AHC: Japan invades Australia

I briefly read an Australian "Yellow Peril" novel from the turn of the 20th century, where the author posited that the Japanese government would stage immigrants via Taiwan and land them in the Top Half, sort of as "starving refugees". They would train and prep them carefully for tropical living, then send waves to the Top Half, where they would form refugee camps (different language used) and start to form small settlements, all the while the Japanese government appealing to international public opinion about starving refugees, empty / under utilised space in N Australia etc. Then after a year or so, there would be many tens of thousands (IIRC) of Japanese safely settled far away from any Australian settlements but very hard to dislodge without military force, in which case Japan would step into protect their citizens.
 
I briefly read an Australian "Yellow Peril" novel from the turn of the 20th century, where the author posited that the Japanese government would stage immigrants via Taiwan and land them in the Top Half, sort of as "starving refugees". They would train and prep them carefully for tropical living, then send waves to the Top Half, where they would form refugee camps (different language used) and start to form small settlements, all the while the Japanese government appealing to international public opinion about starving refugees, empty / under utilised space in N Australia etc. Then after a year or so, there would be many tens of thousands (IIRC) of Japanese safely settled far away from any Australian settlements but very hard to dislodge without military force, in which case Japan would step into protect their citizens.

Just how are these tens of thousands of illegal immegrants going to live in the jungle hell that is northern Australia? Come to that, this isnt 2011, they are likely to be shipped on (if they get there at all) because the arent white. ASB, that, I wonder what the author was smoking - must have been good stuff.
 
Just how are these tens of thousands of illegal immegrants going to live in the jungle hell that is northern Australia? Come to that, this isnt 2011, they are likely to be shipped on (if they get there at all) because the arent white. ASB, that, I wonder what the author was smoking - must have been good stuff.


Well I only briefly read a sample of the book (dammed if I can remember the author or title) and while I have had a brief look (at Project Gutenburg Australia) I could not find it to link. I'll have another look later when at home if I remember

Anyway, remember, the book was of the type that is designed to warn Australia of peril or threat, via a hypothetical future. It is not necessarily going to be very accurate as that isn't the point. It was also rather ASB too, not that the term was known at the time

The author sort of addressed your point in that the settlers would be in training in Taiwan for some time before the refugee invasion. They would also be well supplied etc. Their deployment was meant to be secret too (iirc).

So far as mass expulsions - well, do you think that the early Commonwealth government had the kind of military ability to forcibly &quickly expel tens of thousands of settlers from the Far North while the world watches avidly on? This isn't Australia post WW2 with a large regular, well resourced military. This is the new Australia, with little regular forces, little financial resources and a strong reliance on Britain. Sure, they could probably get help to expel, but that might take a dammed long time, once they detect the settlements.
 
I'm a bit surprised that people are so unimaginative. America loses the Civil War, the Allies lose WW1, and by 1939 Japan is hegemon in China, controls Southeast Asia, and... who will defend Australia, exactly?
 
I'm a bit surprised that people are so unimaginative. America loses the Civil War, the Allies lose WW1, and by 1939 Japan is hegemon in China, controls Southeast Asia, and... who will defend Australia, exactly?

Mmmm, Australians? Just a guess, you know but despite all the hype, Australia was in OTL quite well prepared to defend itself against Japanese aggression. It might not be able to take the offensive though, but defensively it could manage quite well.

As it is ASB IMHO that all those events would occur (BTW, how does "America lose the Civil War"? Its fighting itself... :rolleyes: ), exactly that way, I think you're suggesting a bit much just to make it possible for Japan to attack Australia.
 
I'm a bit surprised that people are so unimaginative. America loses the Civil War, the Allies lose WW1, and by 1939 Japan is hegemon in China, controls Southeast Asia, and... who will defend Australia, exactly?

The Meiji Restoration came after the ACW was finished. Japan was a part of the Entente in OTL, and in 1914 had no ability to take on the French and British. A Hegemony Over China is about as likely as a successful Barbarossa. Also, the US will still be expansionist in the Pacific, and at the very least will own Midway (acquired 1867) and be friends with Hawaii. Also, how Japan gets the Phillipines and Dutch East Indies would be rather interesting to me.
 
Mmmm, Australians? Just a guess, you know but despite all the hype, Australia was in OTL quite well prepared to defend itself against Japanese aggression. It might not be able to take the offensive though, but defensively it could manage quite well.

As it is ASB IMHO that all those events would occur (BTW, how does "America lose the Civil War"? Its fighting itself... :rolleyes: ), exactly that way, I think you're suggesting a bit much just to make it possible for Japan to attack Australia.

The Meiji Restoration came after the ACW was finished. Japan was a part of the Entente in OTL, and in 1914 had no ability to take on the French and British. A Hegemony Over China is about as likely as a successful Barbarossa. Also, the US will still be expansionist in the Pacific, and at the very least will own Midway (acquired 1867) and be friends with Hawaii. Also, how Japan gets the Phillipines and Dutch East Indies would be rather interesting to me.

I am open to being persuaded that an Confederate victory during the Civil War somehow aborts the Meiji Restoration. But if the Germans win the Great War, how will the French defend Indochina against Japan?

As for Japanese hegemony in China? I don't know, the Japanese came pretty close in OTL during the 1920s, no? If you assume the KMT never defeat the warlords, I could see Sun Yat-sen dying alone and broken...
 
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