McLaren, John (1993) Australia's Pacific identity. Antipodes: A North American Journal of Australian Literature, 7 (1). pp. 45-50. ISSN 0893-5580

Abstract

Contains a general and literary discussion about the Australian identity taking into account both Australia’s history and its geography, and also its influence in the Pacific. The identity that Australians shaped for themselves in the Pacific remains alive to this day. However, with the United States being the economically, culturally and militarily dominant power, the dream of America has played an important part in the Australian consciousness, ever since convicts looked to the Yankee whalers as vehicles of escape to freedom. The perceived need of American significance remains an important part of Australia’s cultural expectations, and during the nineteenth century it was in fact a common fantasy that Australia was the coming United States of the south.

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