Manifest Destiny crosses the pacific: The utility of American expansion in Australia, 1850-1901

Throughout the nineteenth century, Manifest Destiny served as the ideology underpinning the expansion of the United States. Manifest Destiny’s power over American politics and popular understandings of American expansion has been thoroughly explored by historians. Less well known, however, is that Manifest Destiny exerted an influence in Australia. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Manifest Destiny featured prominently in editorial discussion on a variety of Australian issues. This article will trace the way that the American notion of Manifest Destiny proved extremely useful to those interested in Australian expansionism. Through an investigation of editorial comment of public addresses, it can be seen that Manifest Destiny was invoked in Australia in relation to the marginalisation of the Aboriginal population, along with the debates over federation and expansion into the Pacific Islands and New Guinea. Tracing the utility of an American concept such as Manifest Destiny in its Australian context complicates the story of Australia’s nation-building project, as it interacted with the position of Australia within the British Empire. As a result, it becomes possible to gain a stronger understanding of the forces driving Australian attitudes towards its own expansion in the period leading up to federation.