When Australia Became a Republic

By: Esther Anatolitis

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Paperback | 1 October 2025

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Australia became a republic many years ago-culturally, if not yet constitutionally. We've long stopped identifying as subjects of the British Crown, relying on UK military and trade relationships, and looking to London as our lodestar. We've long stopped allowing the UK Parliament to override our laws, accepting imported vice-regal representatives, and even hearing from our governor-general on days of national significance. We've long stopped singing 'God Save the Queen', and when the King visited last year, hardly anyone noticed. Some of these have been natural evolutions, some politically imposed; all make the monarchy less and less visible in everyday Australia. For a multicultural federation on the sovereign lands of hundreds of First Nations, all of this makes good sense but, like it or not, we remain a British realm. Our governments and indeed our democracy exist only at His Majesty's pleasure, codified in a faulty constitution, and systematically incapacitating necessary reform.

In When Australia Became a Republic, Esther Anatolitis examines the key moments in our emergence as a republic, and maps out new paths to securing legitimate independence for a more honest society. These include ambitiously neutralising the toxicity that dominates our national conversation; venturous civics education for a new era of empowered citizenship; and of course, constitutional change because monarchy and democracy are irreconcilable.

About the Author

Esther Anatolitis works venturously across the cultural and civic fields that create Australia’s future. As Editor of Meanjin, Hon. A/Prof. at RMIT School of Art, and a member of the National Gallery of Australia Governing Council, she is a highly respected champion of artists’ voices. Across two decades, Esther held arts and media CEO positions across all platforms and art forms, and has served many government policy bodies and arts boards. Her strategic consultancy Test Pattern honours the values of art, tenacity and democracy, working across Australia on strategic development, creative precincts and public policy. As Co-Chair of the Australian Republic Movement, Esther is leading a period of renewal for the organisation, fostering contemporary conversations that reinvigorate our shared conviction that democracy and monarchy are irreconcilable. A prolific writer and broadcaster, her work is published and translated widely, and she is a sought-after speaker and commentator on arts and civic matters.

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