Cochrane, Peter: Best We Forget: The War for White Australia, 1914-18

Peter Cochrane

Best We Forget: The War for White Australia, 1914-18, Text, Melbourne, 2018

In the half-century preceding the Great War there was a dramatic shift in the mindset of Australia’s political leaders, from a profound sense of safety in the Empire’s embrace to a deep anxiety about abandonment by Britain. Collective memory now recalls a rallying to the cause in 1914, a total identification with British interests and the need to defeat Germany. But there is an underside to this story: the belief that the newly federated nation’s security, and its race purity, must be bought with blood.

Before the war Commonwealth governments were concerned not with enemies in Europe but with perils in the Pacific. Fearful of an “awakening Asia” and worried by opposition to the White Australia policy, they prepared for defence against Japan – only to find themselves fighting for the Empire on the other side of the world. Prime Minister Billy Hughes spoke of this paradox in 1916, urging his countrymen: “I bid you go and fight for white Australia in France”.

In this vital and illuminating book, Peter Cochrane examines how the racial preoccupations that shaped Australia’s preparation for and commitment to the war have been lost to popular memory. (blurb)

The book is reviewed for Honest History by Peter Stanley. (Reproduced on the Spirit of Eureka and Pearls and Irritations, including important comments.) Review note in Fairfax (Bill Perrett). Review in Guardian Australia (Paul Daley)Review in The Resident Judge of Port Phillip blog (Janine Rizzetti.) Review in Australian Book Review (Marilyn Lake). Extract in Inside Story. The author with Phillip Adams on ABC. Review in History Australia by Romain Fathi. For other works by Peter Cochrane, use our Honest History Search facility.

Peter Cochrane comments on the Marilyn Lake ABR review. See also the comments of John Mordike following the Pearls and Irritations repost of the Stanley review, and following the P&I post by Henry Reynolds on the commemoration cavalcade.

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