Unsettling News: Settler Colonialism, War and Empire in the Australian and British Press (1863-1902)

UNSETTLING NEWS: SETTLER COLONIALISM, WAR AND EMPIRE IN THE AUSTRALIAN AND BRITISH PRESS (1863-1902) Sam Hutchinson 20901799 Master of Journalism (University of Queensland, 2009) Bachelor of Communication Studies (University of Waikato, 2003) Presented in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Western Australia School of Humanities English & Cultural Studies/History 2014 ii ABSTRACT This thesis analyses Australian and British newspaper commentary on Australian participation in three conflicts on the fringes of the British Empire during the latter part of the nineteenth century. These conflicts, the Waikato War (1863-64), the Sudan crisis (1885) and the South African War (1899-1902), offer insights into the narratives of British imperialism and Australian settler colonialism at these times. More specifically, the newspaper coverage of each conflict provides a window into the discourses that supported settler colonial and imperial processes, and of the anxieties that unsettled them. Previous scholarship has rarely examined these conflicts in combination or paid close attention to the language in which they were reported in the press. For this thesis the turn toward a discursive critique of colonial print culture has been influential. More recently, the emphasis on the dynamics governing the global circulation of newspaper commentary has proven a fruitful complement to textual analysis. To add to this growing body of knowledge, this study also draws upon recent theoretical consideration of settler colonialism as a discrete modality of the imperial project. Finally, concentrating on the rhetoric of press debates has led to a focus on its affective character, or how sentimental language worked to address readers through a continual process of identifying with British imperial and settler Australian communities and narratives. The chapters are, moreover, structured as a dialogue between Australian and British press accounts. It is my suggestion that Australian discussion of these events was largely undertaken, explicitly or implicitly, with reference to both real and imagined British observers. In turn, in much of the British response, the white colonies came to occupy an increasingly prominent position in the imperial imagination. Exactly how this relationship was manifested in print, however, was rarely stable and was persistently debated. It is the movement and continuity of these connections over time that forms the focus of this doctoral thesis. The first, introductory, chapter outlines the approach and conceptual precepts used in this study. In particular, it discusses the function of the newspaper as a site of textual contest in the nineteenth century. Chapter Two addresses the historical context of the three conflicts and how they were reported and debated in Australia and Britain. This chapter proposes links between social, historical and racial apprehensions inherent in the colonial enterprise, and in particular its settler iii colonial variant. Each of the remaining chapters undertakes to substantiate these claims, drawing on the archive of late-nineteenth-century newspapers. Chapters Three, Four and Five give the Australian view, with Chapter Six offering the British “reply.” Thus, Chapter Three examines the fretful debates over settler colonialism during the Waikato War. Chapter Four focuses on the tensions in claiming national and imperial unity in response to the Sudan crisis of 1885. Chapter Five demonstrates the gendered, racial and historical contradictions of Australian accounts of their contribution to the South African War. Chapter Six traces, in turn, the British response to Australian participation in each preceding episode and the changing imperial role the white colonies assumed in these accounts throughout the century. Finally, I conclude by pointing to some contemporary implications of this study and offer suggestions for further research. iv DECLARATION This thesis contains only sole-authored work, some of which has been published and/or prepared for publication under sole authorship. The bibliographical details of the work and where it appears in the thesis are outlined below. Parts of Chapter Three have been published in: Hutchinson, Sam. "Humanitarian Critique and the Settler Fantasy: The Australian Press and Settler Colonial Consciousness during the Waikato War, 1863-64." Settler Colonial Studies 4, no. 1 (2014): 48-63. Student Signature ................................................................................................................ v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I first wish to thank Tony Hughes-d’Aeth for his patient direction from the inception of this thesis to its completion. Over the last three and a half years I have unfailingly received guidance from Tony that was as encouraging as it was perceptive. I could not have asked for a better supervisor and I hope I have repaid his efforts. Gareth Griffiths, too, provided generous readings of the thesis from initial chapter fragments to full drafts. Gareth’s erudition is rightly renowned but it was his consistent enthusiasm for my work that was particularly important. I thank Jeremy Martens for keenly reading several chapters and for his warm encouragement and advice. Golnar Nabizadeh also went beyond the call of friendship to read several chapters and make her usual astute comments. It is difficult to imagine enduring the last few years without the friendship of many other colleagues at UWA. I cannot acknowledge them all here but I must mention, in no particular order, Matt Crowe, Marco Ceccarelli, Jo Hawkins, Ant Gray, Beth Gralton, Bénédicte André, and Rajesh Krishnamuti. UWA has been a brilliant place to study and I want to acknowledge the School of Humanities for the travel grant and conference funding I received to assist with my research. The Graduate Research School Office also provided a much-needed Travel Grant in addition to the Australian Postgraduate Award. I can only hope that future humanities students are as lucky to receive these essential financial provisions as I have been. For their limitless generosity in many ways I am deeply indebted to Greg and Melody Jenkins. I also thank my parents John and Lyn Hutchinson for all they have given me, especially their confidence and support. Above all, I offer my endless gratitude to Tegan for her unconditional love and for never accepting my many excuses for not beginning, or continuing, this research. I also owe her thanks for persuading me to take on our other major project, Hunter—the most delightful distraction possible. The following, as with most everything else, is for them. vii viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... III DECLARATION ................................................................................................... V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... VII CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ...................................................... 1 WAR AND PRINT ................................................................................................ 4 READING THE VICTORIAN PRESS ....................................................................... 10 THE SOCIAL FANTASY........................................................................................ 17 OVERVIEW ....................................................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 2 - SYMPTOMS OF EMPIRE ....................................... 26 IN THE COLONIES ............................................................................................. 26 IN BRITAIN ...................................................................................................... 37 CHAPTER 3 - “THE COMMON INTEREST OF THE SOUTHERN WORLD”: THE WAIKATO WAR, 1863-64 ................................... 44 "THE QUESTION AT ISSUE IS ONE OF MORE THAN LOCAL INTEREST" ..................... 49 "THEIR DELICATE PHILANTHROPIC SENSIBILITIES" ............................................ 58 "OUR ENGLISH READERS" ................................................................................ 66 THE SETTLER THING ....................................................................................... 72 "TRAVERSING THE SEAS OF NEWSPAPERS" ......................................................... 76 CHAPTER 4 - “CLOSER TO OUR MOTHER'S SIDE AS CLEARER IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD": THE SUDAN CRISIS, 1885 ........ 79 "THE ANXIOUSNESS WHICH YOUNG COMMUNITIES ARE APT TO FEEL ABOUT THEIR POSITION" .......................................................................................................82 "THE UNITY OF NATIONAL FEELING AT BOTH ENDS OF THE EARTH" ..................... 88 "MEN FULLY EQUAL TO THE ARABS" ................................................................... 92 "TO 'ADVERTISE' THESE COLONIES" ................................................................. 101 "WHO ARE THE PATRIOTS?" ............................................................................ 106 "TAKE ME, CONQUER ME IF NECESSARY" ........................................................... 113 CHAPTER 5 - “'AUSTRALIA' IN ENGLISH EARS JUST NOW HAS A MAGIC SOUND": THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR, 1899-1902 .... 116 "TO TRY AGAIN" ............................................................................................. 121 "THE MOTHER NATION'S GIFT" ......................................................................

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