Ideological Origins of the Australian Antarctic, 1839-1933
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Ideological Origins of the Australian Antarctic, 1839-1933 Rohan Howitt Department of History University of Sydney A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2019 Declaration of Originality This is to certify that to the best of my knowledge the content of this thesis is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or other purposes. I certify that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work and that all the assistance received in preparing this thesis and sources have been acknowledged. Rohan Howitt 17/09/2018 Authorship Attribution Statement This thesis contains material published in Rohan Howitt, ‘The Japanese Antarctic Expedition and the Idea of White Australia’, Australian Historical Studies 49, no. 4 (2018), 510-526. The research for this article was undertaken as part of the research for this thesis. I am the sole author of the article. Rohan Howitt 17/09/2018 As supervisor for the candidature upon which this thesis is based, I can confirm that the authorship attribution statements above are correct. Andrew Fitzmaurice 17/09/2018 Acknowledgements I was fortunate to complete my thesis in a vibrant, active, and supportive scholarly community in the History Department at the University of Sydney. I owe a tremendous intellectual debt to my supervisor, Andrew Fitzmaurice, and to my associate supervisor, Chris Hilliard. I have also received invaluable feedback and advice at various points from Peter Hobbins, Miranda Johnson, Sophie Loy-Wilson, and Mark McKenna. The research for this thesis was made possible by funding from an Australian Postgraduate Award, University of Sydney Merit Award, John Frazer Travelling Scholarship, Joan Allsopp Travel Bursary, Australasian Pioneers Club Travel Bursary, and the University of Sydney’s Postgraduate Research Support Scheme and Doctoral Research Travel Grant. A term spent as a visiting student in the History Faculty at the University of Cambridge was formative for my research. I am greatly indebted to the History Faculty at Cambridge, and particularly to my supervisor there, Alison Bashford. I spent much of my time in Cambridge at the Scott Polar Research Institute, and I am greatly indebted to Naomi Bonham, Klaus Dodds, Laura Ibbett, Bryan Lyntott, John Shears, and Hilary Shibata for their assistance during my time there. I am extremely grateful to the staff of the State Library of Victoria, particularly Lucy Shedden and Andrew McConville, the State Libraries of New South Wales and Tasmania, the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, the National Archives of Australia in Canberra, Sydney, and Melbourne the Australian Museum, particularly Stan Florek, Sydney University Museums, particularly Jan Brazier, the University of Sydney Archives, the University of Melbourne Archives, the Woollahra Local History Centre, the Scott Polar Research Institute Archives, the Caird Library and Archives at the Royal Maritime Museum in Greenwich, the Royal Society Archives, the Royal Geographical Society Archives, and The National Archives of the United Kingdom. Sections of this thesis have been presented at the University of New South Wales History Seminar, the Sydney Australian and Pacific History Writing Group, the University of Sydney’s Intellectual History Seminar, the 2018 Australian Historical Association Conference, the Humanities and Social Sciences Expert Group of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s conference in 2017, and the University of Sydney History Postgraduate Conference in 2016 and 2017. I am deeply grateful for the comments and feedback I received at these seminars and conferences. Abstract This thesis examines Australian ideas about the Antarctic in the nineteenth and early- twentieth centuries. It seeks to go beyond the dominant diplomatic, geopolitical, legal, and scientific lenses through which Australian engagement with the Antarctic region has been viewed by tracing the genealogy of Australian ideas about the Antarctic. It focuses particularly on the development of the ideas that Australia had a unique interest in the Antarctic based on geographical proximity, that the Antarctic was destined to become an Australian possession, and that it would eventually become a source of enormous wealth for Australia and Australians. These ideas are used to reconstruct late-nineteenth and early- twentieth century visions of an Australian empire stretching “from the equator to the South Pole”, a vision that was substantially fulfilled by the 1930s. The thesis argues that these ideas and visions highlight the significance of expansionism in nineteenth and early-twentieth century Australian thought and suggests that this expansionism can usefully be understood as a form of imperialism. It further argues that analysing Australian engagement with the Antarctic within the framework of empire and imperialism provides a valuable insight into the broader phenomenon of expansion by small, newly-formed, states in this period and into the interrelationship between processes of state formation and imperial expansion. Table of Contents Declaration of Originality Authorship Attribution Statement Acknowledgements ……………………………………………….…………..….…………. i Abstract ……………………………………………..……………….……………………… ii Table of Contents …………………………………………….……………….……………. iii List of Abbreviations ………………...…………………………………………….……….. iv Map of the Antarctic Region ………………………………………………………………. vii Introduction ……… …………………………………..………………………… …….…… 1 Chapter 1: Early Antarctic Exploration and the Australian Colonies, 1839-41 ......….…….. 12 Chapter 2: The Idea of Antarctica in Australian Discourse, c. 1841-85 ……………….…... 40 Chapter 3:Antarctic Exploration and the Australian Monroe Doctrine, 1886-90 ………..… 63 Chapter 4: Antarctica and Australian State Formation, 1890-1901 ………………………. 111 Chapter 5: The Recognition of Australian Interests in the Antarctic, 1901-09 ………...…. 167 Chapter 6: Australia and the Race for the South Pole, 1910-13 ………………….………. 216 Chapter 7: Rights and Responsibilities in the Antarctic, 1910-17 ……………...……….... 244 Chapter 8: The Idea of Australian Sovereignty in Antarctica, 1918-33 …..…………….… 283 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………… 324 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………….…………… 339 iii List of Abbreviations Expeditions: United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-42 – USEE National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-04 – NAE Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902-04 – SNAE Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-14 – AAE Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914-17 – ITAE British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition, 1929-31 – BANZARE Organisations: Australian Natives’ Association – ANA Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science – AAAS Royal Geographical Society – RGS Places: Australian Antarctic Territory – AAT Archives: Caird Library and Archive, Royal Maritime Museum Greenwich – RMMG National Archives of Australia – NAA Royal Geographical Society Archives – RGS Royal Historical Society of Victoria – RHSV Royal Society Archives – RSA Scott Polar Research Institute Archives – SPRI State Library of Tasmania – SLT State Library of Victoria – SLV The National Archives of the United Kingdom – TNA University of Sydney Archives – USA Newspapers: New South Wales: Australasian Chronicle - AC Australian Star – AS Australian Town and Country Journal - ATCJ Blue Mountain Echo – BME Daily Telegraph – DT Evening News – EN Freeman’s Journal – FJ Goulburn Herald - GH Newcastle Morning Herald – NMH Queanbeyan Age – QA Sunday Times – ST Sydney Gazette - SG Sydney Herald - SH Sydney Mail – SM Sydney Morning Herald – SMH Queensland: Brisbane Courier – BC South Australia: Adelaide Observer – AO Evening Journal – EJ South Australian Advertiser – SAA v South Australian Chronicle - SAC South Australian Register – SAR Van Diemen’s Land/Tasmania Colonial Times – CT Cornwall Chronicle – CC (Launceston) Daily Telegraph – LDT Hobart Town Courier – HTC Launceston Advertiser – LA Launceston Examiner – LE Tasmanian News – TN True Colonist – TC Victoria: Ballarat Star – BS Bendigo Advertiser – BA Geelong Advertiser – GA Mount Alexander Mail – MAM WeeKly Times – WT Western Australia: Daily News – DN West Australian – WA Western Mail – WM vi Map of the Antarctic Region1 150°E 180° 150°W A L I A T R Chatham Is S U The Snares Bounty Is A Auckland Is Antipodes Is S ° 0 Campbell I 4 120°E Macquarie I 120°W °S 0 6 °S 0 8 90°E A N T A R C T I C A 90°W Heard I and McDonald Is A R G Kerguelen Is E N T Falkland Is I N Crozet Is A South Georgia 60°E Marion I and South Sandwich Is 60°W Prince Edward I Bouvet I Gough I 30°E 0° 30°W 1 Map 13991: Subantarctic Islands, Australian Antarctic Data Centre (2011), Copyright Commonwealth of Australia, reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution licence. vii Introduction This thesis is a study of Australian ideas about the Antarctic. It is an attempt to go beyond the dominant diplomatic, geopolitical, legal, and scientific lenses through which Australian engagement with the Antarctic region has been viewed by tracing the genealogy of Australian ideas about the Antarctic. It focuses particularly on the development of three broad ideas; that Australia had a unique interest in the Antarctic based on geographical proximity and historical links to Antarctic exploration, that the Antarctic held the promise of being a “golden El Dorado down South” ripe for economic exploitation by Australians, and that the ‘Australian Antarctic’ was destined to become an Australian possession.1 These ideas are