How Did The Vietnam War Affect The Nature Of Migration To Australia

Along with the American presence, Australia’s treatment of aliens also had the potential to cause considerable divisions. When war broke out, many foreigners, mostly Germans, and other ‘dangerous persons were made to prove their identity and placed under strict rules which they had to adhere to in order to live in Australia. However it was not the government, but the

Set during the Vietnam war and at a time where the White Australia policy was not completely dismantled, prejudice is a key

The concept of being a ‘nation of immigrants’ is at the center of Australian identity.

The Hungarians who migrated after World War II were refugees who came to Australia looking for a better life and in doing so significantly contributed to the country by not only offering their culture to the development of Australia’s multiculturalism but by also contributing to the academic and artistic life of Australia. The main reason for Hungarian immigration to Australia was the Hungarian Revolution that followed the disaster of World War II. In Australia the Hungarians quickly proved their dedication to making the most of their new life in Australia and in doing so, contributed to the development of Australian society.

Present day Australia is met with the issue of outlining a sense of a nationwide community, after the breakdown of the British race patriot idea in the mid-1960s with the introduction of multiculturalism. The Euro-centric perception of Australia was annulled and it was incapable in playing a significant part in Australian policies and priorities. It triggered a calamity of national identity and meaning. The credence that Australian’s were apart of Britain, united by history, tradition and blood needed to be revised. A people who had recognized themselves so strongly with the British race now had to accede their race awareness and apprehend the notion of being a now multicultural society. The dawn of multiculturalism also provoked a quandary for balancing a respect of the British heritage with the abating relevance of the British connection and to construct a new language of community from the residues of the old British ways.

The Vietnam War beginning on November 1st 1955 and ending April 30th 1975 was a highly controversial war that originally took place as a civil war between Northern and Southern Vietnam. Northern Vietnam was backed by Russia and China while Southern Vietnam was backed by the USA. This war made a hugely divisive impact on Australian society a few months after they entered in July 1962 as allies to the USA and Southern Vietnam. Some factors of the Vietnam War contributed to cohesion among the Australian public such as the fear of communism and the subsequent “domino effect. However many factors of this war such as the media coverage, conscription being brought back under the Menzies government, anti-war protests and post-war immigration, were all important aspects of this war and made it much more divisive than cohesive, especially in the later stages.

For many years Asian Migrants were restricted from entering Australia and found it difficult to migrate due to discriminatory political policies. The main policies were the ‘dictation test’, the policy of ‘Assimilation’ and the ‘White Australia’ policy. The main Asian Migration wave occurred in 1976 after the Vietnam War forced many people to leave there homes and come here to Australia. These Asian Migrants arrived in Australia by boat which was usually very over crowded. The cause of

The immigration of Vietnamese people to Australia has been occurring for over 40 years in this period of time the reason for migration has changed with the times, but predominantly began with the conflict between North and South Vietnam. With the end of WW2 in 1945, many counties and regions had been greatly affected, including the Pacific, Asia and Europe. The rise of communism, beginning in Russia, and slowly spreading to China was soon adopted by the Northern portion of Vietnam. After declaring independence in 1954, Vietnam divided into North and South Vietnam. Only a few years later the North spread their power and overtook the South, of which resulted in the whole country being ruled by communism.

Culture is always changing. Beliefs, behaviours and presentation, religion and language all form part of what is an individual’s or community’s culture. (Bowes, Grace, & Hodge, 2012, p.75 & 77). Due to its intrinsic nature, when people migrate to Australia, they bring their culture with them. As migrants come from all over the world, and not the one place, their

In the essay, we have discussed a Vietnamese family, how they suffered, in their own country, escaping through Cambodia and Thailand, finally, finding a refuge in Australia. Nguyen’s book is the premise for the essay; there are sourced references supporting the statements used. The first years, after abandoning the White Australia policy, during the time of Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser is looked at briefly. Blainey’s debate is shown as an anti-racist idea, which most Australians did not agree with. The book is well-written by a woman who was not born or was too young to know most of the information, that means that the book was written by gleaning knowledge, from her parents and relatives. Nguyen has chronologically time lined the book excellently.

This paper is divided into two parts. In the first part the concepts or race, ethnicity, prejudice and racism are defined and how they are connected is discussed. Part 2 of the paper looks at the ‘White Australia’ policy and why it was introduced. The impact of such a racist immigration history on contemporary Australia is also discussed in terms of attitudes and behaviours of the population. Following is a brief discussion on how successive government polic

At the beginning of the First World War Australian residents who were citizens of Germany, (as well as those from Italy, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey) were declared as ‘enemy aliens’.

Despite enduring immense hardships throughout their voyages to Australia, it was the negative public sentiment, harnessed by the Australian population, that caused the most adversity for Vietnamese refugees between 1975 and 1985. Fears of countless numbers of Vietnamese “invading” Australia, commonly referred to as the “yellow peril”, were invoked by proponents of the White Australia policy as a justification for the “you’re either with us or against us” approach to a vision of a white Australia. Hence, even as the White Australia policy was being informally relaxed, federal policies expected migrants and refugees to avoid displaying cultural and linguistic differences, thereby actively encouraging a homogenising force of White Australia. Thus, Vietnamese refugees were mostly treated with hostility within the Australian population, with many fearing that the Vietnamese community would not enculturate and conform to the established Australian customs and ideologies. This notion was reiterated by news polls conducted during the period, which showed that “the majority surveyed felt that the number of immigrants arriving in Australia was too high.” Consequently, the late 1970s and early 1980s were characterised by a prominent level of ethnocentrism, as overwhelmingly negative attitudes towards refugees began to surface.

On the 24 July 1958 Tijlka (Thea) Van De Kuyt arrived in Fremantle, Australia with her mother, father, younger brother and two younger sisters. As Nonja Peter states “Australian immigration has always been driven by the need to attract enough labour for the developing economy and recruitment policy, procedures and bi-lateral agreements, continue to heed this imperative.” World War 2 caused a massive shift in migration to Australia, where many families and young individuals came to Australia looking for a better life and an opportunity to find employment where they could not in their home country. Through the case study of Thea Dukic in relation to wider migration in the mid to late 1950s we will see that there was still a stigma of white

Migration in a globalized society is no longer determine by the dichotomy of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors. Many people who’re looking to migrate for a multitude of reasons and likewise governments throughout the world are looking to bring in people who add to the labour market and for ‘cultural exchange’ purposes. I interviewed my French neighbour Pierre. His decision to move Australia on a working holiday visa (417 visa) was a combination of a desire to explore the world, find employment and that Australia was a willing participant for his migration. Pierre has discovered cultural differences, namely an openly casually racist society and the realities of a labour based migration system. Pierre’s migration experience has similar characteristics