White Australia Policy

I

Introduction

White Australia Policy, policy of Australia restricting non-European immigration in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The policy was developed by the British colonies of Australia, mainly in response to Chinese immigrants, who were attracted to Australia by gold rushes in the 1850s. Later the policy was expanded to cover Eastern Europeans, South Americans, Africans, and people from islands near Australia. The colonial and federal governments claimed the laws were needed because immigrants often worked for low wages and in poor conditions, thereby worsening conditions for all workers. Although these fears were real, many Australians also believed they were racially superior to immigrants, and a significant minority believed the races were so different they could never form a homogeneous single society.

II

Implementing the Policy

In 1855 Victoria became the first Australian colony to restrict immigration when it imposed an entry tax on Chinese immigrants. In part, the tax was meant to calm white miners who did not want Chinese competition in Victoria’s gold fields. Two years later South Australia passed a similar tax. In 1860 and 1861 rioting Australian miners tried to run Chinese miners off their dig sites in New South Wales. After the riots, known as the Lambing Flat Riots, New South Wales also restricted immigration.

Immigration policy lost urgency for a period, until gold was discovered in Queensland in 1877. Both Chinese and Australians flocked to the mines, creating a tense situation. At the same time, Queensland farmers were importing Pacific Islanders to work in the colony’s sugarcane fields. The islanders, historically referred to as Kanakas, worked for very low wages and were usually treated with extreme cruelty. As competition from Kanaka and Chinese labor grew, white Australians increasingly voiced their frustration with immigrants. Leaders of several colonies suggested addressing immigration issues by unifying their policies. Intercolonial conferences on immigration were held in 1881 and 1888, and eventually all of the colonies adopted similar, highly restrictive policies.

III

A Unified White Australia Policy

A central part of the unified White Australia Policy was the Immigration Act of 1901, passed shortly after Australia was federated. Under the act, officials were allowed to give a test to immigrants in an unfamiliar language. When the immigrants failed it, they were barred from entering the country. Such “dictation tests” allowed Australia to discriminate against “undesirable” immigrants without singling out specific nations. For a time, this vagueness allowed Australia to avoid offending trade partners and potential allies. In 1904 the Immigration Act was amended to keep immigrants who already lived in Australia from bringing the rest of their families to join them. Another act returned all Kanakas who had arrived after the mid-1880s to their original islands. As foreigners became aware of Australia’s immigration policy, the number of people trying to enter the country dropped dramatically.

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During World War I (1914-1918) Australia suffered a labor shortage as workers left for the European front. Australia again met its labor shortage by recruiting overseas workers. In 1916 a public outcry against these immigrants prompted Prime Minister William Morris Hughes to turn away nearly 300 Maltese workers who landed in Sydney and Melbourne. After World War I, the federal government floated the idea of recruiting “colored people” to develop the Northern Territory. The proposal sparked a debate about the White Australia Policy that resulted in a governmental commission to examine immigration; the commission, however, had almost no effect on the White Australia Policy.

IV

Ending the Policy

World War II (1939-1945) helped bring an end to the discrimination, in part because the war forced Australia to become closer with other Australasian nations that were also threatened by Japan. The first significant weakening of the policy came in 1951, when the first of several thousand Asian students arrived in Australia under the Colombo Plan, which was designed to promote economic development in Australasia. In the 1950s and 1960s other parts of the White Australia Policy were gradually dismantled. By the 1970s the federal government had removed all racial restrictions from its immigration law. Today, Australian immigration policy is based mainly on occupational and family status.

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