Australian Army Medical Corps, AIF, Paris, 1919

June 17, 2008 at 2:04 am (Commentary) (, , , , , , , , , )

Captian J.A.WallAustralian Army Medical Corps, AIF, Paris, 1919

My father, Captain James Augustus Wall, standing on the right and wearing a slouch hat next to the man in civilian clothing.

Were the Australians in this photo thinking about the approach of the Australian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference?

Australian approach

The Australian delegates were Billy Hughes (Prime Minister), and Joseph Cook (Minister of the Navy), accompanied by Robert Garran (Solicitor-General). John Greig Latham later Sir, was also part of the delegation. Frederic Eggleston had been invited, but left in disgust at Hughes’ behaviour. Indeed, Latham was to run successfully for the Federal seat of Kooyong on a policy of ‘Get Rid of Hughes’, so appalled was he at Hughes’ behaviour. Their principal aims were war reparations, annexation of German New Guinea and rejection of the Japanese racial equality proposal (see below). Hughes had a profound interest in what he saw as an extension of the White Australia Policy. Despite causing a big scene, Hughes had to acquiesce to a class C mandate for New Guinea.

Source: Wikipedia

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