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T.The most disappointing part of Netflix soap opera The Crown is not, from an Australian perspective, the colonial caricature of Bob Hawke insulting the queen and plotting the constitutional expulsion of the Windsors.
Nor is the use of Spanish places and extras to represent Australian cities, landscapes and people.
It is certainly the misappropriation of the term “terra nullius”.
The Crown makers show how clever they are in recreating every little detail of Princess Diana’s dresses and gowns. It is a shame that they are less careful when it comes to the nuances and important details of Australian politics.
“Terra nullius” was the legal doctrine, more correctly the myth, that Australia was unstable at the time of the British occupation in 1788. It supported the Australian settlement until it was finally overthrown by the Mabo decision of the High Court of 1992, which recognized the native title.
The Crown episode surrounding Prince Charles and Diana’s visit to Australia in 1983 is called Terra Nullius, and the term also forms the heart of a key piece of dialogue, in which Hawke tells Charles that ‘terra nullius’ is “what that your ancestor King George The Third called us when the British came. “Nobody’s country.” Well, by God we were someone’s country then, and now we are our country.
It is actually a nice feeling. But to present “terra nullius” as somehow related to the subject for an Australian republic is an anachronism, a historical sleight of hand. It appropriates and perhaps trivializes the fundamental concept of indigenous sovereignty. Mabo’s decision said nothing about the head of state and the republican movement has never really turned to indigenous sovereignty.
It is also very unlikely that it was part of Hawke’s vision for an Australian republic. Bob Hawke was definitely a Republican, intrinsically committed to the logic of an Australian head of state. So much so, The Crown is right.
But Hawke cannot be described as a fervent Republican; in fact, his commitment to the cause has been greatly diluted by pragmatism and, it must be said, by a respectful and even friendly relationship with the Queen.
In the opening scene of The Crown episode, Hawke’s doppelgänger Richard Roxburgh tells a Four Corners interviewer that he didn’t consider welcoming the royals as the most important thing he should have done in his first month in office. This is also accurate.
But then The Crown’s interview turns into fiction with Roxburgh as Hawke, who describes the queen as a “pig … in a twin and pearls”. This is absurd and bizarre. If Hawke really wanted to insult someone, he could do a lot better than that. Just ask Bill Hayden.
The truth is, Hawke never viewed the republic as a first-rate issue, especially in 1983, as an incoming prime minister with a major agenda of economic recovery and reform. He was not involved in the politics of symbolism. He also recognized the Queen’s popularity in Australia and saw no reason to waste time or capital trying to change it. Over time he came up with the answer formula that the push for an Australian head of state should await Elizabeth’s death – a courtesy to her, and a dig at Charles, whom she dismissed as a “good young boy”.
Hawke has meanwhile moved on with the work in statesman mode, dealing with the queen only as another influential source of authority. The highlight of this was the meeting of Commonwealth heads of government in Vancouver in 1987, where she convinced the queen to agree to suspend membership in Fiji after the coup. He has also collaborated brilliantly with Nelson Mandela, Jim Wolfensohn and others in implementing a new set of Commonwealth sanctions against the apartheid regime, targeting the South African financial system.
Successes like these led Hawke to designate himself privately, with the characteristic swagger, as “his favorite prime minister.” This worked simultaneously as a compliment to the Queen’s good judgment and a mild compliment to the other Commonwealth PMs, such as Thatcher (UK), Mulroney (Canada), Lange (New Zealand) and Mugabe (Zimbabwe); indeed, India Rajiv Gandhi would have brought him close, and Hawke may have granted him the title.
But Hawke and the Queen shared a love of horse meat, and the lasting image of their relationship was at Canberra Racecourse where they sat together in a box to watch the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Hawke had supported Beau Zam, trained by Bart Cummings, and when the thoroughbred reached the finish, half length ahead of Bonecrusher, Hawke stood up, cheering for his favorite home. “Damn beauty!”
Alongside this exuberant display of emotion, the Queen sat impeccably, with a faint smile on her face.
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Dr. Stephen Mills is Senior Honorary Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney, and worked as a speech writer for Prime Minister Bob Hawke from 1986 to 1991
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