White Australia policy

The Australian Natives' Association, comprising Australian-born whites, produced this badge in 1911. Prime Minister Edmund Barton was a member of the association.[1] The badge shows the use of the slogan "White Australia" at that time.[2]

The White Australia policy was a set of racist policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origins – especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders – from immigrating to Australia in order to create a "white/British" ideal focused on but not exclusively Anglo-Celtic peoples. Pre-Federation, the Australian colonies passed many anti-Chinese immigration laws mainly using Poll Taxes, with Federation in 1901 came discrimination based on the Dictation Test, which effectively gave power to immigration officials to racially discriminate without mentioning race.[3] The policy also affected immigrants from Germany, Italy, and other European countries, especially in wartime.[4][5][6][7] Governments progressively dismantled such policies between 1949 and 1973. At first these changes were due to international pressure and were token modifications designed to maintain a white Australia until the Whitlam government removed the last racial elements of Australia's immigration laws.[8][9]

Competition in the gold fields between European and Chinese miners, and labour union opposition to the importation of Pacific Islanders (primarily South Sea Islanders) into the sugar plantations of Queensland, reinforced demands to eliminate or minimize low-wage immigration from Asia and the Pacific Islands. From the 1850s colonial governments imposed restrictions on Chinese arrivals, including poll taxes and tonnage restrictions. The colonial authorities levied a special tax on Chinese immigrants which other immigrants did not have to pay. Towards the end of the 19th century, labour unions pushed to stop Chinese immigrants from working in the furniture and market garden industries. Some laws were passed regarding the labelling of Chinese made furniture in Victoria and West Australia but not in NSW. Chinese people dominated market gardening until their numbers declined as departures were not replaced.[10]

Soon after Australia became a federation in January 1901, the federal government of Edmund Barton passed the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901; this was drafted by Alfred Deakin, who eventually became Australia's second prime minister. The passage of this bill marked the commencement of the White Australia Policy as Australian federal government policy. The key feature of this legislation was the Dictation Test: "That the Dictation Test was the backbone of the White Australia project for more than 50 years is well known, as is, if somewhat less so, that it was a test that could be given in any European language chosen with the intent that passing was not an option. Much less well known is that to fail the test was a crime punishable by up to six months in prison, that it was given to children as young a five years of age, and that of at least six other similar 'Education Test' laws passed around the world, only the Commonwealth of Australia's was designed to be 'an absolute bar' to those selected to be tested."[11] Subsequent acts further strengthened the policy up to the start of World War II.[12] These policies effectively gave British migrants preference over all others through the first half of the 20th century. During World War II, Prime Minister John Curtin reinforced the policy, saying "This country shall remain forever the home of the descendants of those people who came here in peace in order to establish in the South Seas an outpost of the British race."[8]

Successive governments dismantled the policy in stages after the conclusion of World War II. The Menzies and Holt governments (1949–1967) began allowing non-British Europeans to immigrate to Australia, but only made token changes regarding Asians to create an appearance of non-discrimination.[13] The Whitlam government passed laws to ensure that race would be totally disregarded as a component for immigration to Australia in 1973. In 1975, the Whitlam government passed the Racial Discrimination Act, which made racially-based selection criteria unlawful. In the decades since, Australia has maintained large-scale multi-ethnic immigration. As of 2018, Australia's migration program allows people from any country to apply to immigrate to Australia, regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, culture, religion, or language, provided that they meet the criteria set out in law.[8] Prior to 2011, the United Kingdom was the largest source country for immigration to Australia but, since then, China and India have provided the highest number of permanent migrants.[14] The National Museum of Australia describes the White Australia Policy as openly racist, stating that it "existed because many white Australians feared that non-white immigrants would threaten Australian society".[15]

  1. ^ Design, UBC Web. "Australian Natives Association Centenary – Monument Australia". monumentaustralia.org.au. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  2. ^ See Museum Victoria description Archived 5 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Michael Williams (2021). Australia's Dictation Test: The Test it was a Crime to Fail. Brill. p. passim. ISBN 978-90-04-47110-8.
  4. ^ "A history of the Department of Immigration:managing migration to Australia" (PDF). Canberra: Australian Department of Home Affairs. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  5. ^ W. D. Borrie (1954). Italians and Germans in Australia: a study of assimilation. Australian National University.
  6. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ Sparrow, Jeff (19 November 2018). "Australia's history of anti-Italian racism echoes grotesquely in rhetoric about Sudanese people". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  8. ^ a b c "Fact Sheet – Abolition of the 'White Australia' Policy". Australian Immigration. Commonwealth of Australia: National Communications Branch, Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  9. ^ Michael Williams (2021). Australia's Dictation Test: The Test it was a Crime to Fail. Brill. p. passim. ISBN 978-90-04-47110-8.
  10. ^ Michael Williams (2021). Australia's Dictation Test: The Test it was a Crime to Fail. Brill. p. 168. ISBN 978-90-04-47110-8.
  11. ^ Michael Williams (2021). Australia's Dictation Test: The Test it was a Crime to Fail. Brill. p. 3. ISBN 978-90-04-47110-8.
  12. ^ Wendy Lewis, Simon Balderstone and John Bowan (2006). Events That Shaped Australia. New Holland. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-74110-492-9.
  13. ^ Michael Williams (2021). Australia's Dictation Test: The Test it was a Crime to Fail. Brill. p. 147. ISBN 978-90-04-47110-8.
  14. ^ Phillips, Janet; Simon-Davies, Joanne (18 January 2017). "Migration to Australia: a quick guide to the statistics". Australian Parliament House. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022.
  15. ^ "End of the White Australia policy – Australia's Defining Moments Digital Classroom – National Museum of Australia". digital-classroom.nma.gov.au. Archived from the original on 1 January 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2023.

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