Origins of the Cold War
Australia's entry into the Cold War came in 1950, when it rushed combat air and sea forces into the Korean War, two days after the Americans did. The Australian Prime Minister received a hero's welcome in Washington. The ANZUS military alliance with New Zealand and the United States was signed in July 1951; it was a plan for consultation and did not involve military planning like NATO. Public opinion in Australia was intensely hostile to Japan after its wartime atrocities, but Japan was now an ally in the Cold War, so Australia's accepted the very generous soft peace treaty with Japan in 1951. Instead of worrying about a resurgent Japan, Australia now worried more about a possible Chinese threat.
Australia in the Korean War 1950–53
In 1970 Robert O'Neill was selected by the Australian Government as the official historian of the Korean War. O'Neill had served as the 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment's intelligence officer during the Vietnam War, and had later become an academic. At the time of his appointment he was head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University.