Germany in the Melbourne Punch, 1855–1914: British Entanglement or Autonomous Developments?

Abstract

This article explores the representation of Germany and the Germans in the pages of the Melbourne Punch (1855–1925). Grounding its imagery in contemporary racial stereotyping of Germans, Melbourne Punch commented in muted terms on German immigration and the events of 1870–71 but reacted with alarm at the sudden arrival of the Kaiserreich as an expanding imperial power in the Asia-Pacific in 1884–85. The consolidation of this presence in the 1890s, combined with the simultaneous threat posed to Australia’s security via Germany’s challenge to the Royal Navy, raised antagonism to extremes (more so than in comparable British publications like the London Punch). The fear of Prussian military culture threatening Australia’s liberal-British society was expressed palpably in ordinary weekly numbers, as well as in dedicated special issues of 1898 and 1909, which featured Germanophobic invasion stories, anticipating – but never approaching – the hatred towards the ‘Hun’ during the Great War.