Chapter 157 - 152:1903

Chapter 157: Chapter 152:1903

January 10th, 1903, Sydney Harbour, Australia.

It was the National Day again, and Sydney was still crowded with people. However, people’s gathering place had changed from the central square in front of the Administrative Building to the open space of Sydney Harbour.

Due to the naval grand parade, and the Australian Government and the royal family had been warming up throughout Australia a month in advance, the open space near the harbor was filled with onlookers, and many people didn’t even have a place to stand.

The crowd was shoulder to shoulder, and in some narrow places, it was difficult to even stretch one’s arms.

But this did not affect Australians’ enthusiasm for attending the parade. As early as five o’clock in the morning, the open space was almost full of people, and the number was still increasing rapidly.

If it weren’t for the spaciousness of the harbor and the smooth cement ground prepared by the Australian government for the naval grand parade, Sydney Harbour might not even be able to accommodate so many onlookers.

Although the more people gathered, the higher the trust they had in the government and the royal family, having too many people crammed in a small space was not a good thing.

Stampedes could easily occur due to the large number of people. In addition, people were talking so loudly that they might not even be able to hear each other’s shouts.

In order to ensure the safety of these people, the Public Security Department had specially transferred many police forces from other places and even brought troops from nearby Sydney for training.

With more than a thousand police officers and soldiers combined, they barely managed to maintain order at the scene.

Of course, everyone knew that the scene’s order was relatively quiet before the parade ceremony began.

Once the naval grand parade began, the scene would probably become even more chaotic and noisy.

These warships can be used as auxiliary warships for dreadnoughts in the future, forming a fleet of battleships along with a powerful dreadnought.

Also, the cost of these small and medium-sized warships is very low, and even the profits from the arms trade with the Island Nation are enough to build more than a dozen.

Finally, amid the noisy waiting of the crowd, the first bell rang in the harbor.

This was a large clock specially prepared for National Day activities, and its ringing marked the official start of Australia’s third National Day celebration. As usual, the host of the National Day event was still the incumbent Prime Minister Evan. After more than two years as Prime Minister, Evan’s temperament had become more intense and more reminiscent of Western politicians.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the site of Australia’s Sydney Harbour Naval Parade. Today, January 10th, 1903, is our great motherland Australia’s third birthday. On behalf of all government members and our great Duke, I warmly welcome your presence and extend my sincere greetings to His Highness. If it wasn’t for Your Highness, Australia would still be a region consisting of six colonies. We would have to pay a large part of our income to the Colonial Government, and we wouldn’t be able to travel conveniently to other states because the policies between colonies are separate. So, ladies and gentlemen, let us use our most sincere words to say to His Highness the Duke: ‘Long live the Duke!”‘ Prime Minister Evan said with a respectful look from the stage.

“Long live the Duke!”

Following Prime Minister Evan’s lead, deafening cheers erupted immediately at the entire harbor and all the viewing stands, as if all Australians were proclaiming their respected Duke’s achievements to God.

Seeing that his guidance had been successful, Prime Minister Evan respectfully asked Arthur to say a few words.

“Long live Australia!” Arthur’s first sentence was not anything else, but a response to the previous cheers.

“Long live Australia! Long live the Duke!”

Now, as the cheers that had just subsided erupted again, they were even stronger than before.

This was also Arthur’s goal – to promote nationalism among all Australians at a time when they could accept it.

Only by uniting all Australians into a new nation, with high recognition of their country, could Australia have a better chance of becoming a strong country, and Arthur’s rule would become more stable.