A ‘Boy’s Own’ Adventure: Australian War Writings from the Boxer Rebellion, 1900–1901

This article examines the experiences of Australian sailors and marines who travelled to China to fight in the Boxer Rebellion between 1900 and 1901. It analyses their diaries and correspondence to explore individual responses to one of the earliest instances of large-scale, cross-cultural encounter for colonial Australians in Asia. In doing so, this article employs the Boxer Rebellion as a test case to reveal more about late-nineteenth century Australian ideas around militarism, race, imperialism, and colonial identity, as individuals constructed themselves in relation to the various people and places they encountered. It argues that the written accounts of Australian personnel were shaped overwhelmingly by the desire to meet the expectations they placed on themselves, as well as those assigned by family, friends, communities, and the cultural conditions which defined the meaning of war and travel in Asia around the turn of the twentieth century.