Australia has always been part of the west. It feels culturally like a mix of US and UK. "The west" has never been geographical. It is named like that because t

Australia has always been part of the west. It feels culturally like a mix of US and UK. "The west" has never been geographical. It is named like that because the center of gravity has is western Europe and the US and perhaps more importantly in was named in opposition to the Soviet union and so looking from Europe is looks like "the west".