Puzzled Patriots, The: Story of the Australia First Movement

xiii, 200 p. : ill., ports. ; 23 cm. Bibliography: p. 187-193. #060822 First Edition

Army Museum of Western Australia stamp and ownership on fep, otherwise no markings.

The Australia First Movement was a fascist movement, founded in October 1941. It grew out of the Rationalist Association of New South Wales and the Victorian Socialist Party, and was led by former Rhodes scholar Percy Stephensen and Adela Pankhurst.

The Australia First Movement grew out of strong anti-British sentiment and vigorous Australian nationalism. 

The Australia First Movement existed for five months until its leaders and some members were secretly interned in March 1942. This was due to a suspicion that the movement might provide help to Japanese invaders.

The internment led to a Commonwealth Commission of Inquiry, which sat between 19 June 1944 and 17 May 1945.

Two prominent figures in the movement were writer Percy Stephensen and Sydney businessman William Miles. Between 1936 and 1942 they published 16 volumes of a newsletter titled The Publicist. The newsletter featured prominently in the Commission of Inquiry due to its seemingly pro-Japanese stance at a time when Australians feared a Japanese invasion.