White Australia Policy
Year 10 History Research Essay- The White Australia Policy- Racist or a cautious legislation?
The ‘White Australia Policy’ was the product of all the fear that the white parliament officials held against anyone with non-European background. The White Australia Policy was first promulgated by the first governing Prime Minister Edward Barton who was fearful that if non-Europeans in Australia were left unchecked, they would no longer regard the Australian Parliament as a ruling figure. The basis of these fears originated from a book written by a British-born historian by the name of Charles Henry Pearson in 1893 that stated “The day will come, and perhaps is not far distant, when the European observer will look round to see the globe girdled …show more content…
It first had to first pass the Australian Government and then forwarded to a British authority in this instance, Joseph Chamberlain to be approved or denied. Yet, legally, the policy would not have been introduced if it were not for the discovery of gold in 1851 that subsequently sparked "The Gold Rush" era in which large influx of immigrants from Asia particularly Chinamen, migrated into Australia to seek opportunities for a better livelihood. It was from this point, that the government began realising of their possible fear towards this over-expansion of immigrants in Australia and controversially debated about it in the Australian parliament house. However, it was not just them that started to become more concerned about this 'problem '; the opposition party too were as fearful as the government due to the fact of their possible speculation that the “immigrants would seize all available jobs from the white men". Therefore, to suppress these fears, the governing party proposed their 'solution ' to apply the infamous 50 word Dictation Test to all arriving immigrants whilst the opposition party on the other hand wished to create an all-out ban on all immigrants. In the end, the policy managed to pass the Australian parliament by a measly five votes and was then sent off to Joseph Chamberlain to be analysed. Whilst Chamberlain agreed with the …show more content…
The test was conducted by a immigration officer who had the authority to choose the language of the Dictation Test disregarding the fact whether or not person being tested knew that language or not. For the few that managed to past the first test, were required to be re-tested in another language. One example of this was used against a Jewish political activist by the name of Egon Erwin Kisch from Czechoslovakia who tried to enter Australia but was rejected after Joseph Lyons failed him using the language test. What was interesting about this particular case was that this person was fluent in many European languages, but failed when tested with Scottish Gaelic. The irony of this example was that the officer himself, although raised in Northern Scotland was not eloquent in the language he himself. This Dictation Test, slowly but surely started becoming ridiculed by the international society and was eventually abolished by the migration act of
The ‘White Australia Policy’ was the product of all the fear that the white parliament officials held against anyone with non-European background. The White Australia Policy was first promulgated by the first governing Prime Minister Edward Barton who was fearful that if non-Europeans in Australia were left unchecked, they would no longer regard the Australian Parliament as a ruling figure. The basis of these fears originated from a book written by a British-born historian by the name of Charles Henry Pearson in 1893 that stated “The day will come, and perhaps is not far distant, when the European observer will look round to see the globe girdled …show more content…
It first had to first pass the Australian Government and then forwarded to a British authority in this instance, Joseph Chamberlain to be approved or denied. Yet, legally, the policy would not have been introduced if it were not for the discovery of gold in 1851 that subsequently sparked "The Gold Rush" era in which large influx of immigrants from Asia particularly Chinamen, migrated into Australia to seek opportunities for a better livelihood. It was from this point, that the government began realising of their possible fear towards this over-expansion of immigrants in Australia and controversially debated about it in the Australian parliament house. However, it was not just them that started to become more concerned about this 'problem '; the opposition party too were as fearful as the government due to the fact of their possible speculation that the “immigrants would seize all available jobs from the white men". Therefore, to suppress these fears, the governing party proposed their 'solution ' to apply the infamous 50 word Dictation Test to all arriving immigrants whilst the opposition party on the other hand wished to create an all-out ban on all immigrants. In the end, the policy managed to pass the Australian parliament by a measly five votes and was then sent off to Joseph Chamberlain to be analysed. Whilst Chamberlain agreed with the …show more content…
The test was conducted by a immigration officer who had the authority to choose the language of the Dictation Test disregarding the fact whether or not person being tested knew that language or not. For the few that managed to past the first test, were required to be re-tested in another language. One example of this was used against a Jewish political activist by the name of Egon Erwin Kisch from Czechoslovakia who tried to enter Australia but was rejected after Joseph Lyons failed him using the language test. What was interesting about this particular case was that this person was fluent in many European languages, but failed when tested with Scottish Gaelic. The irony of this example was that the officer himself, although raised in Northern Scotland was not eloquent in the language he himself. This Dictation Test, slowly but surely started becoming ridiculed by the international society and was eventually abolished by the migration act of