- Title
- An oily steppingstone : Australia’s strategic interest in Portuguese Timor, 1902-1941
- Creator
- Murphy-Avery, Kathryn
- Date
- 2023
- Type
- Text; Thesis; PhD
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/199923
- Identifier
- vital:19285
- Abstract
- Using a realist theoretical lens, this thesis historically examines Australia’s strategic interest in Portuguese Timor between 1902 and 1941. The islands of the Malay Archipelago and South Pacific assumed a binary role in Australia’s geopolitical imagination as though they were designed to either shield or menace Australia. One of these territories, Portuguese Timor, was regarded as the weakest, most vulnerable point in Australia’s northern surroundings. Centuries of Portuguese (mis)rule had left it largely undeveloped and, according to successive Australian governments, susceptible to foreign threats. Australians therefore regarded Portuguese Timor as a potential base for operations from which a future hostile enemy—first Germany, then Japan—might menace Australia. This thesis argues that Portuguese Timor was considered vital to Australian security throughout the timeframe studied. The Australian military intervention in Portuguese Timor on 17 December 1941 was therefore the result not only of short-term considerations arising from the slide to war in the Pacific, but also a culmination of longer-term factors contributing to four decades of anxiety about the colony as a source of threat to Australian national security. With greater awareness of Britain’s incapacity to sufficiently project its military power throughout the Asia and Pacific regions, Australia’s political leaders pursued a number of measures in order to prevent foreign interests from establishing a footing in Portuguese Timor. Through examining these complex geopolitical issues, this thesis also contends that Australian policy towards Portuguese Timor, particularly during the 1930s and leading into the Pacific War, represents an understudied example of a nascent independent Australian foreign policy position during an era commonly understood as a time when Australian governments were acquiescent to the policies of London.; Doctor of Philosophy
- Publisher
- Federation University Australia
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- Copyright Kathryn Murphy-Avery
- Rights
- Open Access
- Subject
- Australia, Portuguese Timor; Timor; Portugal; Japan; Britain; Germany; Australian; Foreign Policy; Oil; Australia-Japan Relations; Anglo-Australian Relations; Appeasement; Hughes; Lyons; Menzies; Pacific War; Singapore Base; Soft Power; Intelligence
- Full Text
- Thesis Supervisor
- Reeves, Keir
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