Racism In Australia - The Rise and Fall of the White Australia Policy

1298 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of the assimilation policy on indigenous australians

Australia is a a multicultural country. That is because it has had an increased numbers of different come to live here for many different reasons.. They have all called themselves Australians and had accepted Australia as their new home. Although the perspective of accepting a different race/culture has changed, racism still exists in Australia. Australia’s indigenous people were the first victims of racism in this country. For about 50,000 years before the settlement of the British, Australia was occupied exclusively by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. After the settlement of the British, the European legal concept of Terra Nullius was used which let white settlers gain economic and political control over the land up until the federation of the colonies of Australia 1901. British colonisation policies and later land laws were framed in the belief that the colony was being bought/owned/received by occupation (or settlement) of a Terra Nullius (land without owners). The colonisers recognised the presence of Indigenous Australians but justified by their land right policies they said that “Aborigines were too primitive to be actual owners”[6]. Furthermore, this pushed the strict immigration laws to preferences to “white” European on the basis of their Social Darwinistic principles, this resulted in the creation of the “White Australia Policy”. There were three significant events that led to the downfall of the policy, one being the creation itself, the undermining of the policy by bringing in non-European migrants and the shift of perspective from the original ideal of White superiority. Discriminatory laws against the Indigenous Australians and immigrants were abolished during the Post War period. Policies of multic...

... middle of paper ...

...e-or-perish->.
"Australia and the Colombo Plan 1949-1957 - Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade." Australia and the Colombo Plan 1949-1957 - Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. .
"Populate or perish!." , After World War II, Australia after 1945, SOSE: History Year 9, TAS. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. .
"Documents of Reconciliation." Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May 2014.
"HISTORY." Origins: History of immigration from China. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2014. .

Show More
Related

  • The Home Front Case Study

    3302 Words  | 7 Pages

    Hypothesis: The Australian public made a significant contribution to the war efforts from 1939 to 1945, through sacrifices on a personal and national level. The determination of the Australian people in bringing their loved ones home safely, created strong relationships between the community, which in many cases, are still prevalent in Australian society to this day.

    Read More

  • Implications of Racism in Canadian Society: R.D.S. v. The Queen

    1262 Words  | 3 Pages

    This quotation is taken from a Hollywood film, but has a tendency to ring true in legal disputes in Canada involving minority groups. Racism as a component in the Canadian societal context has prevented the realization of truth and justice throughout history. For instance, Donald Marshall Jr. endured a wrongful conviction as a result of racism in the criminal justice system. While this dilemma has proved to be most difficult for minority groups to overcome, critical race theory, as implemented by defence lawyers in R.D.S. v. The Queen, has allowed for the realization of racism as truth in Canadian society and provides a tool for minority groups in future legal battles.

    Read More

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

    1867 Words  | 4 Pages

    Over the five years following the war, about 171,000 immigrants came to Australia. The government introduced the assisted passage scheme which gave immigrants temporary accommodation in Australia in exchange for two years of labour. Most immigrants came from places such as Poland, Yugoslavia and the Baltic States and then later Germany, Grease, Italy and Malta. The immigrant families were placed in old army barracks in severely poor conditions, and exposed to racial discrimination. They were often referred to with names such as ‘wogs’, ‘bolt’ and’ reffo’. Families were separated. Men were sent off to work on things such as t...

    Read More

  • Australian Enlistment to World War I

    1429 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thesis: During World War 1, the amount of Australians enlisting decreased due to the realisation that war was not as it was portrayed to the public

    Read More

  • Maestro: an important influence on Australian society

    865 Words  | 2 Pages

    Maestro by Peter Goldsworthy provides an insight into 1960s/70s Australia and helps reinforce common conceptions about Australian culture. One common conception Goldsworthy reinforces in this text is Australia’s increasing acceptance of multiculturalism. Maestro, set in the 1960s to 1970s, shows Australians growing more accepting and tolerant of other cultures. This shift in perspective was occurring near the end of the White Australia/Assimilation Policy, which was phased out in the late 1970s/early 1980s. An example of this shifted perspective in Maestro is Paul’s father’s opinion about living in Darwin:

    Read More

  • Australia and the Vietnam War

    1532 Words  | 4 Pages

    Unfortunately, with most if not all large-scale conflicts, a detrimental aftermath was soon sure to follow. Australia was by no means exempt from this, as made evident by the Australian veterans and

    Read More

  • Causes of Australian Women during World War 2

    1652 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the year of 1939, Australia had joined the war effort. In this year Poland had been invaded by Hitler resulting in Britain declaring war on Germany. This declaration initially meant that Australia would be called to support Britain. Many Australian men enlisted in the armed forces leaving predominately women on the home front. This movement initially affected the Australian home front where the labour force had predominately consisted of men. In order for the Australian economy and war effort to function it was clearly evident that all members of Australian society would need to chip in.

    Read More

  • Gallipoli: The defining moment in Australian National Identity

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    When the Great War began, Australia went to war as a nation which not only held its own but was invaluable to many ...

    Read More

  • History Wars: Recognition of Indigenous Australians

    1851 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the nineteenth century, the “History wars” became the fight between the most prominent historians revolving around the deception of frontier conflict between the labor and coalition. The debate aroused from the different interpretations of the violence that took place during the European colonization and to what degree. It became a crisis in history, emerging from the dispossession of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (ATSI) that resulted in exclusion of their traditions and culture. The ATSI were the first people of Australia that brought along a different culture, language, kinship structures and a different way of life (Face the Facts, 2012). Post European colonization was a time where the ATSI people experienced disadvantage in the land they called home. With the paramount role as future educators, it demands proficient knowledge on the Australian history and one of the most influential moments in our history started from the first European settlers.

    Read More

  • Trugernanner Myth

    474 Words  | 1 Pages

    In 1842 Martial war was declared on aboriginal people and in 1830 the Tasmanian Aboriginal people are resettled on Flinders Island without success.*

    Read More

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

    1575 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1788 when the European settlers “colonised” Australia, the Australian land was known as “terra nullius” which means “land belonging to no-one”. This decision set the stage for the problems and disadvantages faced by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for 216 years. The protection policy was meant to disperse tribes and force Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people off their traditional land so the “white Australian’s” could have more control. The protection policy enforced by the British colonies drove the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander onto reserves.

    Read More

  • Racism In The Media Essay

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    presents itself in a more discrete way than racism in other countries. Racism in other countries goes further than just having a bias towards races. In other countries racism denies the people of certain races privileges that everyone should have access to, as well as creates a prejudice that leads to minority groups to be treated badly. An example of this can be found in the video “Understanding Systematic Oppression and Institutionalized Racism” by Kyol Blakeney from TedxYouth in Sydney. In his Ted talk Kyol Blakeney compares the chance of an African American in the U.S to end up in jail to an Aboriginal Australian to end up in jail and found that an Aboriginal Australian is 14 times more likely to end up in jail. This example shows that the institutionalized racism in Australia is so present that it affects minority groups like that aboriginal Australian which make up 2.7 % of the population on a huge scale. The fact that racism in the form of an institution which stems from racial bias affects minority groups not just in the U.S. but also cross-culturally in other

    Read More

  • Essay On Aboriginal Rights In Australia

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    Indigenous Australians have had a controversial place throughout Australian history, with World War 1 being one of the main events in this topic. Although there were no aboriginals that went to fight in World War I, it was not that they didn't want to because of their violent history with the British, it was because the British didn't allow them to enlist for World War 1.

    Read More

  • Essay About Conscription

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many Australians reject the idea of conscription to an overseas war, and believe conscription should be used here as a home defense, for exampl...

    Read More

  • Multiculturalism In Australia Essay

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    Instead, multiculturalism places a wide range of claims of accommodation such as religion, ethnicity, language, race and nationality (Song, 2010). In the case of Australia, the acceptance of multiculturalism based on such far-flung claims has essentially resulted in the advent of politics of recognition among the minority groups seeking accommodation or integration in Australia. This is shown by Song (2010) who states that key among the claims fronted by Australia’s minority groups is self-government or at least some sort of recognition that affords such communities a form of autonomy. One key comparison is the aboriginal communities of Australia and those of Canada, whereby claims for recognition based on the uniqueness of ethnicity have left a bad taste in the mouth of white

    Read More

More about Racism In Australia - The Rise and Fall of the White Australia Policy

Open Document