The Call To Arms; Chapter 2 of The Story of the Anzacs

Anzac Cove Looking North

The declaration of War reached Australia in the interval between this double dissolution, and the General Election which was to be held on September 5th. At this time the British Association was visiting Melbourne, and some of its members caused Australia considerable amusement by their naive expressions of surprise at her "loyalty" and "keenness." If they had expected to find the reverse of these qualities, they must have been pleasantly surprised. The leaders of both parties at once declared the feeling that was uppermost in the minds of Australia. 

"Remember," said Mr. Cook on July 31st, "Australia is part of the Empire right up to the full. Remember that when the Empire is at war, so is Australia at war. I want to make it quite clear that all our resources in Australia are in the Empire and for the Empire and for the preservation and security of the Empire."

Similarly Mr. Fisher said, 

"Turn your eyes to the European situation and give your kindest feelings towards the Mother Country at this time. Should the worst happen after everything has been done that honour will permit, we Australians will defend the Mother Country to the last man and the last shilling." 

This utterance may not have shown sufficient appreciation of the fact that Australia in this war was fighting not only to help the Mother Country - though she would have been eager to do this at any time - but for her own life. However, Mr. Fisher's sentiment was otherwise sound, and showed that the Labour Party had fully grasped its Imperial duties and obligations. Other public men spoke in the same sense, the only jarring notes in the chorus coming from certain quite negligible pseudo-socialistic stump orators.

Proposals were made by certain members of the Labour Party for a political truce. There was a feeling among men of all parties that it would be well if a General Election could be avoided. It was, however, found impossible to adjust certain of the proposals for a truce to the requirements of the moment, and it seems certain that if the old Parliamentary situation, with its attendant deadlock, had been restored, the effect would have been lamentable from many points of view. No suggestion was made for a formal coalition within Parliament. But Mr. Fisher, leader of the Labour Opposition, assured Air. Cook of his Party's hearty co-operation in everything relating to the War. 

The Liberal Ministry acted in consultation with their Labour opponents, Messrs. Fisher, Hughes, and Pearce. Enemy shipping was promptly seized, the most careful precautions were used for the prevention of financial disturbance and for the mitigation of the feeling of uneasiness caused by the temporary closing of the Stock Exchange. The export of wheat and meat was forbidden to any country save the United Kingdom. A conference of Federal and State 'Ministries was held, and announced its decision to place the credit of the Commonwealth and the States behind the banks, if and when necessary. The result of these precautions is that since the War began, there has never been any symptom of financial panic in Australia. For a short time in Sydney there was a run on one of the banks : but this was soon over.

Financially speaking, when the War broke out, matters were somewhat complicated for Australia by the fact that she was undergoing the worst drought she had experienced since 1902. Her wheat harvest had been an almost complete failure, and the dislocation caused by the War in certain industries had resulted in a definite increase of unemployment. But he would have been a very simple person who should have conjectured that these hardships would damp or quench the war-spirit of Australia. Within two days of the outbreak of hostilities, the Prime Minister, Mr. Joseph Cook, had offered a first contingent Of 20,000 men to the Imperial Government, and this had been gratefully accepted; and the Australian Navy was at once put at the disposal of the Admiralty.

Then flocked to the recruiting stations from all over Australia the new soldiers, numbering some of the hardiest stock in the whole Commonwealth - case-hardened bushmen from the back blocks, miners from Bendigo and Kalgoorlie, athletes who had upheld the fame of Australia in the cricket and football fields, and men who had kept their bodies fit and hard despite the sedentary routine of city life. A fair number of these, and especially of the more youthful, probably joined the Australian Imperial Force in an exultant spirit of adventure, but there were many more who even in these early days of the War joined the colours in a spirit of stern self-sacrifice, realising that the Empire was in peril and that it was the part of a true man to come to it's aid.