The Genesis of a Policy: Defining and Defending Australia's National Interest in the Asia-Pacific, 1921-57

Australia finds itself in a unique strategic position. Founded as a white settler outpost, the nation’s identity, trade and security all flowed from the imperial connection well into the middle of the twentieth century. This connection accordingly shaped most of the frameworks through which Australia interacted with the rest of the world. This early experience of dependence naturalised a policy tradition of strategic alliance with the Anglosphere, depending on relationships with ‘great and powerful friends’ for the protection of the national interest.