ABSTRACT
It is time now for Young Australia to become Adult, to accept the responsibilities and duties of being Adult, of being civilized; of becoming a fully-cultured nation—self-supporting, if need be, in matters of culture. The idea that Australia was young, white, happy and wholesome, and in constant need of protection, had been established before the Great War. The ‘White Australia’ policy effectively kept out the ‘Yellow Peril,’ and remained a fundamental principle of Australianness. When Australia celebrated its sesquicentenary in 1938, there was little of the confidence or enthusiasm of the centennial celebrations of 1888. The demands of ‘total war’, the need to define war aims, and the planning for post-war reconstruction, all encouraged a reassertion of democracy and nationalism. The belief that the post-war world would have to be more equal, and that socialism, very loosely defined, was part of Australia’s future, was a common one.
