Australia at the time (1915) was significantly less centralised and nationalist than today, and more local, imperialist and... British. State governments were more powerful than now, having governmental powers that have since become part of the Commonwealth's remit (the most important being revenue raising), and the Commonwealth had to (and chose to) defer to the Empire in matters of foreign policy and defence. That being said, there is plenty of evidence for regional, nationalist, ethnic and imperial identities.

Perhaps the best place to start this discussion is federation itself, by noting that, while the event created a nation out of six colonies, it was far more imperial and parochial than nationalist in sentiment. Initially a six-way debate on economic union, protectionist or free trade policies, joint defence (against Asia, Germany and the USA), it became an idea of cultural and political union full of state-based compromise. Quietly encouraged by the British government, who saw it as a means of turning six small quarrelsome colonies into a single manageable unit, it might surprise a few to learn that some Australians suggested an imperial federation which included Fiji and New Zealand as well – both rejected the offer, as did Australians who did not want non-white citizens or far-off islands.

The would-be state governments bickered over who would be most advantaged and disadvantaged by Federation: Perth saw itself as far too distant from other cities for it to be worth joining the Federation, and thus tried to squeeze concessions out of the East, and threatened to not join at all; Melbourne and Sydney bickered over who would rule, which led to compromise with the choice of Canberra as national capital; north Queensland worried about their exploited Islander plantation labourers being deported; and Adelaide and Tasmania were scared that they would be forgotten and dominated by Sydney and Melbourne.

Some states held onto regional identities far longer than others. When Perth threatened to not join the Federation, the miners of Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie threatened to create their own state Auralia (gold land) and join the federation – but rather than nationalist sentiment, this is more likely to be because they were mostly from Victoria, where they had the right to vote, as opposed to WA where they did not. Perth was a comparatively conservative culture, and was thus frightened of being culturally dominated by more liberal eastern states, and this and fears of economic exploitation meant that WA considered secession numerous times throughout the 20th century, even passing it via referendum in 1933 (which was completely ignored). The GST share is the rallying call of WA today., and North Queensland is also still a hot-spot of regional identity, in its continued dislike of Brisbane and calls for secession from the Queensland as its own state.

Despite these strong regional identities, Australians were incredibly enthusiastic imperialists – they celebrated Empire Day, gloried in monarchy, trumpeted the might of the British race, and even invaded New Guinea in the name of the empire (annoying Britain) – but this enthusiasm was predicated on racist nationalism. Australia’s first law, commonly known as the White Australia Policy, was one element that united early 20th century Australia in a way that few others did – it was used to restrict immigration by non-British migrants, and especially non-white citizens of the empire (like Indians or Maori) with a rigged dictation test. Australia was to be a fortress of the mighty British race, guarded against the hordes of Asia who sought to defile her – Yellow Peril was, and still is, a big deal in Australia – and Aboriginal Australia was thought to be a relic of the ancient past, a race incapable of modernisation and doomed to extinction, and thus would be assimilated by white Australia.

When Australia went to war, it did so as a federated part of the British Empire, and did so enthusiastically. All of the soldiers and sailors sent to the Middle East and France were volunteers, and more than half were British born or had British parentage.