Belligerent Broken Hill: Fighting the Forced Repatriation of Allied Aliens During World War I

In 1918 armed military and state police attempted to round up and forcibly repatriate allied Italian citizens across Australia for service in the Italian Army. Travelling from state to state, the Italian Consul General and the Australian Defence Department worked hand in glove to facilitate this forcible deportation. In May 1918 they arrived in the outback mining town of Broken Hill where they met with an unexpected level of hostility and resistance. This paper considers how the particular characteristics of Broken Hill led to resistance to this round up by the Italian community. The result was an increased militancy among Italians across Australia in opposing the call by their Consul and their forcible repatriation by the Australian government. This article has been peer-reviewed.