Jimmybobjr said:
What i was getting at when i mentioned that Australians fought major battles as a country is that we fought it AS A COUNTRY. Yes, there were american, canadian, french, New zelanders and whatever else, but AUSTRALIANS fought as AUSTRALIA. People from Perth, From Alice Springs, From Darwin, From Sydney, From Melbourne all came together to work towards a clear goal- Something that had no been accomplished ever before, simply due to the Geographical factors affecting it. Whether Americans were present or not isnt the point- the point is that Australia was present, and that is what i was getting at.
Ah, right, I see what you mean.
Actually, it's not technically true, though. Federation happened during the Boer War, Australian forces fighting there before Federation were raised from the various individual parts of Australia individually, but after Federation, more forces were raised representing the Commonwealth as a whole.
On the other hand, nobody remembers the Boer war except to quote from
Breaker Morant, so WW1 is generally taken to be the first conflict the Commonwealth was involved in, yes.
[small]And a bit more negotiation might have seen New Zealand joining the Commonwealth...oh well...[/small]