Abstract
Irish-Australians were under official surveillance from November 1917 following security awareness of local attempts to support anti-British activity in Ireland. The subsequent arrest and internment of seven Irish-Australians with links to the radical Irish Republican Brotherhood intensified authority and community concern. Surviving archival evidence reveals numbers of ordinary Irish-Australians made interstate contacts and exchanged material and ideas judged as subversive, sometimes outwitting authorities. The wartime atmosphere heightened suspicion, and some strongly pro-British individuals and organisations quickly judged all Irish-Australians—especially in the light of perceived inflammatory statements from Melbourne’s Archbishop Mannix—as disloyal and verging on traitorous. While an active Irish-Australian ‘underground’ existed—with greater potential for radical action than was realised—it was largely aimed at resisting Australia’s government-fuelled pro-British and anti-Irish atmosphere.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Australians and the First World War |
Subtitle of host publication | Local-Global Connections and Contexts |
Editors | Kate Ariotti, James E. Bennett |
Place of Publication | Cham |
Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
Chapter | 8 |
Pages | 123-142 |
Number of pages | 20 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9783319515205 |
ISBN (Print) | 9783319515199 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 30 Aug 2017 |