My great-grandmother, Jacqueline Ardour, became the first President of the United Australasian Republic, after successfully steering the unification of New Zealand and Australia. The move, discussed since 1894, finally came in the aftermath of the continuing waves of the Coronavirus pandemic, in the 20s.
I came across her diaries recently. They were on an old USB stick I found as I was clearing out Mum’s house. The library still had USB technology!
My Gran described her world in a surprisingly matter-of-fact manner. She interspersed notations of domestic and international issues with a note, that as winter is coming, she must remember to plant the broad beans and daffodils. It was also noted that she needed a new cardigan, against the invitation to attend the funeral of assassinated US President, Donald Trump!
There was a whole folder dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic: outcomes of the several strategies adopted to deal with the waves of infection that followed the relaxation of containment measures. Jacqueline noted how China, the US, the UK and much of Europe desperately competed to get their economies kick-started first, with their eagerness estimated to have cost two hundred and ninety million lives over the intensely infectious, first four years. I found it fascinating to read the assessment of the pandemic’s inability to penetrate the small Pacific nations and the largely forgotten Indigenous communities – a fortuitous consequence of isolation and government inaction!
She allocated a couple of pages to documenting the collapse of the oil industry, the shift of the geopolitical base towards South America, and the rise of extreme nationalism and civil unrest as borders closed against the pandemic. Jacqueline noted the rediscovery of home gardening!
She served two, four-year Presidential terms, and by the eighth year, her advisers were reporting that digital conferencing and home officing had slashed aircraft and vehicle movements. Combined with the breakthrough in battery technology, it seemed a reduction in Global Warming was achievable! Polar monitoring confirmed a decrease in ice sheet and permafrost melts, with climatologists confident the planet could repair itself.
An odd inclusion in her diaries was the transcript of the first line of the then, new UAR National Anthem. I suspect she had a wry smile as she wrote:
“I am, you are, we are Orz-tral-iaise-eon.”
The Centennial celebrations of United Australasia start next week. There is to be an unveiling of her statue in the Capital, to mark the occasion.