The unofficial national policy of Australia from 1901 to the late 1960s, designed to exclude non-European migrants; it was particularly aimed at Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Africans who, it was feared, might come to dominate Europeans. The trade union movement supported the policy on the grounds that it excluded workers who might undermine union wage rates. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Colombo Plan (1950) brought Asian students to Australia, and their presence helped to reduce racial prejudice in the major urban areas. In the late 1960s, the policy was progressively dismantled, and race was replaced as a basis for admission by other criteria such as educational and technical qualifications.
The White Australia Policy is the prevailing term used to describe a collection of racist Australian policies which restricted non-white immigration and promoted white, European immigration from 1830 to 1973 with related policies enduring as late as 1982.
Initially born out of British nationalism and later fuelled by anti-Chinese racism during the gold rush of the 1850's and labour union protests of the 1880's, the key legislative enactment of the White Australia Policy was the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901.
In contemporary Australian public and academic discourses, the term 'White Australia Policy' is commonly used to refer to the conception of Australia in ethno-nationalistic terms.
Immigration policy prior to Federation
Pre Gold Rush Immigration
Prior to 1830, the Australian colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land had no specific policies on immigration; Of the nearly 150,000 convicts transported to Australia, only 4,000 were not from the British dominions and of these only 900 were non-white.
From 1830, the two Australian colonies made deliberate efforts to increase the number of Britons in Australia, as part of a program to increase their population. This was driven by a "new Britannia" policy which aimed to see Australia recreated in Britain's image.
Gold Rush Era
The discovery of gold in Australia in 1851 led to an influx of immigrants from around the world.
This tension eventually led to a series of protests and riots, including the Lambing Flat Riots between 1860 and 1861.
Racism in the labour movement
The growth of the sugar industry in Queensland in the 1870's led to searching for labourers prepared to work in a tropical environment.
Objections to non-white immigration restrictions came largely from wealthy land owners in rural areas. Despite these objections to restricting immigration, between 1875-1888 all Australian colonies enacted legislation which excluded all further Chinese immigration.
Agreements were made to further increase these restrictions in 1895 following an Intercolonial Premier's Conference where all colonies agreed to extend entry restrictions to all non-white races.
From Federation to World War II
Federation Convention and Australia's first government
Immigration was a prominent topic in the leadup to Australian Federation. At the Federation Convention, Western Australian premier and future federal cabinet member, John Forrest, summarised the prevailing feeling:
[It is] of no use to shut our eyes to the fact that there is a great feeling all over Australia against the introduction of coloured persons.
Australia's first government following Federation in 1901 was formed by the Protectionist Party with the support of the Australian Labor Party. The support of the Labor Party was contingent upon restricting non-white immigration, reflecting the attitudes of the Australian Worker's Union and other labour organisations at the time, upon whose support the Labor Party was founded.
Immigration Restriction Act 1901
The new Federal Parliament, as one of its first pieces of legislation, passed the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 to "place certain restrictions on immigration and...
Early drafts of the Act explicitly banned non-Europeans from migrating to Australia but objections from the British government, which feared that such a measure would offend British subjects in India and Britain's allies in Japan, caused the Barton government to remove this wording.
Australia was not the only British Dominion to have such immigration policies.
In the same year, the government also passed the Pacific Island Labourers Act. The result of this legislation is that 7,500 Pacific Islanders working in Australia were deported.
The Paris Peace Conference
At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference following World War I, Japan attended the conference with the explicit intention of having a racial equality clause included in the League of Nations Charter.
Australia was one of few countries which had race as a dominant political ideology at the time. Hughes recognised that such a clause would be a threat to White Australia and made it clear to Lloyd George that he would leave the conference if the clause was adopted. When the proposal failed Hughes reported in the Australian parliament:
The White Australia is yours.
Abolition of the Policy
World War II
Between the Great Depression, starting in 1929 and the commencement of World War II in 1939, global economic pressures kept immigration to very low levels. At the start of the war, John Curtin reinforced the message of the White Australia Policy by 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."
However, by the end of World War II, Australia's vulnerability during the war in the Pacific and small population led to policies summarised by the slogan "Populate or Perish". During the war, many non-white refugees, including Malays, Indonesians and Filipinos, had settled in Australia. In 1949 Harold Holt allowed the remaining 800 non-white refugees to apply for residency and also allowed Japanese "war brides" to settle in Australia.
Relaxation of restrictions
Australian policy began to shift towards significantly increasing immigration. Legislative changes over the next few decades continuously opened up immigration in Australia.
1947 the Australian Government relaxed the Immigration Restriction Act allowing non-Europeans to settle permanently in Australia for business reasons.After a review of the non-European policy in March 1966, Immigration Minister Hubert Opperman announced applications for migration would be accepted from well-qualified people on the basis of their suitability as settlers, their ability to integrate readily and their possession of qualifications positively useful to Australia. At the same time, the Holt Liberal government decided a number of 'temporary resident' non-Europeans, who were not required to leave Australia, could become permanent residents and citizens after five years (the same as for Europeans).
End of the White Australia Policy
The effective end of the White Australia policy is usually dated to 1973, when the Whitlam Labor government implemented a series of amendments preventing the enforcement of racial aspects of the immigration law.
It was not until the Fraser government's review of immigration law in 1978 that all selection of prospective migrants based on country of origin was entirely removed from official policy. Currently, a large number of Australia's immigrants are from countries such as China and India, though the United Kingdom and New Zealand respectively remain the two largest single sources of immigrants.
The last selective immigration policy, offering relocation assistance to British nationals, was finally removed in 1982.
Legacy
Population Distribution
The 2001 Australian census results indicate that a majority of Australians claim some European heritage: English 37%, Irish 11%, Italian 5%, German 4.3%, Scottish 3%, Greek 2%, Dutch 1.5%, Polish 0.9%. In Australia, although the definition of 'white' is always opinion based, it primarily pertains to people of Anglo-Saxon, Nordic, Celtic, Germanic, Slavic and other people of that origin or appearance, sometimes excluding people from the Balkans, and Mediterranean basin. (see definition of Wog in Australia usage) (Note that subjects were permitted to select more than one answer for this census question.)
15 percent of the population now speaks a language other than English at home.
Given that current Australian birth rates are below levels required for population replacement, it is possible that, with declining birth rates compensated by immigration, there may be fewer native-born Australians than immigrants by 2100 (see graphs).
Political and Social Legacy
Discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity has been illegal in Australia since 1975. Australia's official policy on racial diversity is: "to build on our success as a culturally diverse, accepting and open society, united through a shared future ". The White Australia Policy continues to be mentioned in modern contexts, although few politicians ever mention the policy, except when denouncing their opposition. John Howard argued for restricting immigration in 1988, later admitting that his comments cost him his job at the time:
I'm not in favour of going back to a White Australia policy. Pauline Hanson was widely accused of taking Australia back to the days of the White Australia Policy, particularly through reference to Arthur Calwell, one of the policy's strongest supporters:
I and most Australians want our immigration policy radically reviewed and that of multiculturalism abolished.
Topics related to racism and immigration in Australia are still regularly connected by the media to the White Australia Policy. Former opposition Labor party leader Mark Latham, in his book The Latham Diaries, described the ANZUS alliance as a legacy of the White Australia policy. History of the White Australia Policy to 1920. The White Australia Policy.
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