In the end both Australia’s Empire and Canada and the British Empire contain many thoughtful contributions. Their best essays are excellent. Yet collectively they struggle to fulfil their goal of restoring empire to its rightful place in Australian and Canadian history.

Finally, since the idea of white Australia was primal throughout the British period, Schreuder and Ward comment that there is a real problem in disentangling the defining characteristics of the "old Australia" from its sustaining race-based assumptions. So perhaps India had it relatively easy. Once decolonisation occurred, the country could face its future unambiguously. Daily we are witnessing the result. The process is more complex for an old dominion; we are not even in the habit of seeing ourselves as a successor state. Until we do, there will always be a lack of urgency about the challenges before us. The flag described by Jerry Seinfeld as "Britain by night" still flies over what, to onlookers, can seem little more than a lifestyle.