Introduction

Abstract

On the eve of Pearl Harbor Britain was the leading power of the southwest Pacific. The Netherlands East Indies (NEI), Portuguese Timor and L’Oceanie française were local symbols of rival colonialisms. But the British were dominant through their control of key island groups and strong cultural, economic and military links with Australia and New Zealand, countries that took their place in the world as self-governing dominions of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Anglo-Dominion relations were thrown into turmoil by Japan’s military onslaught in the Pacific and South-East Asia. Already fully extended in Europe and North Africa, the British failed to defend their eastern empire effectively. As a result, Australia and New Zealand turned to the United States for protection against the Japanese. The development was summed up by John Curtin, the Australian Prime Minister, who wrote frankly in the Melbourne Herald on 27 December 1941: ‘Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links with the United Kingdom.’¹