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Learning Intention: To understand how and why Australia's relationship with Britain and the USA changed during World War II and its aftermath.
Success Criteria:
Interpret sources and empathise with the demands of different leaders
Summarise the change in relationship through a cloze passage.
Important Note: In short of time, please use the following resources for this topic to cover this syllabus topic.
★ Australia entered World War II in 1939 against Germany and soon afterwards, Italy. The war was in Africa and Europe, a long way from Australia – and we sent the majority of our experienced soldiers there throughout 1939 and 1940.
★ The USA and Japan were not involved in World War II originally. It wasn’t until 7 December 1941 that the Japanese attacked the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour. This action brought Japan and the USA into the war.
★ On the same day that Pearl Harbor was attacked, the Japanese invaded South-East Asia and quickly took control of Indochina and the Malayan peninsula. As the Japanese forces quickly moved south, a number of Australian forces were redirected from Africa to Australia, via the British military base of Singapore. On 15 February 1942 the Japanese captured Singapore and thousands of British and Australian troops. These allied troops had been quickly assembled and assigned to stop the southward movement of the Japanese to their goal of Indonesia with its oil wells, however the Japanese took Singapore in just 10 days.
★ The fall of Singapore caused a drop in the Australian public’s wartime morale and this was made worse when the Japanese bombed Darwin on 19 February 1942.
★ Many Australians thought that the Japanese intended to invade Australia and at that time Australia was relatively unprotected. Most of our troops were either in Africa, Europe or in Japanese prisoner camps – and Britain, struggling itself to survive against Nazi Germany, had no back-up plan for South-East Asia once it’s fortress city of Singapore fell.
★ Australian Prime Minister John Curtin had to decide whether to keep our trust in Britain or to appeal to President Roosevelt of the United States for military assistance.
Activity 1 - Empathy: Step into their shoes (your teacher will print a copy of the activity for you)
Read the following passage below about the cartoon and then match the people in the cartoon to the listed ideas.
Here is a cartoon which shows three people around a conference table, arguing over what to do with Australian soldiers in 1942. Many of our soldiers were in North Africa and Europe fighting the Germans when the Japanese entered the war, attacked New Guinea and bombed Darwin. The Japanese were getting closer and closer to Australia, and it looked like they were about to invade us.
In the cartoon, the man in the hat on the left is Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain. The man in the middle is General McArthur, the leader of the American military in the Pacific area (including New Guinea). The third man is John Curtin, the Australian Prime Minister. You need to work out what each man wanted to do with the Australian soldiers.
Match the following 6 points of view with the correct leader. (2 per person) (your teacher will print a copy of the activity for you)
Winston Churchill
General McArthur
John Curtin
Changing Relations - Step into their shoes.pdfChanging relations after war.pdfActivity 2 - Cloze Passage: Changing Relations
Using the handout, complete the close passage on the changing relation of Australia with Britain and the U.S.A. (your teacher will print a copy of the activity for you)
Activity 3 - Changing relationship with the U.S.A
Australia's relationship shifted dramatically after World War II with the US. Whilst Australia remained a Commonwealth to Britain its allegiance shifted in the late 20th Century. Watch the following clip to understand how this has changed overtime.
Answer the following questions:
Explain how Australia's relationship changed post World War II, refer to examples.
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