Royal tours the focus of David Hill’s Australia and the Monarchy

With Charles and Camilla on tour, a new book about our enthusiasm — or lack thereof — for the monarchy is timely.

09/03/1954. Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Windsor watch a koala at the O'Shanassy chalet, during their visit to Melbourne. 1954 Royal Tour.

Australia remains a constitutional monarchy and the Australian republic, often said to be ‘‘inevitable”, has so far ‘‘failed to launch’’. It is worth reflecting on why this is so.

The Queen plays a largely symbolic, passive role in Australian life: even the dismissal of the Whitlam government by her key representative in Australia, the governor-general, was only communicated to her after the event.

Yet some Australians still feel that having a head of state who is ‘‘above politics’’, such as the Queen, makes Australia a more secure nation; others value the links to the British monarchy for the ceremony and well-established traditions. David Hill’s latest book, Australia and the Monarchy, provides abundant evidence of Australian enthusiasm for the monarchy over several generations.

The structure of the book is essentially chronological. Hill charts the British monarchy’s connection to Australia from 1770, when James Cook claimed the eastern coast of Australia for George III, to the present-day Australian media focus on the younger set of celebrity royals such as princes William and Harry.

There is a strong emphasis on describing the royal visits to Australia that have occurred since Victoria’s son Alfred toured the antipodes in the 1860s and was nearly assassinated for his troubles. As the author shows, despite the outpouring of affection with which most royal visitors have been greeted, there has always been at least some ambivalence about the monarchy. Prince Charles as a young man was allegedly interested in becoming governor-general, but the idea did not attract popular support. Perhaps Australians prefer to appreciate their royals from afar.

Hill’s investigations into Australian links to the monarchy provide many enjoyable moments. Many readers will be interested to hear the tales of royal visits from ‘‘insiders’’ such as the equerries who made sure everything went smoothly; the accounts of past royal visits may stir up feelings of nostalgia for a more innocent Australia; and the rise of the royal as a celebrity first and foremost is also handled well.

But perhaps the most effective passages in the book concern the push for a republic in the 1990s. They show that you cannot always trust the polls. Just as they had erroneously suggested that Labor prime minister Paul Keating would lose the 1993 election, the polls suggested a republic had majority support, making a referendum on the issue a fait accompli.

Although Hill is not a disinterested observer — his republican leanings are clear — he powerfully demonstrates how divisive the republican debates became. Keating’s aggressive pro-republican statements helped to prevent a bipartisan approach, and disagreements about the form a republic should take surely assisted in the defeat of the referendum in 1999.

There are a few gaps in the Hill narrative. For instance, there is no reference to Princess Alexandra of Kent’s 1959 visit to Queensland as part of that state’s centenary celebrations. This was possibly the last emotionally charged royal tour to reflect Australia’s sense of being intimately connected with Britain, before the latter’s diplomatic retreat into Europe rapidly destroyed the notion of a ‘‘British Australia’’.

The author also makes no effort to engage with the work of historians who have focused on Australia’s evolving relationship with Britain, such as Neville Meaney and Christopher Waters. Hill’s reluctance to explore academic journals such as Australian Historical Studies has cut him off from perspectives that might have helped him form more persuasive answers to the question of what ties Australians to the monarchy.

The author’s decision to make Australia’s attachment to the British monarchy his central theme leads to further gaps in the narrative. Love of the royal family for its own sake was not the be-all and end-all for Australians. In reality, Australians’ love for the monarchy up to the 1960s was largely a symbol of European Australia’s wider and deep-felt attachment to British heritage, laws and customs, combined with strategic, commercial and sentimental ties to the ‘‘family’’ that was the British Empire.

At various times Hill acknowledges the complexity of the Australian attachment to Britain, but his stress on chronicling royal tours leaves little time for analysis.

Hill’s prose reveals a preference for narrating events and sprinkling a few colourful details here and there. This method is fine when his subject matter, such as Matthew Flinders’ sea journeys, is compelling and the story more or less writes itself. Australia’s relationship with the monarchy, however, requires a more conceptual approach because it involves developing a sophisticated knowledge of the evolution of collective understandings of the British-Australian connection. Hill occasionally does tackle thematic aspects of his topic, but not in any systematic way.

To his credit, the author’s reports on royal visits to Australia give the reader a fascinating glimpse of what it is like to be placed on a royal pedestal. Especially when the royal visitor is ‘‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’’ as in the case of the future Edward VIII, the character and exploits of these regal figures as revealed by Hill can be very entertaining. But if you have read about one royal tour, you have just about read about them all: the punishing daily schedules, the formal receptions, starstruck politicians, royal encounters with children and marsupials, the impressive civic displays and bland speeches that say all the right things.

Some of this material is potentially very significant, but the author has not found a way to make it cohesive. Australia and the Monarchy is likely to appeal most to those who have fond memories of the royals before the media’s intrusion in the 90s killed off what was left of the mystique surrounding the royals.

Greater depth and sharper analysis would have made the book a more satisfying read. However, Hill offers a pleasant trip down memory lane that many readers will enjoy.

Lyndon Megarrity is a historian and author.

Australia and the Monarchy

By David Hill

William Heinemann Australia, 456pp, $34.99