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Australians At War #5
For Queen and Commonwealth
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September 14, 2021
To be honest this book is a rather dated and simplistic title that Will really only appeal to either of those people who have just started to read about Australian military history, or to those who are interested in collecting books from the past that explore the same subject. First published in 1987 and with a text that has been supplied by the author kit Denton ‘For Queen and Commonwealth’ is an example of the kind of coffee table history book that contributes to a rather naive and shallow depiction of what one would now call the ANZAC myth. This is not a book that will resonate with those who have a serious understanding or interest in the subject and in many ways its contents are in fact redundant.
The most redeemable aspect of this book is that it does put together in a fairly short and copiously illustrated volume a survey history of colonial Australian military history. This is a part of Australian history that to some extent is still not well known or explored. The emphasis on the Boer War is understandable as this was the most important war that Australian forces were involved in before World War I. What I thought was more interesting was the coverage of Australian volunteers who fought in the various New Zealand wars, and the short chapter on the Australian involvement in the so-called Boxer rebellion. These are the episodes that have almost been entirely forgotten and this title does some F small justice to these historical events.
Of course for contemporary readers of this book the most obvious problem with the text is that there is no mention whatsoever of the frontier wars where colonial forces volunteers militias and white settlers engaged in massacres and skirmishes with indigenous peoples. There is a total absence of any account of any combat between First Nations people‘s and invading colonialists. As a result of this gap in the book one can undoubtably see that the primary theme of the text is to reinforce traditional and arguably archaic representations of Australian military history.
If this review seems a bit harsh that is not because the book is fundamentally flawed per se, but that it is affectively redundant due to the historiography of the text and because it is not written as a serious volume. If one is to read this book in the context of an introductory title to begin an inquiry into Australian military history then I would suggest it is of value. Aside from this as stated previously it has more value as a collectible, specifically within the setting of a collection of the other volumes that were published to accompany this title.
In summary ‘For Queen and Commonwealth’ is an old title that is rather inadequate however it will appeal to some readers with an interest in Australian military history.
The most redeemable aspect of this book is that it does put together in a fairly short and copiously illustrated volume a survey history of colonial Australian military history. This is a part of Australian history that to some extent is still not well known or explored. The emphasis on the Boer War is understandable as this was the most important war that Australian forces were involved in before World War I. What I thought was more interesting was the coverage of Australian volunteers who fought in the various New Zealand wars, and the short chapter on the Australian involvement in the so-called Boxer rebellion. These are the episodes that have almost been entirely forgotten and this title does some F small justice to these historical events.
Of course for contemporary readers of this book the most obvious problem with the text is that there is no mention whatsoever of the frontier wars where colonial forces volunteers militias and white settlers engaged in massacres and skirmishes with indigenous peoples. There is a total absence of any account of any combat between First Nations people‘s and invading colonialists. As a result of this gap in the book one can undoubtably see that the primary theme of the text is to reinforce traditional and arguably archaic representations of Australian military history.
If this review seems a bit harsh that is not because the book is fundamentally flawed per se, but that it is affectively redundant due to the historiography of the text and because it is not written as a serious volume. If one is to read this book in the context of an introductory title to begin an inquiry into Australian military history then I would suggest it is of value. Aside from this as stated previously it has more value as a collectible, specifically within the setting of a collection of the other volumes that were published to accompany this title.
In summary ‘For Queen and Commonwealth’ is an old title that is rather inadequate however it will appeal to some readers with an interest in Australian military history.
Displaying 1 of 1 review