The Rise of Australia

After giving instructions to the New Zealand officials, Arthur returned his gaze to the military parade.

Although the total number of Australian troops is only a little over 10,000, the military parade this time was quite sufficient, with four square formations of soldiers and two weapons review teams.

The four soldier squares are composed of the infantry and cavalry squares of the Guards and the infantry and cavalry squares of the Wehrmacht.

The two weapons review formations used horse-drawn carriages to transport the two most heavily equipped heavy weapons of the Australian army, the CA-1 machine gun and the MA-96 Maxim machine gun.

In order to maintain the dignity of the military parade, the horses transporting these weapons and equipment are also carefully selected Australian wild horses.

The white army horses pulling weapons one by one slowly walked from the other end of the street, and the shock to the Australians was definitely no less than that of the previous formations of soldiers.

These two heavy weapons and the M1897 artillery under study will become the most reliable source of firepower for the Australian Army.

Such a large-scale military parade is not without purpose. Not only to strengthen Australians' sense of nationality and make Australians believe that they have a strong military to protect the country and their security.

It is also intended to increase the enthusiasm of some Australian youths to join the military. The number of Australian troops is still too small to even be transformed into a complete division.

In addition, Australia also has overseas colonies such as New Guinea, so it is very necessary to expand the size of the army.

According to Arthur's initial estimate, Australia will launch a recruitment plan in the new year. Not only to expand the size of the army, but also to prepare for the expansion of the navy.

The Navy hopes to master the technology of the Braunschweig-class battleship within a year.

Up to now, experts from Australia and Germany have been working on this battleship for more than half a year.

Because of the input from German experts, Arthur's shipyard and Australian experts mastered it very quickly.

It is hoped that the construction technology of the Brunswick-class battleship will be mastered within 1902, allowing Australia to have its own ability to independently build battleships.

Although Arthur has no plans to build a main battleship now, some cruisers and frigates can still be built.

The establishment of the navy cannot be completed with warships. The training of naval soldiers may take longer than the construction of warships.

After the birth of the dreadnought ship in the future, Australia will inevitably build a dreadnought ship of its own.

Although this may take some time, it does not prevent us from starting the training plan for naval soldiers now.

In Arthur's psychological expectation, Australia would establish an army of at least 50,000 men before World War I, as well as a sizable navy with five main battleships and dozens of small and medium-sized warships.

Of course, this is also a relatively large plan. Not only do you have to pay a lot of money for it, but you also have to master many technologies that Australia has never mastered.

But Australia's goal is definitely not small Oceania. Whether it is the Dutch East Indies in the north, New Zealand in the east, or the Indian Ocean in the west, it will be Australia's next plot of land.

After the military parade ended, the cheers and shouts of the crowd did not stop. If Arthur hadn't stepped forward and stood next to the microphone, I'm afraid the noise in the square would have continued.

After waiting for the crowd to completely quiet down, Arthur said: "All citizens, today is a day that should be celebrated. I declare that the seven-day period from January 10th to January 16th every year is Australia's National Day Week. National Day Week is a legal holiday in Australia, and under normal circumstances all companies and factories should take a holiday. If there are major circumstances that require overtime work, double the usual salary should be paid."

Arthur's words still caused a big reaction in the crowd. In this era when factories generally implement a 12-hour working day, it is not easy to have legal holidays and double overtime pay.

Being able to have an extra week of rest every year, or earn an extra seven days of money, is something these Australians are very happy to accept.

Of course, all this depends on the policies enacted by their beloved Duke.

“In addition, in order to commemorate the contribution of the great Queen Victoria to the establishment of the Principality of Australia, and to recognize the contributions of all future citizens to Australia, the royal family and the government will establish three medals, namely the Victoria Memorial Medal, the Royal Knights Medal, and the Australian National Medal. Medals. The specific promulgation rules of these three medals will be announced by the government as future rewards for any meritorious service to the Australian government and royal family. Each medal has a different reward policy, but the same thing is that each medal Recipients of the medal can receive ten times Australia's per capita annual income as a bonus every year. This fund can continue to be received. Even if the recipient of the medal is no longer available, it can be received by his/her designated relatives and family members, up to a maximum of Three generations of relatives. If no relative is designated to receive it, the funds will be divided equally among all his immediate relatives." Arthur said solemnly.

For monarchy countries, medals are also a way to reward meritorious officials. In particular, the Victoria Medal created by Queen Victoria will be an extremely precious medal even in later generations.

The Victoria Memorial Medal that Arthur mentioned actually has a similar meaning to the Victoria Medal.

While commemorating Queen Victoria, it also honors those who have made significant contributions to the royal family and the country, and even saved the country.

This also means that it will become very difficult to obtain the Victoria Memorial Medal. As an important means for the royal family to reward citizens, Arthur did not intend to make medals too cheap, at least for the Victoria Memorial Medal.

After hearing what Arthur said and the three medals and awards that were subsequently issued, most Australians were obviously moved.

Apart from anything else, as long as you get any one of the three medals, you can receive 10 times Australia's per capita income every year, and you can continue to receive it to the third generation of relatives. What kind of crazy policy is this?

As long as you can get any medal, you can get money at home without working. Even this money can not only support yourself, but also support all your family members.

Almost everyone has an idea involuntarily in their mind, that is, what if they can get this medal?

Everyone has certain beautiful illusions about their future, and they all imagine that they are the luckiest one.

Many Australians can't wait for the latest news from the government on these three medals after the National Day activities.

As long as any one is easy to obtain, I believe many people will take practical actions.

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