical-nationalist, and one way of marking off a postcolonial
Australian present and republican future from a dependent and imperial past

- But after September 11, discourses dependent on the concept of an Anglosphere

proved attractive to neo-conservatives. 
- Australia has an Asia problem. We don’t engage enough with Asia, or understand
its languages or diverse cultures

- I don't think  this is the only issue. I think potentially Asia, too, has a problem
with Australia.

- Second, some Asians perceive Australia as racist. The legacy of the White
Australian Policy and treatment of Indigenous people means that every time racial
issues arise in Australia, it triggers a response in the region

- Third, many Asians view Australia as subservient to other powers.

- Fourth, there can be a perception that Australia is selfish. We might respond that
to some extent everyone is selfish in international affairs, but there are two areas
in particular where Australia is being held to account. 

- Fifth, some in Asia believe Australians don't understand relationships because we

maintain a focus on the instrumental and transactional

- Finally, in some parts of Asia, there is the perception that Australia can be
moralistic and hypocritical.

- As an actor of modest means and influence, Australia is so isolated geographically

that it cannot be isolationist in its foreign policy. The strategic complexity and
regional flashpoints based on territorial disputes, maritime claims and resource
competition in Asia produce an essentially Australian hedging strategy of
deepening defence links with the US while consolidating commercial relations
with Asia and encouraging confidence and trust building through regional
institutions. The fundamental question, which the 2012 White Paper fails to
address, is of Australian cultural identity amidst the gravitational pull of its Asia-
Pacific geography. Economic geography by itself is not enough to answer this
question. The White Paper offers no deep reflections on Australia’s place in Asia
and the Pacific and provides no roadmap to reorient Australians’ cultural
worldviews to its own region. Because relations with Asia are key to determining
Australian identity, this is a missed opportunity for providing a coherent and
uplifting narrative that could anchor Australia intellectually and culturally to Asia.

- The ebb and flow of coping with Australia’s identity dilemma as a European
settler society located on the geographical edge of Asia leads to bouts of
agonising, excitement and temporising. This has been given particular cogency
 with the power shift underway from the trans-Atlantic to the Asia-Pacific. The
2012 White Paper set 25 national objectives to be met by 2025, with targets
ranging from improving trade links and increasing scholarships to teaching
priority Asian languages. But in this transactional embrace of Asia that highlights
economic and trade links, gaps might open up between ambition and delivery,
especially amidst continuing evidence of insensitivity to how Asians forge lasting
relationships. Ties with China are dominated by trade but security concerns
remain. Relations with India should improve with the removal of the nuclear issue
as an irritant and growing trade and tourist numbers. Japan remains an important
trade and diplomatic partner. And geography and demography ensure that
Indonesia is no less important to Australia than Asia’s big three.
- Australia’s fortunes are shaped and determined by the broader political, economic
and social forces at work around Asia and the Pacific.
- Power, wealth and influence are shifting globally from North to South, and in
particular to Asia.

Week 11 Lecture:

- The greatest challenge for Australian foreign policy makers has been our
relationship with Indonesia and most Australians view Indonesia with a degree of
uncertainty. While here have been attempts at genuine relationship building there
have also been times of tension and mistrust. This week we will focus on
Australia’s historical relationship with Indonesia in an endeavour to understand
why this relationship is such a challenge. We will also explore why the
relationship is so important in terms of Australia’s geopolitical position in the
region.

- ASEAN – Association of Southeast Asian Nations

- Asian Currency Crisis (1997)

- Falintil – National Armed Forces for the Liberation of East Timor

- G20 – Group of 20

- Gestapu 

- Guided Democracy 
- Indonesia-Australia Security Treaty (1995; abrogated 1999) - Agreement on
Maintaining Security between the Government of the Republic of Indonesia and
the Government of Australia on 18 December 1995.

- Interfet - International Force in East Timor

- Konfrontasi (Confrontation)

- Lombok Treaty 2006 - The Agreement Between the Republic of Indonesia and
Australia on the Framework for Security Cooperation

- Timor Gap Treaty

- Tiger Economy

-  To discuss the historical relationship between Australia and Indonesia

-  To identify the challenges in the Australia and Indonesia relationship

-  To examine the notion of Australia and Indonesia as ‘strange neighbours’

-  To evaluate the future of the relationship

- Indonesia is a member of the East Asian summit process and the g20

- It possesses a youthful population with high levels of literacy and an expanding

middle class

- Some poverty is prevalent but recent study shows they are well off and likely to
become Asia’s next trillion dollar economy

- Australia’s relationship with Indonesia has been often difficult- it has been
characterised by punctuated conflict and misunderstandings

- It is the 4th most populous nation in the world- a successful, stable, functioning
democracy

- Population is reflected in the number of languages spoken in Indonesia – there are

13 regional languages with 1m speakers of each

- Indonesia’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion while islam remains most

popular

- Indonesia has emerged as a major export market for Australian goods (sugar, coal)
 - Australia did not recognise Indonesia’s declaration of independence by Sukarno

- Dutch attempts to resume control over their colony were widely criticised

- The brutality of the second ‘police action’ drove Australia to support Indonesian
independence

- Australia pushes the Dutch to agree to transfer sovereignty to Indonesia

- Salvation came with the unlikely form of the Japanese imperial army which
invaded the Dutch east Indies, liberating Indonesia’s nationalist leaders and
prisoning most of the Dutch population

- Indonesia literally fought for their freedom between 1945 and 1949

- Australia fears: a rise of a communist Indonesia

- Following the downfall of Sakano, Australia welcomed the military takeover in

Indonesia

- Widespread purges occur; massacre of half million or more Indonesians

- Indonesia was afraid of left-wing political organisations in east Timor which has
been granted independence by the former colonial ruler

- Indonesia’s invasion of east Timor in 1975 proved to be a disaster

- It was unnecessarily violent

- In 1998 J Howard and President B.J Habbie agree to vote on independence for
East Timor

- Today Indonesia is a fully fledged democracy, a leading member of Asia

- Indonesia sometimes feels like a threat because of its large Muslim population

Reading:

- Indonesians feel they understand Australia quite well, while few Australians feel
they have good knowledge about Indonesia.
- In contrast, only 53% of Australian respondents feel they have good or moderate
knowledge about Indonesia. Only 43% of Australians feel favourable towards
Indonesia. 

- Nearly 90% of Indonesian respondents feel favourable towards Australia, 74%

claim to have good or moderate knowledge about Australia. And 65% still feel
they need to be more knowledgeable about Australia.

- the report shows that Australian history, culture and politics ranked as the least-
interesting aspects for Indonesians to learn about Australia.

- the survey shows Australians have negative attitudes towards Indonesia.

- Classical stereotyping remains strong as most Australians think Indonesia is

religious.

- The recent controversy in Australia-Indonesia military-to-military relations, while

far less serious than was initially suggested, has nonetheless revealed the fragile
nature of a deepening defence relationship between the two sides. 

- sustaining the momentum of Australia-Indonesia military relations is critical

because the collaboration has significant impacts not only for these two countries,
but for the region and the world more generally

- Indonesia has for the most part been viewed by both major Australian parties to be
the weaker partner.

- Indonesia’s middle class is larger than Australia’s entire population and

Indonesia’s economy is now over 30 per cent larger than Australia’s Gross
Domestic Product (GDP)

- The chapter concludes by arguing that as the democratically elected leaders of

both countries are influenced by mass public opinion in the formulation of foreign
policy, addressing the socio-cultural and trade dimensions will be critical for the
long-term future of the relationship.

- For Indonesia, there have been significant nationalistic forces and a continued
commitment to non-alignment, while Australia has retained its commitment to a
close alliance with the United States (US) and, recognizing the geo-economic
 realities of a growing Asia, has also sought constructive engagement with the
region.

- For Indonesia, a positive change would be a less insular and reactive form of
nationalism that would be more open to accepting and meeting international
political and economic challenges.

- Despite some historically alarmist voices in Australia’s public sphere, 11 and

some correspondingly alarmist sentiments in Indonesia, 12 neither Indonesia nor
Australia pose a traditional security threat for the other.

- Should Indonesia’s current pace of ascent be maintained, then Australia will

increasingly become the smaller partner in this bilateral relationship.

- This, in turn, will entail increased dependence by Australia on Indonesian support

to secure its economic, political and security interests— both bilaterally and in
terms or its broader engagement with Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific.

Week 12 lecture:

- The Australian-Japanese relationship has received increasing attention in recent

years. Many see the relationship as a useful tool in coping with the rise of China.
This lecture asks whether there is more to the Japanese-Australian relationship
than geopolitics. It seeks to place the Australia-Japanese relationship in historical
context, and asks what Australians and Japanese have meant to each other. Pirates
and kidnappers provided the initial contacts. They were followed by an odd
assortment of acrobats, magicians, and pearlers. The White Australia Policy
prevented (for the most part) contact between individuals; it also provided a sore
point between the two governments. It ultimately contributed to war between
Japan and Australia, in World War II. In the post-war period, Japanese war brides
helped break down the White Australia Policy, and Japan quickly became
Australia's biggest and most important trading partner. The two nations continue
to share a commitment to democratic governance, and both nations share an ally
in the US. This week, we will consider these developments and will then assess
the current state of the Australian-Japanese relationship.
 - To recount initial contacts between the two nations

- To place those contacts in the broader contexts of (i) Australia's colonial history
and (ii) Japan's 19th-Century drive to modernization

- To specify the role of the White Australia Policy in the descent to war

- To outline the move from war to peace in Australia’s relationship with Japan

- To assess the reasons why the relationship has now become one of the most
important for Australia in the region

- To define the move from not just an economic relationship but to becoming social
and strategic partners

What Have Australians and Japanese Meant To Each Other

- What have japan and Australia meant to each other?

- Japanese and Australian contact is quiet a recent phenomenon (1831)

- Between 600-800 CE the Japanese adopted Buddhism, Confucianism, language

and administrative practices from china

- Bourne Russel went to Japan and held a man hostage

- In 1853 the US sent japan a naval expedition under the command of Commodore
Mathew Perry who demanded japan to end its policy of national isolation

- They opened themselves up to diplomatic and commercial relationships with the

Western world

- In 1868 japan fought a civil war and underwent a dramatic change in government

- Japan had to either accept the Wests demands and try to modernise itself or it
would be conquered militarily

- The first Japanese settler arrived in 1871 who married a white Australian woman

- After ww2- 50% of urban japan had been destroyed by aerial bombardment

- Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been destroyed in the world’s first only atomic
attack
 - Japanese industry was a t a standstill

- Widespread starvation was a very real possibility, and the people were eating
frogs, rats and sawdust

- Whaling became a big business in japan and also prevented widespread starvation

- Australia became a self-ruling dominion within the British empire in the late
1800s

- Japan was concerning due to their modernisation while china and rest of Asia
were at the mercy of the great imperial powers

- Japan by the turn of the 20th C had modernised to such an extent that it had
become one of the world’s greatest powers

Reading:

Explaining Australia–Japan security cooperation and its prospects: ‘the interests that bind?

- two major challenges to further growth in security cooperation between the two
nations exist. One is the so-called ‘China gap’ between Australia and Japan driven
by the difference in the two countries’ perceptions of China and its intentions; the
other, despite the Abe government's security reforms to date, is Japan's ongoing
‘capability gap’, caused by constitutional constraints on, and domestic political
opposition to, Japan's Self-Defence Forces (JSDF) engaging in collective self-
defence.

- In the meantime, the ‘capability gap’ between what the Abe government aspires to
do and what it can actually deliver is potentially an even greater obstacle to closer
security ties, underlining the need for prudent management of security cooperation
expectations within the relationship.

- They need each other

- Security, cooperation, further security cooperation

- Capability gap-
- China gap-

- Balance of threat-

- Specific shared interest-

- We share a specific interest, and continue to enjoy as long as the US allows

- Driver- is a factor to happen or develop

- Given that US military and economic engagement in the Asia-Pacific region is

generally recognised as the foundation of both the post-war Asia-Pacific order and
the relative peace and prosperity that defines it (Lee, 2009, 2014), it is hardly
surprising that sustain- ing US commitment to the region is of primary concern to
both Australia and Japan.

- Indeed, fears of decreased US engagement, and possible abandonment, are long

held in both countries, and always have trumped policy concerns over
entanglement or entrapment. Moreover, and in addition to the important economic
and diplomatic con- tributions the USA provides in the region

- Australia and Japan's domestic defence bur- dens, like South Korea's, are
significantly lightened by US extended deterrence

- Australia's interests in supporting the existing post-war regional order and the US
role in maintaining it are long standing and largely unchallenged in Australian
policy circles and by the Australian public.

- Japan also has remained steadfast in its alliance commitments despite the many
political challenges the US alliance has raised domestically, including the ongoing
con- troversy surrounding US bases in Okinawa and mounting US pressure during
the post- Cold War period for Japan to allow its military to make a more active
commitment to the alliance in spite of the limits imposed on the JSDF by Japan's
Constitution.

- First and foremost, the two governments share, as argued earlier, major security
and economic interests in preserving an interna- tional order in which established
international norms–such as freedom of navigation, no-use of coercive measures
to settle disputes among states–are respected.
 - Third, as also noted earlier, close Japan-Australia relations have enjoyed
bipartisan support in Japan as they have in Australia.

- Finally, because Japan's relations with South Korea remain volatile–despite the
2015 agreement over the comfort women issue–it has been more practical for
Japan to deepen and institutional- ise its security ties with Australia, the region's
other major US ally

- How the US role will play out in the Asia-Pacific under Trump is very unclear,
and depends on a number of variables, including his ability to resist or manage the
pressures exerted on his administration by public opinion and Congress, the
circumstances and constraints of the international environment, and in particular
the perceptions of those circumstances and constraints within the Trump Cabinet

- In response, Australian, Japanese, and most likely also South Korean, govern-
ments will increase their alliance contributions accordingly, leading to more rather
than less internal balancing and cross-bracing among allies as they attempt to keep
the US engaged and committed

- in the absence of any fundamental change in how Australia and Japan understand
their respective interests and the US role in the region, Donald Trump's recent and
unexpected election as US president not withstanding, we conclude that the case
for further security cooperation–via additional cross-bracing of their respective
US alliance relationships–will almost certainly remain compelling for both
countries.

Week 13 lecture:

- In the past 15 years there has been much debate in Australia as to whether China
is a threat or a fantastic opportunity for Australia. In effect we cannot quite decide
which it is or whether it is both. Even though China is much more powerful now
than it was before, our view of China has shifted in a more positive direction. This
week we will focus on Australia’s historical relationship with China from a war
time ally to China becoming a communist threat. We will explore the change in
 our diplomatic relations in the 1970s and China’s rise to becoming our number
one trading partner. Finally, we will consider some of the challenges in Australia’s
ongoing relationship with China.

- To examine some of the historical background to Australia’s ambivalent

relationship with China

- To consider the reasons for the change in the relationship beginning in the 1970s

- To assess the importance of China to Australia and the challenges for Australia in
terms of maintaining the relationship

- 3 ships of the first fleet were china ships of the British east company

- Competition in the gold fields labour disputes and British Australian nationalism
created an environment of racial antagonism during the 2nd half of the 19thC

- This racial tension focused on the different Chinese settlers

- Chinese miners were to suffer from racial resentment on the gold fields and a
number of riots where Chinese were attacked

- In order to secure its great power alliance with the US, Aus followed US policies

- China was perceived as a major threat to Australia’s security

- As the 1970s began the international environment was also beginning to change
these changes meant that Australia’s stance on non-recognition of the communist
party as the legitimate government of china became increasingly untenable

- Gough Whitlam made an official visit to China. He argued that Australia should
have the courage to act on its own initiative

- Australia and China have a trade complementarity as we produce the mineral

resources necessary

- The major issue in Australia’s relationship with China is how to balance fears
with opportunities

-  China is Australia’s largest trading partner, with two way trade over $157 billion
 -  China accounts for about 1/3 of all export earnings and more than 1/5 of all
imports

-  China’s rapidly expanding military capacity is causing concern about regional

stability

- A good relationship with China is vital to Australia’s strategic and economic

interests

-  Such a relationship remains difficult as shared values are absent

- During 1894-85 Australia’s exports to China rose to 73.4%, exceeding $1 B

- In 2007, china overtook Japan as Australia’s largest trading power

Reading:

- Australia and China have never had such a promising and interdependent
relationship as today. Chinese tourists are the largest group of visitors from abroad
and the biggest foreign spenders in Australia.

- China is now the largest buyer of Australian wine, surpassing the United States in
October 2016.

- Nearly one-fifth of Chinese students abroad choose Australia as the place to

pursue their studies.

- Fifty-four per cent of Chinese demand for iron ore is met by Australian

- Many Australians, including in the government, are concerned about how China
will use its growing wealth and power. Chinese officials, in turn, see in Australia
an unwise willingness to side with the United States on crucial and sensitive
issues.

- Many of the challenges in the Australia– China relationship have emerged

relatively recently, in just a decade. The Trump presidency may well add another
layer of uncertainty and insecurity. Consequently, Australians and their
 government struggle to keep up. These challenges loom even larger as China’s era
of phenomenal economic growth comes to an end.

- Many of the challenges in the Australia– China relationship have emerged

relatively recently, in just a decade. The Trump presidency may well add another
layer of uncertainty and insecurity. Consequently, Australians and their
government struggle to keep up. These challenges loom even larger as China’s era
of phenomenal economic growth comes to an end. During economic good times
the problems in the relationship were easier to manage or ignore.

- Many Australians, including in the government, are concerned about how China
will use its growing wealth and power. Chinese officials, in turn, see in Australia
an unwise willingness to side with the United States on crucial and sensitive
issues. In business, Australian executives have for years complained about unfair
practices within China, while of late some Chinese investors feel they have been
discriminated against in Australia. The Chinese authorities’ crackdown on civil
rights and their warnings about the dangers of Western influence inside China
arouse concern in Australia.

- Australia and China have never had such a promising and interdependent
relationship as today. Chinese tourists are the largest group of visitors from abroad
and the biggest foreign spenders in Australia. Up to ninety direct flights arrive in
Australia from China every week, with more to come. China is now the largest
buyer of Australian wine, surpassing the United States in October 2016. Nearly
one-fifth of Chinese students abroad choose Australia as the place to pursue their
studies. Fifty-four per cent of Chinese demand for iron ore is met by Australian

Week 14 reading:
Unipolar Anxieties: Australia's Melanesia Policy after the Age of Intervention

- As a consequence of its membership of a US‐centred global alliance network,

Australia's regional obligations in the South Pacific are as pertinent to Regional
Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands's drawdown as they were to its inception. 

- Three challenges—the rise of China, the Islamic State insurgency, and the
democratic discontinuities in key regional players

- The growing influence of Asian powers in the Pacific has given rise to new
exclusion concerns in Australia, and to a greater degree in the US