Place, object, text: Anglo-India in Australasia

In the nineteenth century the ‘webs of empire’ that connected Anglo-India and Australasia were numerous, complex, and diverse. In the twenty-first century traces of those webs are inscribed on the cultural landscapes of Australasia—in place names, in displaced material objects, and in the texts of empire. How should we now trace, describe, and assess these particular webs of connectedness? Drawing on imperial history, cultural geography, and literary criticism, this exploratory article introduces some of the ties that bound Anglo-India and Australasia in the century from 1820-1920. First, it charts the imprint of Anglo-India on the landscapes of Australia and New Zealand—preserved in place names, military and domestic architecture, botanic gardens, and graveyards. Second, it explores the collections of museums and other cultural institutions to outline the circulation of the material objects of Anglo-India. Third, it considers some of the cultural texts—fiction, memoir, travel writing—that narrate the ties between the two regions.