Australia
became a self-governing dominion of the British
Empire in 1901. Although the federal government was appointed
by a British governor, the two-tier parliament was elected by adult
suffrage. Unlike in Britain, Australian
women were granted the vote in 1902.
By the beginning of the 20th century the population of around 5 million
was mainly concentrated on the coast but an estimated
200,000 native Australians were living in the interior. The Immigration
Restriction Act of July 1902 imposed a linguistic ability test
so as to maintain what became known as a 'White Australia' policy.
The Australian Army was formed in 1901.
It was a very small army and was organism solely for home defence.
The regular army was backed-up by a part-time volunteer militia (45,000
men in 1914). All males of combat age were required by law to undertake
military training.
During
the First World War Australia contributed 322,000
soldiers, of whom more than 280,000 were casualties. Just under 60,000
Australians were killed, the highest death-rate suffered by any national
army in the war.
On
the outbreak of the Second World War the prime
minister of Australia, Sir Robert Menzies,
immediately announced that its armed forces would support the Allied
war effort. This policy continued under John
Curtin, the leader of the Australian
Labour Party,
who gained power in 1941.
Compulsory
military service was introduced with the understanding that conscripts
would be required to serve only in Australia and it's territories.
Recruitment for the three main services took place and concerned about
only having 164 combat aircraft efforts were made to supplement this
force.
Two
divisions (6th and 7th) of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF)
under
Lieutenant-General Thomas
Blamey were
sent to Palestine for training. These soldiers were expected to be
sent to France
but after its surrender in June 1940 they were sent to North
Africa instead.
Australian
troops took part in the campaigns for Egypt
and formed the bulk of the garrison at Tobruk
under
Lieutenant
General Leslie Morshead. They also fought
in Greece, Crete
and Syria in 1941.
About
560,000 members of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) served overseas
during the Second World War. The Australian
Air Force saw action over Europe and the Navy fought with the
Royal
Navy in
the Mediterranean and the Sydney
sunk the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni.
After
the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor and the invasion of New Guinea,
the Australian armed forces worked closely with those of the United
States under the leadership of General
Douglas
MacArthur, who had established
his headquarters in Brisbane. John Curtin
announced that "without inhibitions of any kind, I make it clear
that (from now on) Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as
to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom."
The
Japanese
Air Force made
14 air raids on Darwin in early 1942. Later the Japanese mounted raids
against towns in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. In
May 1942 Japanese submarines made an unsuccessful attempt to enter
Sydney Harbour.
John
Curtin began to fear that the Japanese
Army would attempt to invade Australia and against the wishes
of Winston Churchill recalled two divisions
of the Australian Imperial Force from
the Middle East.
Australian forces played
a major role in defeating the Japanese in
New Guinea,
Borneo and Malaya.
Australia suffered 21,000 dead and 58,000 other casualties.
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