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March 29, 2005
One familar account of Australia's history goes like this:
"....both convicts and free settlers, of predominantly English, Irish and Scottish extraction, had settled on a land whose location placed them in relative proximity of much larger Asian populations about whom they knew little and with whom they had little or no affinity. White Australia seemed as far as it is possible to be from kith and kin, whereas strangers and potential enemies seemed uncomfortably close."
This has given rise to the white Anglo-Australian heritage whose roots are the deeply ingrained racism of 'White Australia'; a culture of dependency that combines a high degree of insularity with reliance on great and powerful friends; and the tensions between the country's history and its geography.
It is this history that informs the discourse of Australian conservatism, with its emphasis on Australia's 'national character', its 'distinct and enduring values', 'an Australian way of life', deep dependence on the US, strong ambivalence to our inferior and dangerous East Asia neighbours, and anxiety about a multicultural Australia. It is one that stepsteps the colonial treatment of aborigines and displaces the unease and anxiety about that treatment.
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