The Rise Of Australasia - Chapter 157

Chapter 157: Chapter 152:1903

January 10th, 1903, Sydney Harbour, Australia.

It was the National Day again, and Sydney was still crowded with people. However, people’s gathering place had changed from the central square in front of the Administrative Building to the open space of Sydney Harbour.

Due to the naval grand parade, and the Australian Government and the royal family had been warming up throughout Australia a month in advance, the open space near the harbor was filled with onlookers, and many people didn’t even have a place to stand.

The crowd was shoulder to shoulder, and in some narrow places, it was difficult to even stretch one’s arms.

But this did not affect Australians’ enthusiasm for attending the parade. As early as five o’clock in the morning, the open space was almost full of people, and the number was still increasing rapidly.

If it weren’t for the spaciousness of the harbor and the smooth cement ground prepared by the Australian government for the naval grand parade, Sydney Harbour might not even be able to accommodate so many onlookers.

Although the more people gathered, the higher the trust they had in the government and the royal family, having too many people crammed in a small space was not a good thing.

Stampedes could easily occur due to the large number of people. In addition, people were talking so loudly that they might not even be able to hear each other’s shouts.

In order to ensure the safety of these people, the Public Security Department had specially transferred many police forces from other places and even brought troops from nearby Sydney for training.

With more than a thousand police officers and soldiers combined, they barely managed to maintain order at the scene.

Of course, everyone knew that the scene’s order was relatively quiet before the parade ceremony began.

Once the naval grand parade began, the scene would probably become even more chaotic and noisy.

As everyone stood on the field with great anticipation, waiting for the parade to begin, the Security Department was still urgently mobilizing personnel, even gathering a group of doctors from Sydney and the nearby New South Wales State Parliament to be prepared for any accidents.

In this naval grand parade, at least ten warships will be dispatched, including four armored cruisers, five coastal defense ships, and one coastal artillery ship. These three types of warships represent the main battleships of the Australian Navy, mass-equipped warships, and patrol vessels.

Compared with other countries, Australia’s navy is a tier lower. The coastal cruisers currently serving as the main battleships of the Australian Navy are only considered auxiliary warships by other countries. The real main battleships of the world’s navies, battleships, Australia has none.

Of course, it is not that Australia lacks the ability to equip battleships. On the contrary, Australia has already mastered the technology to build independent main battleships and has even negotiated to build a battleship for the Island Nation in an agreement.

But the current battleships do not seem to be high or low enough. Although having battleships now can indeed greatly improve the navy’s strength and satisfy people’s expectations of naval power.

But how long can such battleships be glorious for? Dreadnoughts will be born in 1906, which is only more than three years from now.

It takes one or two years to build a warship, so is it worth spending millions of pounds to build a pre-dreadnought battleship that can only be glorious for one or two years?

By the time the world’s countries begin their dreadnought construction plans, Australia’s pre-dreadnoughts will become scrap iron.

It’s better to wait until three years later and start the navy’s big launch. With a concerted effort to build dreadnoughts, there is still hope of impacting the current world naval hierarchy.

Although such a plan is indeed beneficial, for the time being, it can only temporarily appease the Australians.

Arthur and the officers knew that Australians attached great importance to the navy, even the launch of a small armored cruiser attracted a lot of attention from Australians.

But there is no choice but to take this step temporarily to prevent the country from losing millions of pounds in vain.

However, although the construction plan for battleships needs to be shelved for now, these small and medium-sized warships do not.

These warships can be used as auxiliary warships for dreadnoughts in the future, forming a fleet of battleships along with a powerful dreadnought.

Also, the cost of these small and medium-sized warships is very low, and even the profits from the arms trade with the Island Nation are enough to build more than a dozen.

Finally, amid the noisy waiting of the crowd, the first bell rang in the harbor.

This was a large clock specially prepared for National Day activities, and its ringing marked the official start of Australia’s third National Day celebration. As usual, the host of the National Day event was still the incumbent Prime Minister Evan. After more than two years as Prime Minister, Evan’s temperament had become more intense and more reminiscent of Western politicians.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the site of Australia’s Sydney Harbour Naval Parade. Today, January 10th, 1903, is our great motherland Australia’s third birthday. On behalf of all government members and our great Duke, I warmly welcome your presence and extend my sincere greetings to His Highness. If it wasn’t for Your Highness, Australia would still be a region consisting of six colonies. We would have to pay a large part of our income to the Colonial Government, and we wouldn’t be able to travel conveniently to other states because the policies between colonies are separate. So, ladies and gentlemen, let us use our most sincere words to say to His Highness the Duke: ‘Long live the Duke!”‘ Prime Minister Evan said with a respectful look from the stage.

“Long live the Duke!”

Following Prime Minister Evan’s lead, deafening cheers erupted immediately at the entire harbor and all the viewing stands, as if all Australians were proclaiming their respected Duke’s achievements to God.

Seeing that his guidance had been successful, Prime Minister Evan respectfully asked Arthur to say a few words.

“Long live Australia!” Arthur’s first sentence was not anything else, but a response to the previous cheers.

“Long live Australia! Long live the Duke!”

Now, as the cheers that had just subsided erupted again, they were even stronger than before.

This was also Arthur’s goal – to promote nationalism among all Australians at a time when they could accept it.

Only by uniting all Australians into a new nation, with high recognition of their country, could Australia have a better chance of becoming a strong country, and Arthur’s rule would become more stable.