White Australia Policy

449 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: White australia a racist policy

The immigration Restriction Act 1901or more commonly known as the White Australia Policy was made 'to place certain restrictions on immigration and to provide for the removal from the Commonwealth of prohibited immigrants' (Australian Government Department of Immigration and Boarder Protection, 2013) or in other words to have an all-white British colony. This act was unfair for all those who were not British and those who were of colour. In this essay, I will discuss the experiences of the non-Anglo-Celtic groups in Australia before the White Australia policy was introduced, the political and social arguments for the White Australia Policy and the consequences of the White Australia Policy for individuals and groups, up until 1918.
There were mixed experiences for the non-Anglo-Celtic groups in Australia before the White Australia Policy was introduced. For example, majority of the Chinese Gold Miners were treated differently to other countries and groups that mined for gold in Australia. Most were not a pleasant experience as they were treated as outsiders and harshly judged for their cultural differences. The gold miners also worked for no money but when they found gold it was theirs to keep and they could do whatever they wanted to do with it. This is how the gold miners made a living for them and their family. …show more content…

Those who were of colour or those who were non-British disliked the policy. Those who were British wanted to keep Australia white, but on the other hand, those who were non-British hated the White Australia Policy for many reasons. One of the reasons includes being separated from their families, they were disgraced as Australia was their place for work and a way to make their living. On the other hand, the British thought they were marvellous for making this policy as they were not being straight out racist yet they were still keeping Australia

Show More
Related

  • Australia's Arguments Against Federation

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    Immigration, transport, trade and taxes, and growing national pride were the three main reasons Australia needed to federate. Fear of coming under foreign attack, and concern over being invaded by non-white immigrants were major factors, which encouraged support to Federate. Despite the fact that several colonies already had implemented laws, which restricted immigrants from certain countries, all of the colonies were keen to strengthen their policies. In this time, there were many prejudgments against the Chinese and Pacific Islanders. The Chinese immigrated during the gold rush period, in the 1850s and from 1863; Pacific Islanders were also brought to Australia to work in the hot conditions in the sugarcane fields. People believed that foreign workers took jobs away from them.

    Read More

  • The Significance of the Gallipoli Campaign in Australian History

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    Australian men were very keen to get involved in the war because they felt that it was their duty and if they didn’t go to war it would make them look cowardly. “Men rushed to enlist. In the first two weeks 7000 Victorian men volunteered for the first Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and 10 000 in Sydney.” It was a man’s duty to go to war. Most people who lived in Australia felt an obligation to England. England was at war so Australians wanted to go and help them. “The war would be glorious, exciting and ‘over by Christmas’.” This is what people were hearing at the time. Australia was not geographically close to the war in Europe and they did not know the realities of war. They got a huge shock when they...

    Read More

  • Post World War Two Racism, in Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Australian Communities

    1867 Words  | 4 Pages

    During world war two Australia came close to being invaded, the Japanese in Sydney Harbor were a huge fright to many Australians. After world war two it seemed Australia needed to populate or perish. So the government made a big push to fill Australia. Many children were born due to this new idea. They were called the 'Baby boomers'. The baby boomers were being born at huge rates and inflating Australians population. The white Australia policy was pretty much abandoned as migrants flooded into Australia. White Australians still felt that they were superior but they needed these immigrants to populate Australia.

    Read More

  • Which Policy Had the Largest Impact on the Indigenous Australians

    1011 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 place meant that Aborigines were forced to give up their heritage and adopt the culture of the British/Anglo Saxons. This law sent children away from their families to learn how to become and live like a white Australian, leaving all memories, beliefs, and traditions behind. Another major impact this had toward the Aborigines was they had no rights or freedoms and finally all culture, heritage, beliefs were left behind and made to start a new life living as a 'white fella’.

    Read More

  • Gallipoli: The defining moment in Australian National Identity

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    Of course it is naïve to believe that Australians only developed an identity after the First World War, but it is true to say that it was changed forever. Before Australia became the Australia known today, it was a land of bush rangers, farmers and convicts; a penal colony that had ambitions of becoming a nation who self-governed and had unified defence and transport*. Before federation Australia had fought in Sudan and the Boer War to provide support to the mother country as it was thought to be a heroic endeavour that was a type of rite of passage (Australian War Memorial, n.d.) and there was a global perception of who and what Australians were. Upon federation the people were very consciously intent on building themselves into a great nation (Bean, 1993), but not to sever ties to Britain completely as mostly foreign policy relied on what the British government dictated (Rickard, 1992).

    Read More

  • Injustice In Australia Essay

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the world, in history and in present day, injustice has affected all of us. Whether it is racial, sexist, discriminatory, being left disadvantaged or worse, injustice surrounds us. Australia is a country that has been plagued by injustice since the day our British ancestors first set foot on Australian soil and claimed the land as theirs. We’ve killed off many of the Indigenous Aboriginal people, and also took Aboriginal children away from their families; this is known as the stolen generation. On the day Australia became a federation in 1901, the first Prime Minister of Australia, Edmund Barton, created the White Australia Policy. This only let people of white skin colour migrate to the country. Even though Australia was the first country to let women vote, women didn’t stand in Parliament until 1943 as many of us didn’t support female candidates, this was 40 years after they passed the law in Australian Parliament for women to stand in elections. After the events of World War Two, we have made an effort to make a stop to these issues here in Australia.

    Read More

  • Dorothy Mackellar's Poem 'My Australia'

    582 Words  | 2 Pages

    English literature have been used to express the experiences and history of Australia. In Dorothy Mackellar’s “My Australia” poem, signifies the beauties and the terrors of the luck country. However, Migrants experience a different terror, as conveyed by Ania Walwicz as the “big, ugly” side of Australians - facing the cruel racism of the White Australian Policy. In Australia’s history, Migrants have been treated with alienation and physical discrimination which distant them from Australia’s community. Migrants not only faces the terrors of the land but also the racism enforced by Australia’s laws.

    Read More

  • Imperialism In Australia

    478 Words  | 1 Pages

    Australia was imperialized by England for land, and for space for their conflicts. The conflicts were there to farm food for the English people. At the same time England had already had other countries under their control at this time. Australian people were not very happy with the English

    Read More

  • History Wars: Recognition of Indigenous Australians

    1851 Words  | 4 Pages

    Reynolds, H. (2005). Nowhere People: How international race thinking shaped Australia’s identity. Australia: Penguin Group

    Read More

  • Policies Affecting Indigenous Australians

    1563 Words  | 4 Pages

    The protection policy the first policy and had serious affects on the aboriginals of Australia. Violence against aboriginal people had been at a high rate, the white Australians felt it their duty to protect the aboriginals, the policy aimed to separate aboriginals from white Australians. They were removed and put into government reserves and church missions, where they were forced to become Christians. The aim of the policy and missions was to eradicate all aboriginals’ languages, religions and spirituality, In 1883 a protection board was set up to run the missions. The missions and camps had a paternalistic approach, treating the aboriginals the way a parent would treat a small child. The impact from this policy was horrific, with the mission being similar to a prison. Aboriginals lost their independence and became extremely reliant o...

    Read More

  • The Assimilation Policy and Its Impact on the Indigenous Australian Society

    1077 Words  | 3 Pages

    The assimilation policy was a policy that existed between the 1940’s and the 1970’s, and replaced that of protectionism. Its purpose was to have all persons of aboriginal blood and mixed blood living like ‘white’ Australians, this established practice of removing Aboriginal children (generally half-bloods) from their homes was to bring them up without their culture, and they were encouraged to forget their aboriginal heritage. Children were placed in institutions where they could be 'trained' to take their place in white society. During the time of assimilation Aboriginal people were to be educated for full citizenship, and have access to public education, housing and services. However, most commonly aboriginal people did not receive equal rights and opportunities, for example, their wages were usually less than that paid to the white workers and they often did not receive recognition for the roles they played in the defence of Australia and their contribution to the cattle industry. It wasn’t until the early 1960’s that expendi...

    Read More

  • The Stolen Generation of Aboriginal Decent

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    Within Australia, beginning from approximately the time of European settlement to late 1969, the Aboriginal population of Australia experienced the detrimental effects of the stolen generation. A majority of the abducted children were ’half-castes’, in which they had one white parent and the other of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. Following the government policies, the European police and government continued the assimilation of Aboriginal children into ‘white’ society. Oblivious to the destruction and devastation they were causing, the British had believed that they were doing this for “their [Aborigines] own good”, that they were “protecting” them as their families and culture were deemed unfit to raise them. These beliefs caused ...

    Read More

  • Educational Policies and Aboriginal Australian History

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    Key events in Aboriginal Australian history stem from the time Australia was first discovered in 1788. For instance, when Federation came into existence in 1901, there was a prevailing belief held by non Aboriginal Australians that the Aborigines were a dying race (Nichol, 2005:259) which resulted in the Indigenous people being excluded from the constitution except for two mentions – Section 127 excluded Aborigines from the census and Section 51, part 26, which gave power over Aborigines to the States rather than to the Federal Government. Aboriginal people were officially excluded from the vote, public service, the Armed Forces and pensions. The White Australia mentality/policy Australia as “White” and unfortunately this policy was not abolished until 1972. REFERENCE

    Read More

  • Chinese Immigration Thesis

    629 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gold Digging was not an easy job to begin with. Enduring wind and waves on the ships, the extreme heat or cold, and having very little amounts of food and poor clothing made them grieve much. On top of all this, they were pushed and kicked by drunks, hit with sand and rocks that were thrown at them, and instead of receiving help from passersby, they were laughed and scoffed at. Robbers stripped them of their clothes and belongings, and sometimes even murdered innocent Chinese mine workers. These immigrants did not understand english, and were unable to defend themselves against the Americans.

    Read More

  • Resolving Conflict In Australia

    497 Words  | 1 Pages

    This was because of the “Wave Hill Walk Off” where Aboriginal stockmen walked away from their jobs because of the pay they were receiving, poor conditions and awful treatment. All these protests led to the 1967 referendum in which 90% of Australians voted to remove parts of the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Indigenous

    Read More

More about White Australia Policy

Open Document