For Australia's Sake By Henry E. Boote

Primary source: The Australian Worker, October 26, 1916 “For Australia’s Sake”

On the 26th of October, 1916, The Australian Worker published a piece entitled “For Australia’s Sake”. The title of the paper itself is an indication of their intended target audience, the Australian Worker; its sub headline is “The Australian Paper for Australian Homes”. This gives the reader an indication of the political standing of the paper, it is clearly a Labor-oriented newspaper, and thus the document should be read as a piece of Labor party propaganda. Written by Henry E. Boote, a Labor propagandist, the document appears to be an article (arguably an advertisement) on the front page of the newspaper.

The document calls upon the people of Australia to protect the land the men are fighting for by voting no to Prime Minister Hughes’ referendum on the 26th of October, 1916. The referendum was significant as it proposed the introduction of conscription of

Boote argues that such an action would not help the men on the front, expressing his concern that it would instead ‘paralyse and pauperise’ the land that these men were sacrificing their lives for.

The document is clearly a piece of propaganda. It features emotive language, calling upon the patriotism of Australian people in order to prevent the referendum being a success. Phrases such as ‘Keep Australia White’ and ‘Do not vote to ruin the country’ make the author’s standing on the potential policy changes clear. Boote argues that the act of allowing conscription would ‘ruin the country’. He says that the removal of ‘16,000 men a month’ would be ‘disastrous’, and would result in the jobs of hundreds of thousands of white Australian men being lost. Boote is deeply concerned by the possibility of ‘colored labourers’ replacing white labourers if the people vote yes to Prime Minister W. M. Hughes’ policy of compulsory military participation. The document explores two dominant issues in Australian