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The Forum > Article Comments > A great British legacy: how will it play out today? > Comments

A great British legacy: how will it play out today? : Comments

By Chris Lewis, published 11/6/2012

When you look at the British legacy it is not hard to understand why Britain has more ticker than most.

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David G wrote: "The worst legacy that Britain left us with is the idea that we must be subservient to another nation. First it was Britain, then, after the British Empire went 'poof', we moved our subservience to America..."

This is unfair. If Australia was 'subservient' to Britain, it was a voluntary, mutually beneficial form of subservience to the "mother country." Australia was a settler outpost of Britain, a "British community in the South Seas" as Prime Minister John Curtin once put it, so it's only natural the country remained under Britain's political, cultural and economic influence into the post-Federation era. It was not as if Britain coerced or forcibly held Australia under its rule. Rather, it was a mutually beneficial arrangement: Australia provided the natural resources, while Britain provided the people, capital, institutions, security and export markets.
Posted by drab, Friday, 22 June 2012 11:53:09 PM
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drab,

I generally agree with your comments in regard to 'subservience' being our idea. However the British didn't honour their side of the contract, they didn't provide security when Australia was in danger, and after the 1970s, the UK export markets disappeared. So David G has a point, "Great and Powerful Friends" can be treacherous.
Posted by mac, Saturday, 23 June 2012 10:01:06 AM
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