Prior to Federation on January 1, 1901 all six colonies were already committed to restricting non-European immigration. By 1901 the population of Australia was made up of 2.9 million Australian born, 860,000 overseas born and 67,000 indigenous people. The overseas born was comprised of 76,000 from Europe and predominately Britain, 26,000 from New Zealand and 27,000 Chinese.
Following Federation the first law passed, with almost complete unanimity, was the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901. This established a policy of excluding non-European migration to Australia.
At this time politicians, public servants, businessmen and trade union officials all enthusiastically championed “the Federation Trifecta”: White Australia, complete protectionism and centralised industrial relations.
Relative living standards began to drop as a prosperous Australia developed into an insular Australia. Whatever pragmatic concerns informed the White Australia policy, it was also unquestionably grounded in the openly stated belief that whites, especially British, were a superior race.
Posted November 11, 2008
Upon clicking 'Buy now' you will be redirected to paypal.com where you can securely and quickly complete your purchase with a few clicks.
Immediately after payment at PayPal you will be redirected to a download page which
provides you instant access to your purchase.
