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Voluntary Action and Identity in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, 1914-1918

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Voluntary Action and Identity in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, 1914-1918 Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 8-14-2015 12:00 AM Embattled Communities: Voluntary Action and Identity in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, 1914-1918 Steve Marti The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Francine McKenzie The University of Western Ontario Joint Supervisor Jonathan Vance The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in History A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Steve Marti 2015 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Cultural History Commons, Military History Commons, and the Social History Commons Recommended Citation Marti, Steve, "Embattled Communities: Voluntary Action and Identity in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, 1914-1918" (2015). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 3093. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/3093 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EMBATTLED COMMUNITIES: VOLUNTARY ACTION AND IDENTITY IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, AND NEW ZEALAND, 1914-1918 (Thesis format: Monograph) by Steve Marti Graduate Program in History A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Steve Marti, 2015 Abstract This dissertation examines voluntary mobilization during the First World War to understand why communities on the social and geographical periphery of the British Empire mobilized themselves so enthusiastically to support a distant war, fought for a distant empire. Lacking a strong state apparatus or a military-industrial complex, the governments of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand relied on voluntary contributions to sustain their war efforts. Community-based voluntary societies knitted socks, raised funds to purchase military equipment, and formed contingents of soldiers. By examining the selective mobilization of voluntary participation, this study will understand how different communities negotiated social and spatial boundaries as they attempted to project their communal identity through wartime patriotism. The process of voluntary mobilization allowed communities to organize their efforts in a manner that reflected and projected their collective identity. By deciding the scale and scope of voluntary efforts, controlling who was included or excluded in these efforts, advertising the community’s achievements, regulating who would benefit from these contributions, the organizers of voluntary patriotic work determined how these efforts would fit into the national and imperial war effort. The records and correspondence detailing the coordination of voluntary contributions reveal the terms by which communities defined themselves through their patriotic efforts. Yet the extent to which communities could project their identity through their voluntary contributions was mediated by dominion governments, which authorized and accepted voluntary efforts. State authorities determined which communities could mobilize independently, which should be mobilized into an existing effort, and which communities should be prevented from contributing to the war altogether. A comparative study of mobilization in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand will reveal how categories of space, ethnicity, and race factored both in the constructions and negotiations of communal identities, as well as the effacement of marginalized communities. ii Keywords First World War - 1914-1918, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, British Empire, social history, settler colonialism, war and society, identity, imagined communities, voluntary action, patriotic work, migration, ethnic relations, diaspora studies, Indigenous studies. iii Acknowledgments So much of this dissertation was shaped by the generous and thoughtful advice of my supervisors Francine McKenzie and Jonathan Vance, and my second reader Laurel Clark Shire. Their combined expertise and patient guidance provided the support and reassurance necessary to confidently follow this project in so many different directions, without getting lost. The strengths of this dissertation are the product of their mentorship. The extensive research trips necessary to research this dissertation would not have been possible with the support of my supervisors, the Department of History, the Ley and Lois Smith Fund for Military History, the Eleta Briton Graduate Scholarship in History, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the Historial de la Grande Guerre, the Australian Historical Association, the National Archives of Australia, and the Society of Graduate Students. This dissertation has benefitted from the help of so many friends and colleagues. Foremost are the members of the reading group who have read and re-read most of this dissertation: Danielle Demiantschuk, Alex Souchen, and Tyler Turek. Many others have generously taken the time to read shorter bits of writing: Bradon Dimmel, Ashley Gilbertson, Rachael Griffin, Meggie Hutchinson, Iain Johnston, Graeme Phillips, Johnathan Scotland, Elliot Worsfold, and Bart Ziino. I am also grateful to those who took some time to meet over a coffee or a meal to provide some helpful suggestions and encouragement (the aforementioned names could be mentioned again here): Kristine Alexander, Miriam Banahi, Eirik Brazier, Allison Cadzow, Mary Chaktsiris, Matthew Cunningham, Isabella and Eugenie Edquist, Alice Kelley, Jatinder Mann, Will Pratt, Jean-Philippe Miller-Trembley, Alexia Moncrieff, Shannon Murray, Katie Pickles, Mark Sheftall, Veysell Simsek, Robert Talbot, and Alex Young who, by a strange twist of fate, introduced me to Lorenzo Veraccini and, by extension, the field of settler colonial studies. iv The Department of History at Western has provided a rich environment for writing. In particular, I am indebted to Andrew Iarocci for sharing his extensive knowledge of First World War material culture and for extending so many opportunities to deliver a guest lecture in his class. Space and place would not have played such an important role as analytical categories in this dissertation without the influence of Rob MacDougall. I am eternally grateful to Bill Turkel for teaching me so much about digital research methods, as well as Nina Bozzo, Stacey Devlin, and Michael O’Hagan who formed the core of the digital history workshop that pushed me to sharpen and expand these skills. Beyond the Department of History, Felipe Quintenilla, Alicia Robinet, and Rasmus Simonsen were excellent collaborators on various interdisciplinary projects that expanded my intellectual horizons and provided the occasional distraction from my dissertation. I am grateful for friends and family who have kindly offered me a place to stay while researching: DJ Andersen, Tom and Alicja Fullwood, Voiteck and Kasia Gulajski, Pawel Herra and Silvana Lovera, James Hurst, Chris and Kelly Picard, Kris and Rosa Porlier, Fabio Lacentra, Doris and Gilbert Lachat, Philippa Scarlett, and of course Tom and Joanna Herra who have offered their support in so many ways. So much I owe to Agnes, who made the five years spent completing this dissertation the happiest of my life. v Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 ........................................................................................................................... 22 1 Volunteerism, Mobilization, and Identity .................................................................... 22 1.1 Patriotism and Pragmatism ................................................................................... 26 1.2 Family Ties and Communal Contributions ........................................................... 31 1.3 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 46 Chapter 2 ........................................................................................................................... 48 2 Space, Scale, and Patriotism ........................................................................................ 48 2.1 Canada................................................................................................................... 53 2.2 New Zealand ......................................................................................................... 65 2.3 Australia ................................................................................................................ 76 2.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 92 Chapter 3 ........................................................................................................................... 97 3 The Contribution of Others .........................................................................................
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