What factors contributed to the growing Australian national identity by 1901? • Gold • political activism • Nationalism By 1901, Australia had grown as a population as gold had been discovered and migrants moved to Australia to mine this mineral, as well as political activism and women’s suffrage and everyone standing up and fighting off the British and raising the Southern Cross flag. With the gold discovered, people migrated from all over the word to come mine in Ballarat and Bathurst.
These miners would receive large sums of money for the gold they would mine out. The discovery of gold in the early 1850’s contributed to the growing Australian National Identity as it led to people migrating to Australia and led to wealth for miners and identity and belonging. The money gained through mining for migrants they usually sent back to their families they left in their home countries. Historians believe that “many gold immigrants who arrived in the 1850s actually slowed down the development of national unity”(2).
This turned Melbourne into the” second biggest city in the British Empire after London and larger than many European capitals of the time. ”(3)Some people where making lots of money off of the gold they were making and some people were living in these mines and dying because of the poor living condition. The bushmen represented the Australian identity as this was what we were in the times of the gold rush. These bushmen represent the Australian national identity as this is our background and who we as Australian’s were represented by in the 19th century.
The Essay on Australian Identity
Identity is a debate that many Australians are still arguing today. After all these years of living in Australia, the identity of the country is still something that cannot be agreed upon. Though many seem to have their own idea of what an Australian is, there is no clear cut view of this thus the conclusion that an Australian is a myth can be formulated. Thus, many people of Australia feel as if ...
Although everybody was living happily and in harmony, the women’s suffrage was occurring and women didn’t have the right o vote which lead to political activism. The growing political activism of the late 1800’s lead to the Eureka stockade’s occurrence. This was caused by a rebellion by the Victorian government to the British Empire. In this period of time there was no taxation without representation and bad working conditions. “ Living conditions were hard for everyone on the goldfields….. Water and fresh food was scarce and sanitation was poor”(1).
This led to manhood suffrage but people mostly affected by this were women as they had women’s suffrage which gave them unequal rights to men and were not allowed to vote so a movement was started to give women the right to vote. Unionism was another factor in activism as it was a “working man’s paradise” where it was only an 8 hour working day which was rejoiced by most. Unfortunately in this era, racism had a major impact on Australia and Nationalism as aboriginals were mistreated by white Australians under the White Australia policy.
The positive of Nationalism was the growing Australian awareness but other than that was mostly racism. Growing Australian Awareness was basically pride in being Australian. Unfortunately Aboriginals were being mistreated and were made slaves and were made to feel like they were beneath the white Australians. They had no right for voting and were not allowed to have rights. The white Australia rule means that everybody that wasn’t Australian wasn’t allowed equal rights as the whiter Australians
By 1901, Australian federation was present. Several factors had influenced Australia’s National Identity including the gold rush which brought wealth and migrants to Australia, Nationalism as people were beginning to be accepted and come together as a nation and political activism for Australians coming together and standing up as a Nation. BIBLIOGRAPHY: -G. Carrodus, T. Delany, B. Howitt, R. Smith, T. Taylor, C. young (2012) Oxford Big Ideas Australian curriculum history 9. Oxford University Press, South Melbourne
The Essay on White Nation Nationalism Japanese People
Nationalism Nationalism means devotion to one's nation. To some or most nationalistic people, this means that national interests, security, etc. are more important than international considerations. It involves the process of making a nation or nation-state into a definable country. But the concept of nationalism differs in different cultures.I will mention some of the controversial concepts of ...
