Reduced to a symbolical scale : the evacuation of British women and children from Hong Kong to Australia in 1940 / Tony Banham.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Banham, Tony, 1959- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Evacuation of civilians (1939-1945 : World War).

World War, 1939-1945--Women--Australia.

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945--Women--China--Hong Kong.

World War, 1939-1945--Evacuation of civilians--China--Hong Kong.

Women.

Australia.

China--Hong Kong.

Physical Description:

xii, 191 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Evacuation of British women and children from Hong Kong to Australia in 1940

Place of Publication:

Hong Kong : Hong Kong University Press, [2017]

Summary:

In July 1940, the wives and children of British families in Hong Kong, military and civilian, were compulsorily evacuated, following a plan created by the Hong Kong government in 1939. That plan focused exclusively on the process of evacuation, but issues concerning how the women and children should settle in the new country, communication with abandoned husbands, and reuniting families after the war were not considered. In practice, few would ever be addressed. When evacuation came, 3,500 people would simply be dumped in Australia.The experience of the evacuees can be seen as a three-act drama: delivery to Australia creates tension, five years of war and uncertainty intensify it, and resolution comes as war ends. However, that drama, unlike the evacuation plan, did not develop in a vacuum but was embedded in a complex historical, political, and social environment. Based on archival research of official documents, letters and memoirs, and interviews and discussions with more than one hundred evacuees and their families, this book studies the evacuation in its full context.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Planning 3

1.1 Fear and Legislation 3

1.2 Hong Kong's Evacuation Scheme Plan in Context 9

1.3 The Colony before Evacuation 16

1.4 The Order to Evacuate 22

Chapter 2 Evacuation 25

2.1 Avoiding and Evading Evacuation 26

2.2 Evacuation Begins 30

2.3 Reception in the Philippines 40

2.4 Not Continuing to Australia 45

2.5 Plans for Australia 48

Chapter 3 Arrival in Australia 53

3.1 White Australia 53

3.2 Departure from Manila 57

3.3 The Evacuees Arrive 60

3.4 Early Days in Australia 73

3.5 Developments in Hong Kong 75

Chapter 4 1941: Pre-Pacific War Australia 89

4.1 Settling In and Separation 90

4.2 Visits from Hong Kong to Australia 92

4.3 Freedom of Movement 94

4.4 From Blasé to Panic 98

Chapter 5 War: Australia, 1942-1944 106

5.1 Outside Australia 111

5.2 Hong Kong Battle Deaths 115

5.3 Prisoners of War 116

5.4 Wartime Returns to the United Kingdom 125

5.5 Australianisation 128

Chapter 6 1945: War and Peace-Britain, Hong Kong, or Stay? 139

6.1 Broken Marriages, Broken Homes 141

6.2 Leaving Australia 145

6.3 Australia as a Permanent Home 153.

Notes:

"This book is based on my PhD thesis at the Australian Defence Force Academy, University of New South Wales."--Page viii.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-176) and index.

ISBN:

9789888390878

9888390872

OCLC:

987684508