The Perils of Proximity: The Geopolitical Underpinnings of Australian Views of New Caledonia in the Nineteenth Century

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the links between these far-flung outposts of empire, New Caledonia and Australia, were much stronger than we might realise today. New Caledonia loomed large in Australian preoccupations as a commercial partner and an export market but also as an example of French perfidy and maladministration and as a threat to security.Relations between these French and British colonies reflected in part the state of broader relations between the imperial powers, as well as changing geo-political realities in the region. The profoundly ambiguous and tension-filled relationship between the two imperial powers must be stressed – the two countries had been at war for much of the past five hundred years, they vied for power and influence in Europe, strategic control of international waters and colonial possessions and yet they recognised one another, in relation in particular to the indigenous other, as sharing European, Christian, civilised values.This article explores the attitudes and opinions expressed in the Australian press towards the French colony at certain key points in Australian/New Caledonian relations: the annexation of the Grande Terre by the French in 1853, the Kanak revolts of 1878-9 and the pre-World War I nickel mining boom. It focuses in particular on the security fears provoked by the proximity of New Caledonia to Australian shores.