Winston Churchill

What Does Australia Think
of Churchill?
Fair Dinkum Hero Or Pommie Pollie?
BY GEORGE RICHARD
PERHAPS the best way to start this article is to translate
the title. "Fair dinkum" is a popular expression around
Australia,meaning"genuine;honest-to-goodness;thoroughly
reliable." A "Pommie" is anyone from England (the origin
of the word is uncertain, but one theory is that it goes back
to the days of "Transportation," when the prisoners being
sent to Australian penal colonies were referred to as
"Prisoners of Old Mother England"). "Pollies" are simply
politicians.
To ascertain how Churchill is viewed by Australians today
is not all that easy, principally because it is not easy to
find many people with more than an extremely sketchy idea
of Sir Winston's life and works. Afficionados excepted,
those with some familiarity with Churchill fall into two
categories: those old enough to have memories of the Second
World War (or earlier); and those of the younger
brigade whose studies have included history, or at least 20th
century history.
Australian-born Sydney Low's New Statesman cartoon of
1 May 1926 captures a WSC.not often portrayed in Low's leftwing
parodies. (Republished in Low's Lions and Lambs, 1928).
Among the former, some will refer critically to his Dardanelles
involvement. But if asked the reason for their attitude,
they will be hard put to rationalize their feelings. In
most cases it could almost be classified as unquestioning acceptance
of handed-down prejudice, Churchill being easy to
slot into the necessary role of scapegoat.
Rightly or wrongly — and of course I believe wrongly —
there exists in Australia a belief that the terrible slaughter of
the Anzacs could have been reduced or avoided had Churchill
not been directly involved. Such believers, if questioned
as to their opinion of WSC as prime minister in the Second
World War, are likely to praise his oratory but allege
that his treatment of Anzac troops in North Africa left
something to be desired.
In this instance also, the scapegoat brigade would appear
to have something to answer for. Yet to many Australians —
particularly those who spent the war years at home — it was
the United States rather than Britain that saved them from
Japanese invasion. And indeed that is largely the case. At
the risk of oversimplification, we could say that to many
Australians there were two wars: Britain against Germany
and the United States against Japan. Because of that view, a
much greater interest in and knowledge of U.S. than British
politicians was evinced by many here.
The youth of Australia, especially if they have attended
University, generally adopt a more objective view of the two
World Wars than their more senior countrymen. Having
had access to more recent books and essays than most, they
are less censorious of the Dardanelles and North Africa.
Yet, I fear, they are also less laudatory of Churchill's wartime
speech-making, considering it more or less rhetoric, its
full effect on listeners not being appreciated. Perhaps that is
inevitable, since the full impact could only be appreciated at
the time. As with the older group, the feeling too is that the
U.S.A. and Roosevelt were more significant to Australia
than Great Britain and Churchill.
To the Australian, then, was Churchfll a fair dinkum
hero or indeed simply another Pommie pollie?
The majority of Australians would, alas, answer, "don't
know"! The thinking minority (again excluding "buffs")
would, I feel, come down in favour of the fair dinkum hero,
a bloke who did a grand job — for the Pommies.
The dinky di (native born) Australian is by nature broadminded
and tolerant. To him or her, I believe Churchill is
thought of as an historical figure, one who never visited Australia
but who nevertheless made a very considerable contribution
to the folklore of the nation. He is admired as one
who "gave it a go," something guaranteed to generate
warmth among locals. There is still lingering suspicion that
WSC may not always have done the right thing by Australia
(q.v. David Day's Menzies and Churchill at War, reviewed
herein). But in general Sir Winston is certainly not looked
upon as just another Pommie pollie. Which, considering the
Aussie opinion of homo politicus, is altogether just as well. •