Australian history - Populate or Perish
On the forming of the Federation of Australia, on 1 January 1901, one of the first priorities of the new Federal Government was to increase Australia's population. One way was to encourage an increase in the birth rate, which had been falling. A second way was to encourage immigration, not only from Great Britain, but also from other European countries. The main requirement was that immigrants be white skinned. Although this policy became known as the White Australia Policy, the regulations did not actually prohibit people with coloured skin. The prohibition was achieved through regulations requiring each immigrant to pass a dictation test to be given in any European language. If the immigration officials did not want to allow a person to enter the country, they could choose a language that would make it impossible to pass the test.Although this policy was extremely biased and racist, racial purity was an exceptionally strong feeling in Australia up to the early 1960's. Immigration continued up to the Great War, with subs
Migrants have made Australia today a blend of cultures. Four of every ten residents of Australia were born overseas or have at least one overseas born parent. More than half of the twenty-one per cent of our population who were born overseas are from non-English speaking countries. While English is the language of everyday use, more than 300 languages are spoken in Australia today. By 1966 most of the regulations restricting immigration of non-white people to Australia had been removed and multiculturalism was adopted. Discrimination on the grounds of race was abolished. Even though the White Australia Policy was abolished, racism was still very strong and many migrants were harassed, especially the people of Asian backgrounds. Racism was widely accepted up till the mid 1980s. Assimilation was generally perceived as the natural process for migrants. Thus it was expected that migrants would adopt the culture of Australian society and abandon their own culture. When this was not achieved, the Australian people shunned the mig
Some common words found in the essay are:
Australia Policy, Refugee Organisation, Migrants Australia, World War, Australia Australians, Australia Immigration, Snowy Mountains, Settlement Act, Federal Government, Britain European, white australia, australia policy, white australia policy, mid 1980s, born overseas, european countries, migrant labour, australia's population, coloured skin,
Approximate Word count = 694
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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