Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

The Rise Of The Australian Empire 1945-1995

By David Atwell

Introduction

The Australian Empire, love it or hate, has grown to become one of major players upon the world’s stage. Although it has no permanent seat on the UN’s security council, & thus is not called one of the big five, it is in fact more powerful than the combined strengths of France & Britain. Due to this fact, it is no wonder then that, even after the recent fracas with the United States, it has emerged none the worse for wear. What the future holds for the Empire, however, is still to be seen as, even though the Empire was established with the best of intentions, many of its own citizens are expressing concerns for its fate.

The Post World War II Period

The Australian Empire was born in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Even though several territories have been added since the 1950s, the basic structure & territory of the Empire had already taken shape by late 1945. As the Japanese were either defeated as the Australian forces advanced, or surrendered after the war, Australia had taken a large chunk of land in South East Asia. Importantly, this included the whole island of Borneo. Hence the previous British & Dutch territories came under Australian control.

As well as Borneo came the islands of Bali, Lombok, Flores, Sumbawa, Ambon, Celebes, Timor & several other islands. Out side of the Indonesian Archipelago there was also the whole island of New Guinea, as well as the islands to the north, like the Admiralty Islands, New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville &, to the east of New Guinea, the Solomon Islands.

Other than these overseas territories, the country of Australia itself has changed. Being established in 1901 by an Act of the British Parliament, Australia was originally established as a federal commonwealth of six states & two territories. The six states were (by population size): New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia & Tasmania. The Northern Territory & the Australian Capital Territory made up the rest of the country.

Since 1901 little had changed in the above arrangement until the Empire began to grow in 1945. The first important change in the Commonwealth (as against the Empire) was the addition of New Zealand as a state in 1960. New Zealand’s inclusion as a state saw it take the number three spot (in population size) from Queensland. The next change was that of the status of the Northern Territory. In 1980 it was successful in its bid to become a state. Although much larger than several of the other states, its population is only equal to that of Tasmania. Nonetheless, due to its mineral wealth, it is actually one of the key states in the Australian Commonwealth.

Partners

The only real partner Australia ever truly considered in the South Pacific region was New Zealand. The relationship between the two partners is as much of a historical as a practical one. Having fought side by side with each other, the ANZAC partnership has seldom been threatened. In business, the trans-Tasman trade is greater between the two than any other countries. It was not surprising, then, that New Zealand joined the Australian Commonwealth (as to differentiate between it & the Empire) in 1960.

New Zealand, however, is more than merely the seventh (or third depending how you number them) state of Australia. Unlike the other Australian states, New Zealand enjoys a certain amount of independence from the rest of the Commonwealth. This is partly due to its location, being at some distance from the mainland, & the fact that it was a separate country with its own particular traditions & political arrangements. These differences vary in number, but the two main ones are the Maori People & a nuclear free region. Unlike Australia & the rest of the Empire, New Zealand is free of nuclear weapons.

Since 1960 there have been other partners sought, most notably Fiji & New Guinea, but applications for “statehood” has always been rejected by the Australian government. This has gained some criticism from parts of the Empire, especially in the aftermath of the success gained by the Northern Territory getting statehood in 1980. Having said that, neither Fiji or New Guinea could claim the same “standard of living” status which New Zealand & the Northern Territory could claim at the time of their application. Furthermore, there is also concern over racial issues in both Fiji & New Guinea & such issues has occasionally seen tension between these respective local governments & the one in Canberra.

Indonesia Rebuffed

Due to the fact that Australia held onto a large amount of Indonesian territory Indonesia, after becoming independent, began protesting this situation. It was somewhat ironic that this happened even though Australia had given the Indonesian independence movement everything - from moral support in the UN to weapons to use in its War of Independence against the Dutch. Having said that, it took some 12 years before any fighting began between Australia & Indonesia.

Australia, since the Second World War, had kept out of wars. Its only involvement since 1945 was its commitment in the Korean War of 1950-53. So the clash with Indonesia in 1962 came somewhat as a shock to the Australian people when Indonesian forces landed on Borneo with every intention of removing the Australian authorities. What was worse was the fact that the initial invasion was highly successful & nearly half of Borneo had been taken before the Indonesians were stopped.

Unfortunately for Indonesia, though, their early success proved to be their undoing. Thinking that they had the Australian army on the run, further invasions took place on Bali & Ambon. Here, not only was the Australian army prepared, but the local populations wanted nothing to do with the Indonesian army or being forced into joining Indonesia. As a result, the assaults on Bali & Ambon were disasters for the invaders. Soon thereafter, Australian aircraft & naval ships were sinking everything Indonesian in the region thus isolating the Indonesian army in Borneo. A counterattack by the Australian army then put an end to the issue. The UN finally made Indonesia surrender in November of 1962 after a two month cease fire period which had earlier brought peace to the Archipelago.

Thankfully the peace between Australia & Indonesia has remained ever since, although things were not at all peaceful for the Indonesian government at the time. The public, most notably the Javanese, were far from impressed with their government’s ability, or lack thereof, & after several protests in Jakarta, they finally rioted. After a week of street battles in the Indonesian capital, a “people’s government” took over the administration of the country. Soon thereafter, a new democratic constitution was implemented followed by open elections. Indonesia has thus enjoyed a liberal democratic system of government ever since.

A New Britannia

The most notable sign of the Australian Empire’s power is, of course, its armed forces. And the Navy is probably the most public face of them. Having been deeply influenced by the Royal Navy, this still echoes in all areas today. There have been, however, significant changes in military equipment. At first the Australian Navy bought all of its equipment from Britain. This was clearly seen during Australia’s commitment to the Korean War of the early 1950s. There Australia committed its two aircraft carriers & several destroyers all of which were British designs.

During the Gulf War against Iraq some forty years later, however, there was a significant difference in ship designs. Everything, from the two aircraft carriers & the planes they flew, through to the frigates, were a mix of Australian, American or German origins. For example, the Australian Gulf Fleet considered of two Australia class aircraft carriers which are basically an American USS John F. Kennedy design (these two ships fly F/A-18s & A-6s); the four Parramatta class CG are an indigenous design, the four Perth class DDG are basically an American Adams DDG design; the four Adelaide class FFG are basically an American Perry class design; whilst the six ANZAC class FFG are basically a German MEKO 200 design. This force represented about half of the Australian Navy in 1991.

Furthermore, the Australian Navy has twelve Stoker class SSN (an indigenous design), none of which were sent to the Gulf. They are considered to be a scaled down version of the British Trafalgar class SSN & share many of the British boat’s capabilities. It is the only instance of a British design having any influence in the Australian Navy these days. Furthermore, Australia has six Vigilance class SSBNs which are based on the French L’Inflexible class design. They have sixteen silos for the Australian ‘Blue-2’ SLBM which has a range of 10 000km.

The Australian Army has, likewise, changed dramatically since the late 1940s. The army acts more as a garrison force, yet it can come together as a large concentrated force if required. Again Australia’s participation in the 1991 Gulf War shows the real strength of the Army. Being able to supply a Mechanised Corps of two divisions to the United Nations forces, the Australians supplied the second largest force after the Americans. Furthermore, the Leopard II tanks of the Australian Army proved to be equal to both the British & American armour.

The Air Force has always been the smallest of the branches, but like the other two, it has changed since the late 1940s. Having no British equipment at all, it relies solely on the United States for its aircraft. A brief look at Australia’s participation in the Gulf War in 1991 gives an excellent cross-section of its equipment. Like the Navy, the Air Force uses large numbers of FA-18s. It also uses the venerable F-111 (the only user other than the USA) not to mention the F-16 in large numbers. If it lacks any aircraft, then that would be an F-15 type machine.

A little discussed arm of the Australian Defence Force is its nuclear arsenal. Australia was the first of the non-big five powers to gain nuclear weapons &, although it has kept this fact out of the headlines, it has developed several delivery systems over the years. Currently it has four methods. The first is a simple gravity bomb dropped from a F-111 yielding 10 kilotons. The second method is the navy’s “Blue-2” SLBM. These carry a single thermonuclear warhead of 1 megaton & have a range of 10 000km.

Then there is the tactical intermediate nuclear armed missile of 10 kilotons called the “Eagle-C”. It has a range of about 1 500km. The “Eagle-C” is a low tech missile based upon an early British design called “Blue Streak”. The ICBM of the Air Force, however, is the “White-2” missile. It is basically the same missile as the Navy’s “Blue-2” except it has a multi-weapon warhead consisting of four 10 kiloton nuclear bombs & a longer range at 14 000km.

There are currently 200 nuclear gravity bombs & 96 “Blue-2” SLBMs in Australia’s inventory. A similar number of the old “Eagle-C” are also in operation. The “Eagle-C” are on mobile launchers & are mostly deployed in Borneo at secure locations. It is believed, although this has never been confirmed, that the “Eagle-C” force is targeted at locations in both Malaysia & Indonesia. There are also at least 100 (possibly 150) “White-2” ICBMs which are located in several territories including New Guinea, Borneo & the island of Guadalcanal. Australia has never commented where these ICBMs are targeted. The only known nuclear weapons stored on the Australian continent are gravity bombs. There could be, however, undisclosed ICBM silos to the north of Darwin in North Australia. This, though, has never been confirmed.

The Pacific War

Although Australia & the United States have been allies for decades, the two countries had a falling out in 1994 in the aftermath of the Gulf War of 1991. Even though Australia wanted at the time, & afterwards, to invade Iraq & remove Saddam Hussein from power, the United States blocked Australia’s efforts at every turn. Relations went down hill from there as each country accused the other over matters such as controlling the oil to empire building. The latter comment, made by the USA, hit a sour note in Australia as Australia did have an empire.

It did not take much effort, hence, for this war of words to move into the tangible. Soon trade was being hit between the two countries as restrictions, tariffs & bans were placed upon all sorts of items. Hostilities, unfortunately, finally broke out in 1995 after Australia began a run on the American dollar in the worlds currency markets. Within 24 hours, hundreds of billions of American dollars had been dumped in the exchanges by Australia & her allies; most notably Japan & Europe. The next day, fighting began.

The Pacific War, however, was never that much of a war in the traditional sense. Its main battlefields were in the international currency & stoke exchanges. But battles nonetheless took place elsewhere - the first one being in space followed by the more traditional air, land & sea. The first engagement thus saw American spy & communications satellites being destroyed by Australian anti-satellite weapons. By doing so, Australia ensured that America was blind in the Asia Pacific region. Furthermore, this lead to the only land battle to take place in the Pacific War. Around the same time as American satellites were being destroyed, units of the Australian army attacked the American base called Pine Gap, ironically located in Australia, not far from Alice Springs. Pine Gap was taken within an hour, although all of its important equipment was destroyed. Human casualties were thankfully low.

The sea battle, not far from Guam, would be a different story. The Australian navy was ordered to take &/or destroy this important American base. Being located not far from Australian Empire territory, it was thus considered to be a major threat. On the American side, for the same reasons, it was thus considered to be an important asset in dealing with the Australians. It was no surprise then, that on 1 November 1995, an air/sea battle took place around Guam rivalling the Pacific naval battles of World War 2. Having said that, due to the high tech levels being used by both sides, the battle was considered a draw as neither side gained any advantage from the engagement. Again, casualties were low in both humans & equipment. It has often been said since that such a result took place due to a lack of motivation on both sides to engage in any battle let alone the one currently on offer.

Thankfully, saner minds on both sides quickly came to the fore & peace was soon re-established between Australia & America. The tension of the recent past, however, was still evident at the UN where Australia refused to have anything to do with the international body’s New York offices. Instead all negotiations at the UN level were conducted at Geneva. All the same, Australia & America kept their respective embassies open in the other country & significantly continue to do so. Nonetheless, what the future holds for these two countries is, it must be said, uncertain.

Concluding Remarks

At this point in time, the success &/or failure of Australia’s venture into an empire has had mixed results. On the positive side, many peoples of the South Pacific have enjoyed a period of prosperity, peace & a standard of living without precedent in the “Third World.” Australia as a result has thus never known a better time on the world’s stage as is currently the case. New Zealand is enjoying similar fortune, but at the cost of its independence. Having said that, few in New Zealand have protested the way things have happened over the years.

Yet, ever since the recent fracas with the United States, the Australian Empire may no longer be the dream of the past. Originally seen as a union of peoples for the benefit of the entire region, regardless of race, colour or creed, things have already started turning towards the reverse. Recent criticism from various territories of the empire, whether it be over statehood or war with America, has seen an indifference, if not intolerance, echoing out of the Empire’s capital Canberra. And, as it is clear that tension remains between Australia & America, fears that a second, & far more serious, conflict between these two nuclear armed nations can only be viewed with the utmost of concerns.

(ED: David's Se7en years saga is now completed and has the beginnings of a successor.

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