White Australia Research Paper

I argue that the ideologies behind The Assimilation Policy were evident since the first white settlers had arrived in 1788. Since first contact, Aboriginal people’s values, customs, beliefs and traditional way of life began to erode. From the 1850s onwards, Aboriginal people were forced onto reserves, and then into towns and cities in the mid 20th century . Many people feared that the ‘Australian’ culture was being affected by immigrants. Since the early 1900s, there had been a ‘White Australia’ policy and assimilation was expected upon arrival. However, Aboriginal people did not immigrate, so their policy, dictated by the Australian States and Commonwealth Government was known as The Policy of Assimilation. Assimilation policies were supported by racist assumptions and represented by settler nationalist imperatives . In the 1950s, assimilation policies for Aboriginal people were supported by the

Australia…The Lucky Country, or so they thought. This act was racial, Australia were trying to create a white utopia, a paradox forged against the odds. Modern Australia is a multicultural Country, however, this wasn’t the plan, over 100 years ago, an act was put into place to create a White society. This was infuriating for the non – white and non – Europeans. This was called the Immigration Restriction act which is now known as the White Australian Policy (WAP). This changed the race of Australia’s face. In modern day Australia over 22 million people now live in this beautiful Country that has an equal society.

WWII had a big impact on the social changes in Australia before and after the war. One of the reasons it had such an impact on Australia was due to the immigration policy, which was made to increase Australia’s population. The immigration policy is a policy on legal migrants. Legal migrants who come to Australia under the migration act are non – Australians who come to the country for work or other reasons without permission or people who overstay their visas. This enforces that those who come in the country without permission may be subject to mandatory immigration detention and may be deported from the country at any time, unless been given permission to stay in Australia. This policy has contributed to the multicultural society of Australia today. To this day, there in an estimated 50 000 people who have overstayed their visas, most of these people come from British nations. Those touching base by boat or different means without official classification as refugees are no longer granted permission outcast status on landing. For example, those from an Asian background are becoming a more familiar part of Australia’s society today. Overseas migrant entries have assumed a vital part in changing the face of Australia. The current variety of migrants born in Australia include areas such as The United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam, China, Greece, Germany, Philippines and India. Since the change in immigration policy in the late 1960s to one of non-discrimination on race or ethnic background, there has been a significant change in the overseas sources of migrants, with settlers arriving from more diverse regions of the world. To this day, Australia’s overseas born population consists of people who practise over 140 recognized ethnic groups, people who fluently speak over 90 different languages and people who believe in over 80 different religions. This expanding ethnic and social diversity has changed the way Australians view both themselves and other societies of the world. It has

This was for many reasons but one main reason being the fact that the whites could lose their occupations and industries to a Chinese being, which were also known as coolies. Source 1 states that some of the earliest evidence was during the gold rush during the 1850’s, Chinese were hard workers and needed to support their families and themselves. It also states in source 1 that South Sea Island Islanders (commonly known as ‘Kanakas’) were imported as cheap labour to work in Northern Queensland. This was so they could work on the sugar cane fields; the process is called ‘black birding’. Source 7 shows that the origins that the Policy was built on was because of ‘racial exclusiveness’ on the gold fields. The Dictation Test, as seen in source 5, was given to all non-European people attempting to enter Australia in the years between 1901 and 1958. The test was harsh and any foreigner who took the test was almost always set to fail. It was incredibly unfair to the ‘coolies’ that were trying to enter. Another reason that the immigration act was passed was because of ‘racial

Australia is a very culturally diverse country, meaning that it consists of many cultures and ethnicities from around the world. This diversity is mostly due to immigration,

The assimilation policy was brought into the aboriginal community in 1937, by numerous commonwealth and state government representatives. This policy aimed to make the aboriginals of Australia conform to the custom and traditions of the white Australians of British origin. When the policy was brought in it only applied to people of mixed decent, people who are part European and aboriginal. In1951 the assimilation policy changed to state all aboriginals shall attain the same manner of living as other Australians. Again in 1965 the policy was adjusted, but continued to apply to all aboriginal people. Aboriginal people of Australia have always had a strong connection with the land, each other and their religion. In 1960 the assimilation policy was declared a failure; through out the previous years surprisingly the community of aboriginals had continued to grow. This was to the white people, a sign of their strength, their traditions and how they as a community will continue to fight for their rights. While they still continued to grow in number

During the years from 1914 - 1918 Australia was at constant battle all over the world fighting for the british. With battles deaths always follow. So many people say, “what did we ever gain from WW1 we lost so many people as a country”. Although we lost almost 60,000 men and 150,000 wounded or taken prisoner. After the war the British Government offered ex-servicemen free transportation to some of the colonies, 17,000 migrants arrived in Australia between 1919 and 1922. Community organisations paid for migrants to come over to Australia. Small numbers also arrived independently. It was also said that up to 300,000 men came over from britain post war to live. The British government gave an incentive to migrate over because so many people

These ideals were inevitably challenged when white society was confronted by people of mixed blood. The lack of conformity by the Aboriginal race to a white lifestyle was seen as a problem as was the growing number of ‘half castes’.[17] Some Australians found it offensive to see almost white children living amongst Aboriginal families.[18] As a solution to this problem, in 1937 the Federal Government adopted the Policy of Absorption as the future destiny of the Aboriginal people of Australia.[19] This decision was based on prevailing scientific and anthropological knowledge which suggested that Australian Aborigines were descended from the Caucasian race[20].

With the already little population of 5 million Australian people and the loss of 300,000 men, this should have been a dark time, but to make up on that loss Australia received 300,000 migrants. These Migrants came from Britain. As there was a large amount of unemployment the British government encouraged the people of britain to migrate to Australia. Also the

Australia was in a time of crisis during World War 2 (1945) when they were threatened by the Japanese invasions. Australia did not have a big population at that time resulting in not have a strong defence to protect Australia. The Department of Immigration that was created then strongly urged that Australia needed an increase in its population by at least 1% each year. They needed a plan to gain a huge population; they needed to populate or perish!

Asian Immigrants have gone from having a continuous restriction year to year then to becoming a major part of Australian society. However, since the policy of Integration in 1970 and the abolishment of the dictation test in 1958 Asians has had the opportunity to migrate to Australia. This has been continuous since that major change with more and more arriving every year. The changes in these policies were made as Australia was becoming a more multicultural society and the Asian Migration wave has altered Australia today by making Australia richer and more culturally diverse. Asian immigrants have also contributed to the change in the Australian Political Policies which has allowed Migrants to become more accepted into Australia. Because of this no changes should be made to these political

The roots of the 'White Australia ' policy can be outlined to the 1850s. Until the 'White Australia 's policy was abolished in the twentieth century, Australia was officially defined as white. Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people were not considered the part of White Australia, and indigenous Studies was not required in the school curriculum. This meant schooling was culturally unsuitable for indigenous students. Furthermore, the Australian students were not educated to appreciate Indigenous cultures either in past or present. Aboriginal Studies is about social justice for all Australians -- equity, human rights, a fair go and mutual respect for our fellow Australians. It is hard to define social justice but everybody

The Assimilation was a policy set by the government in 1937 and went to till 1964. This policy of Assimilation was set not just for Aborigines in Australia but for all foreign immigrants that were not European and white in colour. Having this policy set in

The White Australia policy introduced as the Immigration Restriction Act in 1901. The policy was about changing Australia 's population so that it was, like that of Great Britain. The act was passed by the federal government of Australia (Immi.gov.au, 2014). The policy was extremely supported and applauded by the public, with Prime Minister Hughes in 1919 stating “(this is) the greatest thing we have achieved” (Immi.gov.au, 2014).

1901 marked Federation of Australia and the Immigration Restriction Act which encompassed the White Australia policy which required all migrants to pass a dictation test before they could enter Australia. These laws were in place until 1958.