The spoils of opportunity: Janet Mitchell and Australian internationalism in the interwar Pacific

Abstract

Janet Mitchell has been recognised previously for her work as a journalist in Harbin, Manchuria, and at the League of Nations as a temporary collaborator in the Traffic in Women section in the 1930s. Mitchell was also a participant in the formative history of Australian internationalism. Her memoir published in 1938 provides unique insight into her experiences as a member of Australian delegations to Institute of Pacific Relations conferences in Honolulu in 1925 and Shanghai in 1931. Her reflections remind us that internationalism was an emotional as well as ?rational? set of ideas and practices involving a range of progressive women and men active in the interwar years.