Australia took a wrong turn on the eve of federation when it chose to cleave to Empire rather than to Nation. The country had all the attributes necessary for successful, independent nationhood, more abundantly than many of the then existing sovereign states. It was able to defend itself from any foreseeable threats to its security. But the choice was made in favour of the Empire and the Crown over loyalty based on place and an overriding commitment to the continent itself. Over sixty thousand young men died between 1914 and 1918 on overseas battlegrounds as a result. And that pattern of behaviour has remained with us. Rather than developing a patriotism rooted in the soil we have continued to identify with larger collectives. It was the British Empire and all the King’s men , the White Race then the’ Free World’ and ‘the West’ and now America’s informal, entangling Empire.
