Australian aid to Finland and the winter war

Abstract

When declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939 the federal parliament of Australia was sitting in Canberra. The Australian prime minister, Robert Menzies, without consulting parliament, immediately broadcast on national radio Britain is at war, therefore Australia is at war. To Menzies, there was one king, one flag and one cause and so the Australian people saw it. In the crucial early days of the war Australian foreign policy was directed from the Australian high commission in London, where the commonwealth high commissioners were an essential part of the British policy making machine. All the dominions had high commissioners in London. Their meetings began informally during the period of sanctions against Italy, assumed definite shape and greater importance during the Munich crisis, and by the time the winter war broke out the high commissioners were meeting often more than once a day with the secretary of state for dominion affairs in a consultation among equals which reflected the strength of the dominion's military forces.1 Australia's high commissioner was S. M. Bruce, prime minister of Australia and minister for external affairs 1923-1929, who had been high commissioner since 1933. A polished Anglophile, confidante of Sir Alexander Cadogan (permanent under secretary at the foreign office, 1938-1946) Bruce reported to Sir Henry Gullett, Australia's minister for external affairs from 26 April 1939. But because Bruce was such a distinguished incumbent of Australia House, London, Gullett made little contribution to policy making within the external affairs department. The Euro-centered concepts of Australian foreign policy were further developed because of the way in which the contribution of the commonwealth was crucial to the British war effort. The strategic importance of the commonwealth resulted in heavy weight being given to the counsels of the commonwealth's elder statesmen: Bruce, General Jan C. Smuts (South African prime minister and minister for external affairs and defense, 1939-1948), Sir Earl