Patriotism and its discontents: a small town in a great strike

Much ink has been spilt on the question of the General Strike of 1917. Despite nuances of interpretation there exists a general consensus that the strike was a product of the deeply disruptive social, economic and political circumstances of World War I. This paper seeks to add to that discussion through a vignette of the strike, as it played out in the town of Orange in central western NSW. The battle for the meaning of words unleashed during the period illustrates the now well-known fault lines of power and social control embedded in Australia.