Australia in-war-and-peace-1914-19

Australia in War and Peace, 1914-19: Undertaking a major collaborative documents-

based research project

By Dr. Jatinder Mann, King’s College London (KCL) and University College London (UCL)

Background to the project

• The ‘Australia in War and Peace, 1914-19’ research project is a major collaborative research project between the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies (MCAS), KCL and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Canberra, Australia.

• The ultimate goal of the project is to produce a volume on Documents on Australian Foreign Policy on War and Peace, 1914-19.

• The publication will follow the model of the previous volume MCAS worked on: Australia and the United Kingdom, 1960-1975; which consisted of painstakingly selected, historically significant Australian and British documents.

Key members of the research project

• Prof. Carl Bridge (KCL) (Director of MCAS and Professor of Australian History, Department of History) - Head of the British end of the project and book and section editor of volume

• Dr. David Lee (DFAT) (Director of the Historical Publications and Information Section) – Head of the Australian end of the project and book and section editor of volume

• Dr. Jatinder Mann (KCL) (Postdoctoral Research Fellow) - In charge of the day-to-day running of the British end of the project , chief liaison with the Australian end, and book and section editor of volume

• Associate Professor Frank Bongiorno (ANU) (Associate Professor of Australian History, School of History) – Section editor of volume

• Bart Zielinski (KCL) (Research Assistant) – Responsible for assisting Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the running of the project, carrying out research and proofing and editing

Documents on Australian Foreign Policy on War and Peace, 1914-19

• The Outbreak of War• Recruitment, Conscription and its Aftermath• The Dardanelles Commission• Administration of the AIF• Finance and Loans• Labour, Commodities and Shipping

Documents on Australian Foreign Policy on War and Peace, 1914-19

• Japan and the Pacific• Versailles• Demobilisation and repatriation• ‘Working in the Imperial System’ (to include

Australia House and intra-imperial collaboration and discussions re. double income tax etc)

Publicising of the project

• We have already presented papers on ‘The Dardanelles Commission’, ‘Recruitment, Conscription and its Aftermath’ and ‘Versailles’

• We have also given papers on an overview of the project at numerous prominent venues in both Australia and the UK

• Furthermore, the British end of the project presented papers on various themes at a Research Symposium held at MCAS in late February 2013

Timescale of the project

• We are intending to publish the volume of Documents on Australian Foreign Policy on War and Peace, 1914-19 in 2015

• Alongside a hardcopy of the book, a subsequent online version will also be made available so as to maximise accessibility to institutions, scholars, students and other interested individuals all across the world

Step 1: Background secondary reading

• Andrews, E. M. The Anzac Illusion: Anglo-Australian Relations during World War I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

• Bridge, Carl. Makers of the British World: William Hughes – Australia. London: Haus, 2011.

• Connor, John. Anzac and Empire: George Foster Pearce and the Foundations of

Australian Defence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. • Fitzhardinge, L. F. The Little Digger, 1914-1952: William Morris Hughes A

Political Biography, Volume II. Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1979. • Fitzhardinge, L. F. William Morris Hughes A Political Biography: I - That Fiery

Particle, 1862-1914.

Step 1: Background secondary reading

• McKernan, Michael. The Australian People and the Great War. Melbourne: Nelson, 1980.

• Meaney, Neville. Australia and World Crisis, 1914-1923: Volume 2 – A

History of Australian Defence and Foreign Policy, 1901-23. Sydney: Sydney University Press, 2009.

• Scott, Ernest. Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918: Vol.

XI – Australia during the War. Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1943. • Turner, Ian. Industrial Labour and Politics: The Dynamics of the Labour

Movement in Eastern Australia, 1900-1921. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965.

Step 2: Making a list of primary sources to consult

Step 3: Visiting archives and libraries

• Australia- National Archives of Australia (NAA)- National Library of Australia (NLA)- Australian War Memorial (AWM)- Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA)- Australian National University (ANU) Archives

Step 3: Visiting archives and libraries

• United Kingdom- The National Archives (TNA)- The British Library (BL)- Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives- The University of London Library (ULL)- Parliamentary Archives- Imperial War Museum Archives- Bodleian Library, Oxford- Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge- The National Library of Scotland (NLS)

Personal papers consulted in the UK

• Hamilton Papers • Robertson Papers • Kiggell Papers • Ashmead-Bartlett Papers • Bonar Law Papers • Dawney Papers • Asquith Papers • Harcourt Papers

Personal papers consulted in the UK

• Milner Papers

• Violet Milner Papers

• Hankey Papers

• Esher Papers • Fisher Papers • Churchill Papers • Rawlinson Papers • Amery Papers

Personal papers consulted in the UK

• Lloyd George Papers • Haig Papers

• Godley Papers

• Edmunds Papers

• Birdwood Papers

• Long Papers

• Balfour Papers

• Northcliffe Papers

Step 4: Copying of useful material

Step 5: Importance of keeping lists

War Cabinet 41, Minutes of a Meeting of the War Cabinet held at 10, Downing Street, on Tuesday January 23, 1917 at 12 noon – Appendix I, p. 5

‘There still remains a large reserve of man-power in Australia. In May last theCommonwealth Government held out hopes ofa sixth Australian division being raised, butwere not sanguine of being able to maintain itin the field. The result of the referendum oncompulsory service, however, has not onlyfalsified these hopes, but has led theGovernment to question the feasibility ofmaintaining the five existing divisions in thefield...From the figures given in Table II itappears that it should be feasible to raise asixth division and maintain adequate reservesfor all six divisions and the Mounted Division inEgypt.’

The National Archives (TNA), CAB 23/1/0041

Telegram from Bonar Law to Munro-Ferguson, 17th November, 1915

‘Agent General for New South Wales hasrepresented on behalf of his Governmentstrong objections on constitutional groundsto adhering to Agreement betweenCommonwealth and States...and urges thatNew South Wales should not be deniedaccess to English market on account ofnon-adherence...His Majesty’s Governmentdo not consider it desirable to expressopinion on constitutional issue and appearto have no alternative but to inform AgentGeneral for New South Wales that anapplication from the Government of that State for permission to borrow in Londonwill be considered by Treasury on its merits...’

TNA, T 1/12005

Secretary of the Association to Protest Against the Duplication of Income Tax Within the Empire to A. D. Steel-Maitland, House of Commons, 8th August, 1916

‘Double Income Tax within theEmpire is unjust, inequitableand contrary to Imperialinterests, that it will ofnecessity materially restrict andpenalise trade and investmentswithin the Empire, that in theinterest of the Unity andDevelopment of the Empire it isessential that such steps shouldbe taken by the ImperialGovernment as will enableimmediate relief to be given...’

TNA, CO 532/90

Step 6: Document selection and section editing

• Choosing the highly significant documents to include in the section/s that you are responsible for

• Writing an introduction to that section which will place the documents in some sort of historical context

• Adding commentaries in footnotes or reference to documents from which extracts are not included in the chapter but are still important

Benefits and challenges of collaborative research projects

• Benefits:- The ability to attempt large international research projects

which may not otherwise be feasible- In terms of the ‘Australia in War and Peace, 1914-19’ project,

getting the ‘whole’ picture of the period under study• Challenges:- Making the research carried out in one end of the project consistent with the other- In relation to the ‘Australia in War and Peace, 1914-19’ project, the two ends of the project starting at different times

Organisation! Organisation! Organisation!

• This cannot be stressed enough• Without good organisation any large,

collaborative documents-based research project will not succeed

• If there is one thing I would like you all to take away from this talk it is this

Other outputs for dissemination

• We have written or plan to write several journal articles on ‘The Dardanelles Commission’, ‘Recruitment, Conscription and its Aftermath’, ‘Japan and the Pacific’ and ‘Versailles’.

• We also intend to publish small pieces in newspapers around significant dates such as Anzac Day and Remembrance Day over the next few years.

Q and A