ABSTRACT For historians interested in the settler colonial world, one of Professor John Darwin’s most important interventions has been to argue for the reintegration of the dominions into the wider history of the British empire. In re-engaging with the history of Britain’s white settler colonies in North America, Australasia, and South Africa, Darwin’s work has sought to emphasize the place of the dominions in relation to the rise and fall of the British world system, as well as their value as vantage points from which to consider imperial and global history more generally. In this regard, Darwin’s systemic approach has encouraged a more dynamic conception of ‘British world’ history – one deeply embedded in a series of overlapping imperial, regional, and international contexts. This article focuses on a particular moment in imperial history where some of the internal dynamics of the late-Victorian British world system, and the changing place of the settler colonies within it, were brought into sharp relief: the 1887 Colonial Conference. It argues that we might look to the conference as a valuable window onto the impact of Anglo-Australian relations upon the wider struggle for imperial unity in the 1880s.

中文翻译：

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澳大利亚殖民地、1887 年殖民会议和争取帝国统一的斗争

摘要 对于对殖民者殖民世界感兴趣的历史学家来说，约翰·达尔文教授最重要的干预之一是主张将自治领重新整合到更广泛的大英帝国历史中。在重新探讨英国在北美、澳大拉西亚和南非的白人殖民者殖民地的历史时，达尔文的工作试图强调自治领在英国世界体系的兴衰中的地位，以及它们的地位。价值作为更广泛地考虑帝国和全球历史的有利位置。在这方面，达尔文的系统方法鼓励了一种更具活力的“英国世界”历史概念——一种深深植根于一系列重叠的帝国、地区和国际背景中的概念。本文重点关注帝国历史上的一个特定时刻，在这个时刻，维多利亚时代晚期英国世界体系的一些内部动态以及其中定居者殖民地的位置发生了重大变化：1887 年殖民会议。它认为，我们可以将这次会议视为了解英澳关系对 1880 年代更广泛的帝国统一斗争的影响的宝贵窗口。