"Down Under" Comes Up

(See Two Preceding Pages)

To the U.S. Australia has always been a physical obscurity. The U.S. press usually writes Australia off as "down under"; the U.S. public likes to hear of "Aussies" capturing Italian divisions singlehanded. This was agreeable to both the U.S. and Australia--until last week. Last week the U.S. and Australia began to discover each other.*

The U.S. looked to Australia as a natural base for future operations, land, sea and air, against Imperial Japan. To Australia, the U.S. became the hope of its own national defense. Commenting on the Washington Agreement (see p. 10), Australia's Prime Minister John Curtin said: "American men and material now have been joined with the Australian strategic position. ..." Australia hoped to be used as a U.S. base, a dispersal center for troops and supplies, possibly the headquarters of the Pacific High Command.

Critical Commonwealth. When John Curtin became frank about relative Australian-British and Australian-U.S. relations a fortnight ago (TIME, Jan. 5), it took a long personal cable from Winston Churchill to placate him. It will take more than a cable to placate already independent-minded Australians if anything goes wrong with the defense of Singapore and other approaches to Australia. Australia feels now, more than ever, that her own lack of defense is partly due to her all-out effort to help Britain. Last week she watched the appointment of Sir Archibald Percival Wavell as Allied Commander in Chief for the Pacific (see p. 17) with mixed thoughts. She may tolerate British command only if Britain and the U.S. spare her enough material fully to equip her home armies; or if Britain decides to appoint General Sir Thomas Albert Blarney or some other Australian officer to an important command (see p. 27).

The Australian. It is possible for Australian-American cooperation to be the strongest link in the Pacific. Australians are more European-minded than Americans, but are impatient of any outside interference in their country. Pictured as tall and stringy by most outsiders, the average Australian is of medium height and stockily built. Hard-working within working hours, he has learned the value of intense relaxations. His hard union fights have won him time to indulge in strenuous sports before and after work. His chief exercise comes from physical culture or swimming, his chief amusement from football, racing, cricket.

As a drinker he prefers beer, but gets his drinking done before 6 p.m., when pubs close in most States. Actually, tea is the national drink because women seldom drink anything stronger than light Australian wines, which are sweet and thick.

Australia is sometimes called the suburbs of the world by disgruntled Diggers. City dwellers live in sprawling suburban-type homes. Some Americans consider Dame Nellie Melba and Harry Bridges the only great Australian contributions to civilization. Because there has been no intense historical development in recent years, Australians have not yet given birth to the broad natural talents they possess. They may reveal themselves after the present national threat has run its course.

Commonwealth at War. Australia has done a pretty fast job of adapting her industries to her war needs. Basically a pastoral country, producing more than one-quarter of the world's wool, Australia had to switch quickly to heavy industry when war broke out. Already possessing the largest single plant dealing with alloys of steel in the world, the Commonwealth in two years stepped up steel production from 1,200,000 tons to 1,700,000 tons (U.S. production in 1940: 67,000,000 tons).

Three years ago there was little munitions manufacturing; today there are 56,000 Australian men & women working in war factories. Machine tools, cruiser tanks, Bren guns, Australia's own Owen gun, Beaufighter airplanes are in fast production.

But all this is not enough. What Australia needs more than potentials is the ready-made stuff. She could do with the two Spitfire squadrons, with the Wellington and Hampden bomber squadrons, all Australian manned, that are squatting in England. She could do more with the fleets of bombers and fighters, the heavy equipment, the light and medium tanks, trucks, and millions of tons of fuel which America could supply.

In exchange for this material, Australia would pay off America and herself by keeping the Japanese out of her southwest corner of the Pacific. In the making also would be the best shock troops, proved already, that the Pacific Allies can produce.

*The U.S. was primed for this by Australian Minister Richard G. Casey, who has been doing a good job of explaining Australia to U.S. groups.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.