Australia in the International Sphere 1901–1914: An Emerging Foreign Policy Capacity?

Although the early Federation has been characterised as a “dependency,” some items in the existing literature suggest the exertion by the Commonwealth of a degree of initiative in foreign policies in the years before the Great War, notably with respect to trade, immigration, defence, and the Pacific region. This paper argues that—impelled by globalising forces—this initiative was also exercised in the emerging international sphere, a fact largely neglected in the literature heretofore. The examples discussed include in relation to global postal conventions, international radiotelegraphy, international safety conventions, and the collection of commercial and customs statistics according to agreed transnational standards. Dispatching plenipotentiary delegates to international meetings on its own account, the Commonwealth assumed the status of a separate and distinct state jurisdiction, joining the relevant international conventions in question and implementing their provisions where relevant through legislation.