Recent events have revived longstanding questions about the nature and meaning of the Australian relationship with the United Kingdom. Brexit, AUKUS, the death of a long-reigning monarch, and renewed calls for a republic have shone a light on Australia’s economic, military, historical and political ties with the UK. Meanwhile, the unfolding effects of globalization, China’s economic rise, and the climate crisis underscore the importance of Australia’s position in the Asia-Pacific, with some suggesting that regional relationships should take precedence over historic links to the colonial parent.

Following these observations, the conference drew together visiting scholars from the Collaborative Research Centre 923 “Threatened Order – Societies under stress” at the University of Tübingen (Germany) with the “National Security” team at Deakin University (Melbourne, Australia) to examine the ways in which stress, broadly applied, has manifested in the Australian-British relationship during the “End of Empire” since the 1960s. The conference was co-hosted by the History Council of Victoria and the Centre for Contemporary Histories.

In his opening remarks EWALD FRIE (Tübingen) introduced the concept of “Threatened Order” which has been developed by the CRC between 2011 and 2023. Threats, Frie explained, have the potential to both create and reveal fissures in orders which would normally remain hidden or unquestioned. They produce societies under stress in which old structures and routines are more readily questioned and new ideas more easily tried out. This makes them more apt to social change and experimentation. Within this framework, the Tübingen sub-projects on the “End of Empire” and on “Threatened Agrarian Orders” had developed new insights into the profound political, cultural, economic, and environmental transformations in Australia and New Zealand due to Britain’s withdrawal from its former Dominions.

In the focus of the first panel chaired by JONATHAN RITCHIE (Melbourne) was Australia’s role in the Pacific. MIRIAM ADLER (Tübingen) examined Australia’s and New Zealand’s relationship with the South Pacific Islands by using the example of the establishment of the South Pacific Forum in 1971. The preparations for the establishment of the forum revealed a deep insecurity of Australian – and to a lesser extend – New Zealand officials in dealing with their South Pacific neighbours. BRAD UNDERHILL (Melbourne) delved into the impact of British economic objectives on the post-war development policy for the Territory of Papua and New Guinea (TPNG). Moral and legal obligations to the Sterling area led Australia to enter an agreement with the UK for the export and sale of copra on behalf of TPNG which ultimately provided the UK with a massive discount on the world market price for copra. Continuing with questions of development but moving on to the field of education, ANNA KENT (Melbourne) explored Australia’s role in the Commonwealth and Scholarships Fellowship Scheme (CSFP). The CSFP showed how Australia was determined to position itself as a member of the “old Commonwealth” in contrast to the newly independent “new Commonwealth” nations even if this meant a conflicting approach to that of the United Kingdom.

The second panel was chaired by GRAEME DAVISON (Melbourne). It was concerned with the environment and rural and regional Australia. DANIEL ROTHENBURG (Tübingen) presented a paper about the search for sustainable land use in Australia’s south-eastern agricultural areas where European-style agriculture has almost constantly been under threat. During the “End of Empire”, Rothenburg argued, this was amplified by three entangled processes: the economic consequences of Britain’s entry into the European Economic Community, neoliberal policies which were instrumental in transforming agriculture from a nation-building venture into a business, and the transformation of settler Australians’ understanding of the environment due to escalating soil degradation. ROCHELLE SCHOFF (Melbourne) examined how global military conflicts informed social responses to environmental pressures. During the twentieth century the experiences of both drought and war put pressures on German and British Australian farming communities across the Riverina. EMILY POTTER and D’ARCY MOLAN (Melbourne) presented their community-centred research projects in the Mallee and Wimmera regions. There, they argued, the re-thinking of communities and geographies allowed the negotiation of post-imperial futures in contemporary Australia.

The third and last panel of the conference focused on national identity. It was chaired by PHILIPP DEERY (Melbourne). HELEN GARDNER (Melbourne) analysed the migration of Papuans and New Guineans to Australia. Even after independence and the end of the White Australia policy, Papua New Guineans continued to contribute only a very small part in overall Australian immigration. SABRINA JOST (Tübingen) examined how questions of emotional belonging were both discussed and presented during the 1960s and 1970s in Australia and New Zealand. Focusing on the field of education, she showed a significant shift in emotional and cultural reference points during this time. CAROLYN HOLBROOK (Melbourne) scrutinized how the ANZAC legend defied predictions of its demise during the 1970s and today is presented as a centrepiece of Australian national iconography. Drawing from psychology, Holbrook mainly attributed this to the integrative effects of rituals. MIA MARTIN HOBBS (Melbourne) explored traces of imperial nostalgia in contemporary Australian defence policy. Historic ties, Hobbs argued, enable both Australia and the UK to rhetorically counteract fears of US dominance.

The concluding roundtable was led by DAVID LOWE (Melbourne) and JOAN BEAUMONT (Melbourne). The conference revealed several dimensions of Australian relations with a variety of empire(s): the British Empire, Australia’s own empire in the Pacific, the ongoing colonization of the Australian continent, and the fate of other European as well as non-European empires. The following discussion focused on unexpected legacies of (de)colonization and the role of emotions, the character of today’s society and the multicultural character of the nation, economic necessities, and the role of non-elite actors.

Conference Overview:

Opening Remarks
Ewald Frie

Panel 1: Australia in the Pacific, chaired by Jonathan Ritchie

Miriam Adler (Tübingen): Our nearest, but not our dearest neighbours - Australia's and New Zealand's perception of the South Pacific

Brad Underhill (Melbourne): Trading with the Sterling Area: PNG penalised for links to the “Old Country”?

Anna Kent (Melbourne): “Empire Education”: Australia at the Oxford Conference, 1959

Panel 2: The Environment, chaired by Graeme Davison

Daniel Rothenburg (Tübingen): The End of Empire from the fringe: Agriculture, neoliberalism, and the environment

Rochelle Schoff (Melbourne): Disloyal Citizens, model Farmers: German Australians in drought and wartime

Emily Potter and D’Arcy Molan (Melbourne): Post-empire agricultural landscapes and cultural legacies in the Mallee and Wimmera regions of Victoria

Panel 3: National Identity, chaired by Phillip Deery

Helen Gardner (Melbourne): Where are the Papua New Guineans?

Sabrina Jost (Tübingen): “Will someone please tell me what I am?” Looking for post-imperial belonging in Australia and New Zealand in the 1960s and 1970s

Carolyn Holbrook (Melbourne): Searching for “homo Australicus”: The New Nationalism and the Anzac Legend

Mia Martin Hobbs (Melbourne): Imperial nostalgia in Australian defence policy in the 21st century

Concluding Roundtable
David Lowe and Joan Beaumont