Anti-Communism in Australian Immigration Policies 1947–54: The Case of Russian/Soviet Displaced Persons from Europe and White Russians from China

This article assesses the role of anti-Communism in Australia’s postwar immigration policy in the years before the Petrov affair, with particular reference to the entry of Russians and Russian-speaking Jews from Europe and China. Our discussion focuses on the Department of Immigration under Arthur Calwell and his successor, Harold Holt, and the security agency, ASIO. We conclude that policy in this sphere was essentially bipartisan, and that anti-Communism was an important but not overwhelming motivation, stronger than the desire to prevent entry of Nazis and war criminals but probably less salient in practice than concern to minimise the entry of Jews.     

From limestone caves to concrete graves: 3000 years of mortuary practice in the Palauan archipelago,Micronesia

Human skeletal remains have been discovered from a variety of contexts in the Palauan archipelago of western Micronesia. These include caves, rockshelters, earthen mounds, stone platforms, midden burials, crypts, sarcophagi, and historic period gravesites. Recent excavation of a prehistoric cemetery in a rockshelter on Orrak Island dating from ca 1000 BC–AD 200, combined with nearly contemporaneous surface finds in caves on both Orrak and other nearby islands, shed light on the earliest known burial practices in Palau. Interment in limestone caves and rockshelters was then replaced in succession by burial in earthwork terraces, beneath stone platforms, in middens, within limestone slab crypts and at least one known stone sarcophagus, and finally in Western or Asian‐style gravesites with headstones. Here we present the first major synthesis of mortuary patterns in Palau from the earliest periods of known settlement (ca. 1000 BC) to modern times. Understanding how these burial practices change over time provides valuable insight into changing sociocultural practices within Palauan society, including how contact with outsiders during the historical period drastically altered traditional mortuary behaviours. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the Relative Isolation of a Micronesian Archipelago during the Historic Period: the Palau Case-Study

Contact between Europeans and Pacific Islanders beginning in the early 1500s was both accidental and intentional. Many factors played a role in determining when contacts occurred, but some islands remained virtually isolated from European influence for decades or even centuries. We use Palau as a case-study for examining why this archipelago was free from direct European contact until 1783, despite repeated attempts by the Spanish to reach it from both the Philippines and Guam. As computer simulations and historical records indicate, seasonally-unfavourable winds and currents account for the Spanish difficulty. This inadvertently spared Palauans from early Spanish missionaries, disease, and rapid cultural change.
© 2007 The Authors     

A Fall from Grace? National Unity and the Search for Naval Power and Colonial Possessions 1848--1884

Traditionally, German naval and colonial agitation has beendiscussed as a late nineteenth-century development that signaledthe cooption of many German liberals to a conservative policyof imperialism. This has been posited by many historians asantithetical to the true nature and objectives of politicalliberalism. Those few commentators that have noted the navaland colonial agitation of liberals during the early and mid-nineteenthcentury have argued that there was a period in which these imperialistpressures were subdued, when their end was heralded by the failureof the nationalist movements of 1848/49 to consolidate theirnation-building project. Through an investigation of the FrankfurtNational Assembly and the National Association of the 1860sit becomes apparent, however, that German liberal imperialismdid not represent the distasteful invention of a somehow corruptedliberalism of the 1880s, nor did it cease to be a leitmotivwithin liberal circles after 1849. Rather, German liberals,enamoured with the model of Britain as a global trading powerand concerned with the economic repercussions of undirectedemigration, had continuously argued for a German imperialistcapacity throughout the nineteenth century as an integral partof any attempt to build a trading nation that could competeinternationally.     

Kowtowing before the Kaiser? Sino-German Relations in the Aftermath of the Boxer Uprising

While most discussions of Germany's response to the Boxer Rebellion have focused on the Kaiser's infamous ‘Hun Speech’, few have scrutinised the attitude of the Kaiser and the institutions of the German state towards the Chinese after the war. This article demonstrates that Sino-German relations after the Boxer War were mishandled by Berlin, particularly the Kaiser. Despite having insisted on a public apology from the Chinese emperor for the Boxers' anti-European violence, the subsequent Chinese royal mission to Berlin saw the Germans lectured by the visiting Chinese on appropriate standards of civilised conduct before being offered a non-apology. Despite these very public snubs, the Chinese delegation were feted all over Germany and awarded imperial honours before returning home, having comprehensively won the peace. By looking more closely at the dynamics of this so-called ‘Atonement Mission’, this paper highlights how the Chinese Empire transformed a publicly staged act of abasement into an assertion of Chinese dignity and defiance that embarrassed the Kaiser in the eyes of Europe.