White Australia Policy Negative Effects

The establishment of the White Australia Policy (1901) was based on racist ideologies and was maintained until World War Two (WWII) revealed Australia’s vulnerabilities and forced this discriminatory policy to evolve. Australian federation (1901) initiated The White Australia Policy and the Whitlam government in 1973 terminated the White Australia Policy. The White Australia Policy refers to a set of policies designed to restrict the influx of ethnic immigration. Racist attitudes spread through propaganda contributed to the formation and perpetuation of the White Australia Policy. Contention caused by The White Australia Policy had detrimental effects on foreign relations with a variety of countries. WWII exposed Australia’s vulnerability to

foreign attack. The White Australia Policy was terminated in 1973 when the Whitlam government instructed overseas embassies to disregard race as a factor in selecting migrants.
Racist attitudes spread through propaganda contributed to the formation and perpetuation of the White Australia Policy. (Link Sentences) British patriotism was a hegemonic ideology when Australia was colonized. This was reflected through the racist attitudes found in children’s literature with Aboriginals being represented as villainous figures. Examples of this phenomena include George Henty's ‘A Final Reckoning’ (1886). From 1854 onwards (during the Gold Rush) propaganda was often spread about the Chinese community. The Mongolian Octopus published on the 21st August, 1886 in The Bulletin) is an example of this. It depicts an Asians head with exacerbated features attached to an octopus’s body. Each arm represents an immorality Asians were supposedly committing (customs robbery, gambling, bribery, spreading disease, sexual misconduct, and providing cheap labour) (see appendix 1). The propaganda piece published in 1881 depicted a middle aged woman attacking a Chinese man while saying “Out you go, John! You and your smallpox.” The piece was created in the wake of a recent smallpox outbreak in Sydney and was promoted racist attitudes (see appendix 2). The Bulletin in 1946 released a political cartoon depicting Arthur Calwell as a pied piper after allowing 1000 Jewish peoples into Australia as a part of his populate or perish scheme (see appendix 3).
Contention caused by The White Australia Policy had detrimental effects on foreign relations with a variety of countries.

The British opposed The White Australia Policy in order to prevent insulting the Indians and the Japanese. The British were beginning an alliance (later known as the Anglo- Japanese Alliance 1902) with the Japanese which they believed could be compromised by overt racial discrimination from Australia. The Japanese felt slighted as they believed the White Australia Policy condemned all Asian countries without accounting for their superiority compared to other Asian countries such as India(although this viewpoint eventually changed and Japan advocated for racial equality in 1919). This negatively affected Australian Japanese relations for the next 75 years. The treaty of Versailles refers to a peace treaty between a variety of countries involved in World War One (WWI). Japan advocated for a racial equality clause however Australia opposed it and Billy Hughes (the Australian Prime Minister) inadvertently offended the Japanese Prime Minister by refusing to discuss the racial equality clause. This partially contributed to the rise in Japanese militarism and nationalism contributing to

WWII.
WWII exposed Australia’s vulnerability to foreign attack.

The deteriorating state of affairs in the Far East during the war displayed Australia’s vulnerability to attack by the Japanese and by other countries in general. Australia was made vulnerable by a variety of factors. For one the distribution of Australia troops to assist the British through the creation of the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th divisions (assistance which the British would be unable to reciprocate later in the war) created difficulty defending Australia. In March 1941 Australian intelligence intercepted cables sent by Japanese to Japanese bases commanding as many personnel as possible to return to Japan. This was interpreted by the Australian government as a sign of an impending attack in the Far East. Relations between Australia and Britain began to strain with Britain focusing military resources in Europe. Robert Menzies (the Australian Prime Minister) was quoted saying to his government in a primary source “Mr. Churchill had no conception of the British Dominions as separate entities and the more distant the problem from the heart of the Empire the less he thought about it.” The source demonstrates that Britain was unable to protect Australia. Australia was also unable to protect all of itself. Australia was only able to defend key areas which consisted of a zone around Sydney which had major industrial plants and although the zone was eventually expanded there was a feeling of anger in those outside the zone

and exposed Australia’s vulnerability. This vulnerability increased with the attack on Pearl Harbour as it brought military activity to the Far East threatening Australia in particular Northern Australia (History Learning Site, 2016). This vulnerability lead to Darwin bombing (19 February 1942). Darwin bombing was a key factor in exposing Australia’s vulnerability to foreign attack. It was a contradiction to the commonly held belief at the time of war being a faraway activity and made the Australian public believe that it was a precursor to an invasion.
The dismantlement of the White Australia Policy occurred due to the exposition of Australia’s vulnerabilities during WWII. Due to these vulnerabilities having good relations with surrounding Asian countries became a priority in order to avoid the incitement of conflict. This lead to policies such as the Colombo Plan which opened the dialogue between Australia and countries of other races. These vulnerabilities also forced the initiation of the “populate or perish” campaign by Arthur Calwell (immigration minister). The Australian economy had suffered due to the economic stresses of war. This made it crucial to populate Australia. Arthur Calwell believed immigration from European countries was the only viable solution as he was unable to get the required population growth from British countries. This campaign lead to an influx of immigrants of European countries and public acceptance for European immigration. The White Australia Policy was terminated in 1973 when the Whitlam government instructed overseas embassies to disregard race as a factor in selecting migrants able to enter Australia. (Intranet.cbhslewisham.nsw.edu.au, 2016)