Anyone who criticises Menzies for "clinging to Britain as the colonial mother" should remember that as soon as he departed we had "All the way with LBJ" and the dramatic increase of our involvement in the disastrous Vietnam war at the behest of the USA, a syndrome which our country has yet to throw off

I saw in pig iron Bob, a bowler hat and brolly asynchronism, that plunged Australia into yet another European war. Another European war that spent young Australian lives. Yet we seemed to have exchanged one colonial master for another, with our all the way with LBJ or our more recent involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan?
When will we learn, or is the answer my friend, really blowing in the wind?
We live in south east Asia and increasingly rely on similarly disposed/alarmed Asian neighbours, for our security needs/alliances.
And as we approach the Asian century, we need to cement and ratify our relations with our Asian neighbours.
We would be far better served to actually achieve that as an entirely independent and largely self reliant, come of age, republic?
We could take a lesson from the book of history, and remain an Island of sanity, [or cash and carry trade,] even as/if the rest of the world goes mad?
We should choose to retain our, [paid for in blood,] current alliance with America, but only as an "adult ally" not afraid to disagree with any premise, that could see yet again, more young Australian lives and Australian treasure, spent/wasted, fighting someone else's wars? Rhrosty.

Cooke reveals the shortcomings of a journalist's take on an academic article ( which in this case is an elaboration on a previous article, "Tradition , Myth.....Australian Foreign Policy",A.J of I.A, Aug 2006.What Cooke doesn't seem to realise is that the "powerful orthodoxy" attacked by Jones and Benvenuti is something of a straw man for historians of the Cold War.Leslie

jeremy,

it was the Menzies government that first involved Australia in Vietnam, his fingerprints are all over that debacle.

Menzies supposed assessment of Asia might have been realistic for the time, however it will take more than this article to convince me he wasn't just another colonial sycophant. Wasn't it Menzies who involved a defenceless Australia in WW2 and allowed the British to test nuclear weapons in this country? The Australian public certainly didn't trust his government to prosecute the war.

Rhrosty,

Yes, agreed. We've exchanged one hegemonist for another, we never learn. Let's hope the Americans are a more reliable ally than the perfidious British.

Rhosty,

Do you really think we are all idiotic enough to accept your re-write and think that Japan was European and that we hadn't under Labour initiated throwing our lot in with the 'Septic's'.

And I think you will find Menzies in speeches prior to 1939 often refered to Australia's future being linked to our Asian North.

It was the Menzies Government and particularly R.G. Casey the External Affairs Minister of the time, following the inital efforts of Percy Spender (after the disaster of Evatt), who set our path firmly into Asia.

It was Menzies Government's that started dismantling the White Australia policy and Holt with the culmination being getting rid of the English Language test, his first act as PM.
Fraser as PM and Howard as Treasurer instigated our first official visits to and official trade treaties with Japan.

It was Bjelkie-Petersen who exploited those agreements most.

Our Asian neighbours estimation of us grew as a result of our involvements in the Vietnam war, the Malayan Emergency, The Korean Action and the clandestine war in Indonesia as well as our dismantling of the White Australia policy and the forging of economic, education and business ties. All these were supported by and undertaken by Menzies Governments and either ignored by or opposed by labour.

The Labor Party made a mess of our relationships in Asia. With their confusion in post war Indonesia. They horrfied our allies in the region (who were all anti-communist) with their falling over themselves to abandon the South Vietnamese, and their rushing to embrace Communist China. Their covert support for Indonesia's assault on Timor still carrys scars. Rudd and now Gillard are continuing the Labor traditions.

One does wonder how Asians and Australians can trust the Australian Labor Party to cement relations with Asia.

I have always had nothing but disgust for those people, who's only claim to fame is their ability & willingness to put down their betters. Those who get out a do things, deserve better than these armchair critics, who have never done anything but shine the ass of their pants.

That many of these are historians, snidely trying to add spin to suit their politics says much about academia.

These kids who have no idea of what our world was like during WW11, & for the next decade or 2 afterward have little to contribute, when all their information is hearsay at best.

These Johny come latelies would be amazed at the feeling of "Queen & Country" which prevailed in the services when I joined the navy in 1958. The wounds of the losses in Korea, & the Malayan emergency were still very fresh. Any one who does not realise that the threat from Stalinist/Mao type communism was very real, is just a fool, or a fellow traveler. Of course any fellow traveler was a fool, just some today are too far removed to realise it.