ANU School of History Seminar Series - 'Anywhere we may lend a helping hand'

Seminar Room A, Coombs Building
 

‘Anywhere we may lend a helping hand’: Australian diplomats and Indonesian revolutionaries, 1945-1949


David Fettling, School of History, ANU
 

The Indonesian Revolution against Dutch colonial rule was met by the Australian Government with sympathy and support. Anti-Dutch sentiment, a realist calculation to ‘back the winner’, and a generally reactive approach to the conflict have previously been emphasised to explain Australia’s position.

This seminar examines three Australian officials, William Macmahon Ball, Richard Kirby and Tom Critchley, who were sent by the Chifley Government to revolutionary Java. It focuses on their personal relationships with the Indonesian revolutionary leadership of Sutan Syahrir, Amir Syarifuddin, Mohammed Hatta, and President Sukarno.

Through this snapshot, this seminar argues that along with anti-Dutch sentiment, there was a profound Australian attraction to the Indonesian nationalist leadership and sympathy with their cause. And it argues that more than realism, the Australian attitude to revolutionary Indonesia was shaped by idealism and ideology: it was an extrapolation of the principles of Australian labor, and a reflection of the intellectual world of post-war reconstruction Australia.

ALL WELCOME

Please direct enquiries to Gregory.Barton@anu.edu.au

Date & time

Wed 31 Aug 2011, 4.15–5.30pm

School/Centre

School of History

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