Immigration Nation

SBS

Madman

R4 DVD

One of the most shameful parts of Australian history is its treatment of non-white, non-British immigrants. This is the subject of the documentary – attitudes, politics and all. It is controversial but necessary and it will help Australians to understand how the country started. Japan is sometimes criticised for not telling its students the truth about World War II – immigration policy seems to have been played down in Australia for probably the same reasons.

The White Australia policy was made law at Federation, although it was called the Immigration Act. Its purpose was to make Australia a whites-only country along the British model. There seems no valid reason for this policy at the time, simply peoples’ prejudices against anyone different. I have heard a theory that British were preferred because their immigrants were from the lower classes and knew their place, posing no threat to the local “aristocracy”. It used the same justifications as slavery in an earlier century and was just as hypocritical. Non-British were actually called “the servile races”. The documentary would have been better if it had included the reasons for these attitudes.

The problem was that Australia already had a large number on non-whites. There were Chinese from the gold mining days, Japanese pearlers, Pacific Islanders (known as Kanakas) working in the canefields and, of course, the troublesome Aborigines who simply refused to die out fast enough. The new policy required that these people be deported and refused reentry. The aborigines were not regarded as a problem as their numbers were falling and the problem would eventually just go away. The policy was, in fact, what we now call “ethnic cleansing”. This policy was to be applied particularly to Asians. To enter the country as an immigrant the Government introduced the Dictation Test. Immigrants had to be able to write down accurately a 50-word dictation. If they showed aptitude the language could be changed to any language the Immigration Officer selected. The Government’s hypocrisy was clearly evident to them as they hid the White Australia policy behind this ludicrous test. Families like the Chinese O”Hoys were forcibly broken up when non-complying members were sent back to their country of origin.

After World War I the policy was continued. Australia desperately needed men and women to develop the nation, but they would have to be British. The British government took the opportunity to unload their lower classes and unemployed onto Australia with lies about ready-made farms and great opportunities. Meanwhile at the post-war conferences the Japanese were repeatedly snubbed and developed a dislike for Australia and its racist policy.

After World War II the situation changed. Arthur Calwell, deputy leader of the Labour Party and a dedicated White Australia man, knew Australia had to “populate or perish”. No matter how they tried they could not get enough suitable British immigrants. Calwell, a canny politician, knew Australians would not accept opening the floodgates to just any immigrant. He sent staff to the Displaced Persons camps throughout Europe signing up immigrants. Although not British they were at least white. For the first boat he selected the most attractive men and women and gave them great media coverage. The public fell for it. The new buzzword was “assimilation”. There were still no Asians allowed, though. The deportations continued. One of the saddest was the case of 5 year old Nancy Prasad. She was being looked after by her naturalised brother but the Dept of Immigration insisted that she be deported back to Fiji as she didn’t have Australian citizenship. A carefully organised publicity stunt brought the deportation policy to the notice of the public via the new medium of TV and many Australians started to wonder if this inhumane policy was necessary.

The situation changed again during the Vietnam war. Eighteen year olds were being sent off to kill people although they were still regarded as too immature to vote. The rising feeling against the war forced the Government to act. They gave the young people the right to vote and at the next election the ungrateful little bastards voted them out of office. The incoming Labour government promised to ease the White Australia policy but Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was slow to act, feeling that immigrants from Asia may vote against his government. Then the boat people started to arrive.

Refugees from Vietnam made their way through storms and pirates to Australia. Many were in a piteous state when they arrived and public opinion continued to change. After all, these people had been fighting alongside out troops in Vietnam. Surely we owed them something? The last vestiges of support for the White Australia policy now seemed to be entrenched mostly in the elderly, who could parrot the catchphrases used to justify the policy without having to think too hard about it. The politicians, however, were getting younger and their influence was growing.

When the Labour party was kicked out of government the case of Nancy Prasad was raised to the new Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser. Anxious to establish a good public image and to claim his place in history, Fraser to his credit immediately reversed the earlier decision and invited Nancy back to Australia. This effectively marked the end of the White Australia policy but the old attitudes died hard.

Australia is now one of the most multiracial countries in the world. Each new ethnic group has had its problems settling in but has eventually become Australian but kept the traditions of its own culture. If nothing else our cuisine has improved dramatically. Now a new group of refugees is arriving from Afghanistan and Iran. Australia is still settling refugees from wartorn African nations. The documentary is timely because the same old arguments against ethnic immigration are being trotted out again. Some groups bring their problems with them and it may take a generation or two to settle them down. I would like to have seen these covered in the documentary, as they are the cause of much of the opposition to immigration. Arthur Calwell’s point still stands, though – we must populate or perish. The immigrants are the only answer.

Reviews appear on the Synergy website with a single cover image. In the digital and print edition, reviews appear with multiple images and with expanded content.

This review will appear in Volume 4 No. 2 of the digital and print edition of Synergy.

We recommend you download the free digital edition (or buy the print edition) to get the most from Synergy. The print and digital editions of Synergy also include a large selection of articles and features not found on the website. If you have a limited download quota you can view the digital edition via the Issuu viewer on the digital edition page.

If you came to this page directly (and missed our menu), click here to go to the front page of Synergy Website or use the following link: http://www.synergy-magazine.com