A ‘White Australia’ for the new national capital: Museum Victoria. The newly federated Australian government in 1901 quickly introduced national legislation to protect its security and assert its sense of identity as a member of the British Empire.
The first act it passed was the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act. Known as the White Australia policy, the act restricted the entry of non-Europeans by means of a dictation test, which could be given in languages other than English. People suffering physical or mental diseases, convicted criminals, prostitutes and those reliant on charity, were also refused entry. Poster, about 1910Source: State Library of Victoria, La Trobe Picture Collection. A–Z for researchers. Certificate exempting Ron Shun Wah from the dictation test, 1932 (NAA: J25, 1966/11980) In the last decades of the nineteenth century, concern was growing in the Australian colonies about the level of 'coloured' immigration to Australia, particularly from China, and many colonies passed restrictive immigration legislation.
Following Federation in 1901, one of the first pieces of Commonwealth legislation passed was the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, based on the earlier colonial legislation. Immigration And nation Building - Institutions. Immigration And Nation Building - Institutions The Administration Of The White Australia Policy "The whole existence of this democracy depends upon our maintenance of the great principle of a White Australia" Senator Drake-Brockman, Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, 1920. p 4863 On December 23, 1901 the Immigration Restriction Act received Royal Assent.
Invisible Australians: Living under the White Australia Policy. Documenting Democracy. Significance This document put in place the law that was the cornerstone of Australia's 'White Australia' policy.
The Governor-General signed the document two days before Christmas Day 1901, a week after he had signed the Pacific Islander Labourers Act into law. Together with Section 15 of the 1901 Post and Telegraph Act (see below), these formed a powerful set of legal instruments shaping immigration policy at the foundation of the Commonwealth. They continued to guide thinking on immigration for half a century. History The Immigration Restriction Act was the key part of a package of legislation passed by the new Federal Parliament in 1901, aimed at excluding all non-European migrants.
The mechanism restricting immigration could not be overtly based on race as this was opposed by Britain and frowned upon by Britain's ally, Japan. The Dictation Test was administered 805 times in 1902–03 with 46 people passing and 554 times in 1904–09 with only six people successful. Sources Description. White Australia Policy - From Convicts to Chinese. " The anti-Chinese movements were caused by economic factors rather than racial factors, commencing in the opposition to further transportation of convicts in the 1830s and 1840s.
" Takao Fujikawa - Japanese researcher into the White Australia Policy The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 (White Australia Policy) was one of the world's oddest race-based government policies in that much of the impetus for it came from white men who liked and respected non-white races to the point they felt inferior by comparison. Reflecting the nuanced psychological issues that flowed from that respect, the Act instructed migration officials to use a dictation test that allowed non-whites to be excluded without publicly acknowledging that they were being targeted for exclusion.
In other words, it was widely understood to be an Act designed to exclude non-whites but officially it wasn’t. "Historically, the greatest rift has been between the "exclusives" and the "emancipists". Later Carboni wrote: Email. Racism. No Way.: Fact Sheets: White Australia Policy. Fact sheets The "White Australia" Policy The 'White Australia' policy describes Australia's approach to immigration, from federation until the latter part of the 20th century, which favoured applicants from certain countries.
The origins of the 'White Australia' policy can be traced to the 1850s. White miners' resentment towards Chinese diggers led to violence on the Buckland River in Victoria, and at Lambing Flat (now Young) in New South Wales. The governments of these two colonies introduced restrictions on Chinese immigration. In 1901, the new federal government passed the Immigration Restriction Act which ended the employment of Pacific Islanders and placed tight controls on certain immigrants. Other restrictions included a dictation test, used to exclude certain applicants by requiring them to pass a written test in a language, with which they were not necessarily familiar, nominated by an immigration officer.
Government policy now recognises and celebrates our cultural diversity.