The dark shadow of white Australia: Racial anxieties in Australia in World War II

Abstract

Abstract Although World War II was perceived as a race war, historical attention has almost exclusively been focused upon the Axis powers’ racial conceptualizations. Little scholarly research has been directed towards investigating the Allies’ internal racial attitudes and policies. Building upon long‐standing formulations that emerged from the process of colonial conquest, the rhetoric of racism in Australia was recast and expanded in order to address the unprecedented crisis of the war in the Pacific. Aboriginal people were thus portrayed as potential collaborators who would aid the invading Japanese; enemy aliens, most particularly the Italians, the Japanese and the Germans become sinister fifth columnists. Lastly, the introduction of large numbers of black GIs among the American forces challenged notions of racial and sexual purity. Australians were ultimately fighting to preserve a white British‐derived nation. The ‘race war’ on the Pacific frontline intensified racial awareness and allowed hysterica...