Australian Identity

Historically, Australians perceived themselves as British because they believed that they are a part of the British empire. Although Australia had a conflicted identity because of its British origins, it gradually developed its own sense of identity as a result of an increase in Australian born population. Rather than being colonized, Australians considered themselves to be colonizers as they regard Britain as their mother country. Australians believed they would be able to maintain their Austral-Briton identity by implementing a policy to prevent non-white immigrants from entering their country. Australia would replicate its national holidays, teachings, cultures, cricket and clothing in order to fit in with the English Monarchy. Increasingly,

Furthermore, Mark McKenna (2010) signifies that Australians assumed the English Monarchy as the height of racial identity. During this century, the white people were often seen as the superior race and colored people to be the inferior race. This belief and fear of the non-white immigrants led to the creation of The White Australia policy. In brief, the White Australia policy was implemented to allow favored migrants into Australia and to encourage a homogenous population similar to Britain. Keith Windchuttle (2005) asserts that Australians believed Asian immigrations would have a drastic effect on their wages as they assumed Asian immigrants would steal their jobs, in which would ultimately lower their housing, food and clothing affordability standards. In spite of this belief, Jatinder Mann (2013) affirms that welcoming migrants into our country would greatly benefit Australia as not only do their diligence towards their work plays a significant role in the development of Australian identity, but their contributions towards an Australian culture and way of life allows them to differentiate between them and Britain. This resulted in a new nationalism forming in Australia as becoming more open minded and accepting of Asian immigrants , allowed Australia to grow as a nation. Initially, Australia had a conflicted identity, but it became evident

However, a transition in time proved that the continuous growth of Australia as a nation was evident in the above arguments. Although change was not immediate, Australia steadily formed its national identity due to the contributions of many notable people such as war poets : Wilfred Owen , Siegfried Sassoon and the former prime minister of Australia, Andrew Fisher. Furthermore, change in the coat of arms, national holiday and symbolic intuitions such as the Commonwealth bank and the GPO reinforces the growth of Australia as a nation. Additionally, Asian immigration and cricket were both significant factors that shaped Australia’s identity. This is due to the fact that Asian immigration allowed Australia to understand that multiculturalism was a a key feature of differentiating itself from its British origins and cricket was a sport that enabled Australians to gain national pride as they could gain triumph from defeating the English in a test match. Therefore, the arguments give evidence that the English monarchy has not impeded Australia’s sense of identity, in fact there is reason to believe that it has aided Australia in understanding their differences in identity and developing distinct cultural characteristics that separates itself from other great