Hmm...would Fiji entering as a territory cause more NSW ambivalence about joining? Also, would it really be called Australasia?
WI: Fiji part of Australia
- Thread starter vega
- Start date
Hmm...would Fiji entering as a territory cause more NSW ambivalence about joining? Also, would it really be called Australasia?
Australasia was the preferred name. I wrote a rather extensive timeline on this very happening with both NZ and Fiji as part of said entity.
Slightly more so. I would imagine that as part of an Australasian federation it would be slightly more white in contemporary times as there would be more population exchange, not just into Fiji also out of Fiji.
I guess the comparison might be something like an Australian Hawaii - membership in a largely white federation might have spurred greater emigration from Europe to Fiji (and probably more Asian immigration today).
I'm assuming that when it was part of the Australasian Council it was white planters who ran the place.
Interesting, but with just Fiji, I couldn't imagine it would actually be called that? It would be a little... all encompassing with just two parts of the larger Australasia, even with Papua New Guinea it wouldn't be right to call it that.
Anyway, I've been reading your TL and it's quite interesting and great! Good job on it.
Cook
Banned
There was somewhere in the order of 2500 Europeans on the Fijian Islands at the turn of the century, and a similar number of 'half-casts'; European population maxed out at 7000 just prior to independence IOTL.
I'd sort of assumed that a Fiji in Australia would end up with some sort franchise that resembled the West Indian/African colonies. Not necessarily explicitly racist but very much designed to ensure that the vast majority of electors were White British. In which case Fiji would likely remain a bastion of rural / merchant conservatism until that franchise was expanded.
There are different ways to do this too. You could do the NZ way and give the indigenous Fijians elected representatives but on different terms, so with a local roll and open voting. Which would allow the traditional chieftains to retain power through the normal means, whilst giving the country the ability to pretend to be a multiracial democracy.
There are different ways to do this too. You could do the NZ way and give the indigenous Fijians elected representatives but on different terms, so with a local roll and open voting. Which would allow the traditional chieftains to retain power through the normal means, whilst giving the country the ability to pretend to be a multiracial democracy.
Right. I guess it wouldn't even be that controversial either.
Drilling down it looks like a non trivial element of the Fijian Indian community arrived after 1900, so an early entrance into the federation could fundamentally change the population ratio. Which could perhaps mean that the late 20th Century population in Fiji would remain mainly indigenous.
I think that is highly likely, yes. It's also likely that if Fiji joins along with New Zealand then Solomon Islands will probably come under Australasia, along with Gilbert snd Ellice
That might just happen, I would have to wonder though, then, if there would be more Chinese and other East Asians.
However, if it were a territory (which as I understand is more likely due to the lack of white population), then immigration would be OTL and wouldn't be effected since the White Australia Policy didn't apply to territories. Either way, I don't think there would be the need for as many Indians if it were part of Australia, but there might be.