Asian people (or Asians , sometimes referred to as Asiatic people ) are the people of the continent of Asia . The term may also refer to their descendants .
94-559: The White Australia policy was a set of racial policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origins – especially Asians (primarily Chinese ) and Pacific Islanders – from immigrating to Australia in order to create a "white/British" ideal focused on but not exclusively Anglo-Celtic peoples. Pre-Federation, the Australian colonies passed many anti-Chinese immigration laws mainly using Poll Taxes, with Federation in 1901 came discrimination based on
188-475: A "race" while Latino and Hispanic are an "ethnic group." Lee said, referring to the Hispanic or Latino category, that the category of Asian Americans, quite similarly, comprises different populations of diverse origins. Lee said that people of South Asian origin were categorically identified as " Hindu ," regardless of their religion, in the early 20th century. Lee said that the policy changed to classify people from
282-546: A 50-word dictation test. At first this was to be in any European language, but was later changed to include any language. The tests were given in such a way as to make them impossible to pass. If a person seemed likely to pass in English then a test in another language could be given. Attlee Hunt, the first administrator of the Immigration Restriction Act expressed it clearly in a 1903 memo to all Customs Officers: "It
376-526: A clause would be a threat to White Australia and made it clear to British prime minister David Lloyd George that he would leave the conference if the clause was adopted. Hughes wrote in 1919: "No Govt. could live for a day in Australia if it tempered with a White Australia". Hughes wrote a note to Colonel Edward M. House of the American delegation: "It may be all right. But sooner than agree to it I would walk into
470-588: A component for immigration to Australia in 1973. In 1975, the Whitlam government passed the Racial Discrimination Act , which made racially-based selection criteria unlawful. In the decades since, Australia has maintained large-scale multi-ethnic immigration. As of 2018, Australia's migration program allows people from any country to apply to immigrate to Australia, regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, culture, religion, or language, provided that they meet
564-661: A defender of the White Australia Policy. Menzies: "I don't want to see reproduced in Australia the kind of problem they have in South Africa or in America or increasingly in Great Britain. I think it's been a very good policy and it's been of great value to us and most of the criticism of it that I've ever heard doesn't come from these oriental countries it comes from wandering Australians." Lamb: "For these years of course in
658-578: A degree of government assistance particularly for primary industries, and White Australia, was to continue for many years before gradually dissolving in the second half of the 20th century. The growth of the sugar industry in Queensland in the 1870s led to searching for labourers prepared to work in a tropical environment. During this time, thousands of " Kanakas " (Pacific Islanders) were brought into Australia as indentured workers . This and related practices of bringing in non-white labour to be cheaply employed
752-524: A federation in January 1901, the federal government of Edmund Barton passed the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 ; this was drafted by Alfred Deakin , who eventually became Australia's second prime minister. The passage of this bill marked the commencement of the White Australia Policy as Australian federal government policy. The key feature of this legislation was the dictation test , which
846-475: A more shameful manner than have the Chinese.... They were forced at the point of a bayonet to admit Englishmen... into China. Now if we compel them to admit our people... why in the name of justice should we refuse to admit them here? Outside parliament, Australia's first Catholic cardinal , Patrick Francis Moran was politically active and denounced anti-Chinese legislation as "un-Christian". The popular press mocked
940-422: A puzzling confluence; not merely the resolution of difference but its wholehearted embrace." The building is meant to be the centre of a knot, with trailing ropes or strips extending from the building. The most obvious of these extensions forms a large loop before becoming a walkway which extends past the neighbouring AIATSIS building ending in a large curl, as if a huge ribbon has haphazardly unrolled itself along
1034-400: A reputation as "the working man's paradise". Some employers hired Chinese labourers, who were cheaper and more hard working. This produced a reaction which led eventually to all the colonies restricting Chinese immigration by 1888 and subsequently other Asian immigration. This was the genesis of the White Australia Policy. The "Australian compact", based around centralised industrial arbitration,
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#17328375705521128-998: A separate race, Hindu , and in 1950 and 1960 they were racially classified as Other Race , and then in 1970 they were classified as White . Since 1980, Indians and all other South Asians have been classified as part of the Asian ethnic group . Sociologist Madhulika Khandelwal described how " ....as a result of activism, South Asians came to be included as 'Asians' in the census only in the 80's. Prior to that many South Asians had been checking 'Caucasian' or 'Other'. " Respondents can also report their specific ancestry, e.g.: Okinawan , etc. Someone reporting these ancestries but no race would be classified as "Asian". Unlike Southeast Asians, Afghan Americans , Arab Americans , Armenian Americans , Assyrian Americans , Azerbaijani Americans , Georgian Americans , Israeli Americans , Kurdish Americans , Turkish Americans , Iranian Americans , and Central Asian Americans have not lobbied to be included as Asians by
1222-604: A special tax on Chinese immigrants which other immigrants did not have to pay. Towards the end of the 19th century, labour unions pushed to stop Chinese immigrants from working in the furniture and market garden industries. Some laws were passed regarding the labelling of Chinese made furniture in Victoria and Western Australia but not in New South Wales. Chinese people dominated market gardening until their numbers declined as departures were not replaced. Soon after Australia became
1316-603: A treaty with China as it was feared the Chinese government would request the abolition of the White Australian policy as an ally. A spokesman for the Labor Party demanded that it be continued, stating: The policy of White Australia is now, perhaps, the most outstanding political characteristic of this country, and it has been accepted not only by those closely associated with it, but also by those who watched and studied "this interesting experiment" from afar. Only those who favor
1410-592: Is not desirable that persons should be allowed to past the test, and before putting it to anyone the Officer should be satisfied that he will fail. If he is considered likely to pass the test if put in English, it should be applied in some other language of which he is ignorant." The legislation found strong support in the new Australian Parliament , with arguments ranging from economic protection to outright racism. The Labor Party wanted to protect "white" jobs and pushed for more explicit restrictions. A few politicians spoke of
1504-664: Is so. The Barton government which came to power following the first elections of the Commonwealth parliament in 1901 was formed by the Protectionist Party with the support of the Australian Labor Party . The support of the Labor Party was contingent upon restricting non-white immigration, reflecting the attitudes of the Australian Workers Union and other labour organisations at the time, upon whose support
1598-609: The Aliens Deportation Act 1948 , which had its weaknesses exposed by the High Court case O'Keefe v Calwell , and then passed the War-time Refugees Removal Act 1949 which gave the immigration minister sweeping powers of deportation. In 1948, Iranian Bahá'ís seeking to immigrate to Australia were classified as "Asiatic" by the policy and were denied entry. In 1949, Calwell's successor, Harold Holt , allowed
1692-466: The 1980 Census marked the first general analyses of Asians as a group, combining several individual ancestry groups into "Asian or Pacific Islander." By the 1990 census , Asian or Pacific Islander (API) was included as an explicit category, although respondents had to select one particular ancestry. The 2000 and 2010 U.S. Census Bureau definition of the Asian race is: "people having origins in any of
1786-543: The Arab states of the Persian Gulf , the term "Asian" generally refers to people of South Asian and Southeast Asian descent due to the large Indian , Pakistani , Bangladeshi , and Filipino expatriate populations in these countries. However, there are instances where the term is used solely to refer to those of South Asian descent. The Australian Census includes four regions of Asia in its official definition. Defined by
1880-514: The Australian environment . Notable objects (as identified by the museum on their website) include: The museum also functions as a temporary repository for the repatriation of ancestral remains. It is involved in projects to return the remains of indigenous Australians, held in the collections of museums across the world, to their communities of origin. These projects have seen the return of over 1,400 remains as of March 2019. On 15 September 2017,
1974-654: The Buckland riot in 1857 and the Lambing Flat riots between 1860 and 1861. Governor Hotham , on 16 November 1854, appointed a Royal Commission on Victorian goldfields problems and grievances. This led to restrictions being placed on Chinese immigration and residency taxes levied from Chinese residents in Victoria from 1855. New South Wales following suit with poll taxes and tonnage restrictions only in 1861. These restrictions remained in force only until 1867. Melbourne Trades Hall
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#17328375705522068-627: The Covenant of the League of Nations . Japanese policy reflected their desire to remove or to ease the immigration restrictions against Japanese (especially in the United States and Canada), which Japan regarded as a humiliation and affront to its prestige. Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes was already concerned by the prospect of Japanese expansion in the Pacific. Australia, Japan and New Zealand had seized
2162-520: The Filipinos at the meeting thought they were " brown " rather than "yellow" and the conference thought the term "Oriental" was Eurocentric since they originate from lands "east" only from Europe's standpoint and the term "Oriental" suggested to them "passivity". Earlier Census forms from 1980 and prior listed particular Asian ancestries as separate groups along with White and Black or Negro . Previously, Asian Americans were classified as "other". But
2256-723: The Germany's Pacific territories in the early stages of the war and Hughes was concerned to retain German New Guinea as vital to the defence of Australia. The treaty ultimately granted Australia a League of Nations Mandate over German New Guinea and Japan to the South Seas Mandate immediately to its north – thus bringing Australian and Japanese territory to a shared border – a situation altered only by Japan's Second World War invasion of New Guinea. Hughes vehemently opposed Japan's racial equality proposition. Hughes recognised that such
2350-524: The Great Depression starting in 1929 and the end of World War II in 1945, global conditions kept immigration to very low levels. At the start of the war, Prime Minister John Curtin ( ALP ) reinforced the message of the White Australia Policy by saying: "This country shall remain forever the home of the descendants of those people who came here in peace in order to establish in the South Seas an outpost of
2444-524: The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 (1 Edward VII 17 1901) to "place certain restrictions on immigration and... for the removal... of prohibited immigrants". The act drew on similar legislation in the South African colony of Natal. Edmund Barton , the prime minister, argued in support of the bill with the following statement: "The doctrine of the equality of man was never intended to apply to
2538-411: The assimilation of migrants to Australia from continental Europe, who were expected to become mainstream Australians. In 1947, Australian immigration law, which had until had been based on encouraging British immigration, was amended to take in more European immigration. The way that Australia took in a large number of European immigrants from countries that were previously considered undesirable weakened
2632-519: The gold fields between European and Chinese miners, and labour union opposition to the importation of Pacific Islanders (primarily South Sea Islanders ) into the sugar plantations of Queensland , reinforced demands to eliminate or minimize low-wage immigration from Asia and the Pacific Islands. From the 1850s colonial governments imposed restrictions on Chinese arrivals, including poll taxes and tonnage restrictions. The colonial authorities levied
2726-515: The "Dictation Test", which would allow the government, at the discretion of Customs Officers, to block unwanted migrants by forcing them to sit a test in "any European language". At the time, Anglo-Japanese relations were improving, and in 1902 Britain and Japan were to sign a defensive alliance directed implicitly against Russia. The White Australia policy led to vigorous protests from the Japanese government, and led to complaints from London that Australia
2820-490: The "Other Asian" category include Filipinos, Afghans and Nepalese. Peter J. Aspinall of the Centre for Health Services Studies, University of Kent , recommends privileging the term "South Asian" over the term "Asian", since the term "Asian" is a "contested term". In 1968, an Asian activist conference decided on favoring the name "Asian American" over the competing terms—" yellow ", " Mongoloid ", "Asiatic", and " Oriental "—since
2914-509: The "Other Ethnic Group" category rather than the "Other Asian" category, reflecting the association of the word Asian in the UK with South Asian. Despite there being a strong presence of East Asians in the United Kingdom there are considerably more South Asians , for example the 2001 Census recorded 1.05 million people of Indian origin and 247,000 of Chinese origin in the UK. Common origins in
White Australia policy - Misplaced Pages Continue
3008-415: The 2006–2011 Australian Census, three broad groups have the word Asian included in their name: Central and Southern Asian , South-East Asian and North-East Asian . West Asians are classified as North African and Middle Eastern . The Canadian Census uses the term 'Asian' pan-continentally. In its presentation of the "ethnic origin" results of the 2016 census, Statistics Canada under
3102-764: The Australian Territory of New Guinea was only halted by the intervention of the United States Navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea . Australia received thousands of refugees from territories falling to advancing Japanese forces – notably thousands of Chinese men and women as well as many Chinese seamen. There were also Dutch who fled the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Aboriginal Australians , Torres Strait Islanders , Papua New Guineans and Timorese served in
3196-512: The Berlin Museum by breaking a star of David . The Bulletin magazine first publicly raised allegations of plagiarism in June 2000. Libeskind was reported to be angry with the copying. Raggatt's defence against plagiarism was that the design was a quotation rather than a copy. The director of the museum, Dawn Casey, stated that she and her council were not aware of this symbolism when they approved
3290-659: The British race." Following the 1942 Fall of Singapore , Australians feared invasion by Imperial Japan . Australian cities were bombed by the Japanese airforce and Navy and Axis naval forces menaced Australian shipping, while the Royal Navy remained pre-occupied with the battles of the Atlantic and Mediterranean in the face of Nazi aggression in Europe. A Japanese invasion fleet headed for
3384-549: The British, the Education Test was passed. There was also opposition from Queensland and its sugar industry to the proposals of the Pacific Islanders Bill to exclude "Kanaka" labourers, however Barton argued that the practice was "veiled slavery" that could lead to a "negro problem" similar to that in the United States, and the bill was passed. The new Federal Parliament, as one of its first pieces of legislation, passed
3478-560: The Cardinal's position and the small European population of Australia generally supported the legislation and remained fearful of being overwhelmed by an influx of non-British migrants from the vastly different cultures of the highly populated nations to Australia's north. The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 imposed a dictation test, in any European language, for any non-European migrant to Australia. The immigration officer (Customs until 1949) could choose any language, which effectively meant that
3572-526: The Dictation Test, which effectively gave power to immigration officials to racially discriminate without mentioning race. The policy also affected immigrants from Germany, Italy, and other European countries, especially in wartime. Governments progressively dismantled such policies between 1949 and 1973, when the Whitlam government removed the last racial elements of Australia's immigration laws. Competition in
3666-598: The Immigration Restriction Bill were passed shortly before parliament rose for its first Christmas recess. The colonial secretary in Britain had, however, made it clear that a race-based immigration policy would run "contrary to the general conceptions of equality which have ever been the guiding principle of British rule throughout the Empire". The Barton government therefore conceived of the "Education test", later called
3760-461: The Indian subcontinent as "white." Lee said that, more recently, South Asian Americans were added to the long list of groups that comprise the category of Asian American. Referring to their classification as "Asian," Lee said that, in the United States, the classification of people from the Indian subcontinent depends on their historical location. In 1930 and 1940, Indian Americans were identified as
3854-515: The Labor Party was founded. The Australian historian James Jupp wrote that it was not true that the White Australia policy was exclusively a right-wing cause as the strongest support for the White Australia policy was on the left-side of Australian politics with both the trade unions and the Labour Party being the most militant opponents of Asian immigration well into the 1960s. Many Australians in
White Australia policy - Misplaced Pages Continue
3948-518: The New Zealand government made a formal complaint about the exclusion of two Māori shearers, after which the Australian government changed its customs regulations to allow Māori to freely enter the country. Other Pacific Islanders were still subject to the White Australia Policy. At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference following the First World War , Japan sought to include a racial equality clause in
4042-661: The Seine-or the Folies Bergeres-with my clothes off". Hughes did offer the compromise that he would support the Racial Equality Clause provided that it did not affect immigration, an offer the Japanese rejected. When the proposal failed, Hughes reported in the Australian parliament: The White Australia is yours. You may do with it what you please, but at any rate, the soldiers have achieved the victory and my colleagues and I have brought that great principle back to you from
4136-596: The South Seas an outpost of the British race." Successive governments dismantled the policy in stages after the conclusion of World War II, with the Chifley and Menzies governments encouraging non-British Europeans to immigrate to Australia. The Migration Act 1958 abolished the dictation test, while the Holt government removed discrimination against non-white applicants for citizenship in 1966. The Whitlam government passed laws to ensure that race would be totally disregarded as
4230-685: The U.S. Census Board. In normal American usage Asian does not refer to the people from the Pacific Islands who are usually called Pacific Islanders . The term "Asians and Pacific Islanders" or "Asia/Pacific" was used on the 1990 U.S. census . However, in the 2000 U.S. census , the Asian or Pacific Islander category was separated into two categories, "Asian" and "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander". National Museum of Australia 35°17′35″S 149°07′15″E / 35.293056°S 149.120833°E / -35.293056; 149.120833 The National Museum of Australia (NMA), in
4324-586: The act explicitly banned non-Europeans from migrating to Australia but objections from the British government, which feared that such a measure would offend British subjects in India and Britain's allies in Japan, caused the Barton government to remove this wording. Instead, a "dictation test" was introduced as a device for excluding unwanted immigrants. Immigration officials were given the power to exclude any person who failed to pass
4418-669: The area around Parnngurr in Western Australia , showing the seasons, cultural burning practices and Indigenous management of the land and natural resources. In June 2022, the work was projected onto the Sydney Opera House as part of the Vivid Sydney festival. The exhibition ran until February 2018, and travelled to Berlin, Germany, in 2022 and is due to be shown in Paris, France, in 2023. Other past exhibitions include: In
4512-593: The bills, due to a treaty with Japan , and they did not become law. Instead, the Natal Act of 1897 was introduced, restricting "undesirable persons" who could not fill in a set form rather than by naming any specific race. The British government in London was not pleased with legislation that discriminated against certain subjects of its empire, but decided not to disallow the laws that were passed. Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain explained in 1897: We quite sympathize with
4606-424: The building, and then the knot taken away. The entirely non-symmetrical complex is designed to not look like a museum, with startling colours and angles, unusual spaces and unpredictable projections and textures. Though hard to precisely categorise, the building can be seen as an example of Charles Jencks ' "new paradigm". Some characteristics of Deconstructivism can also be identified. The organising concept of
4700-484: The case for Australia as a primarily "British" country and led to demands for the end of the White Australia policy. Given that the purpose of the White Australia policy was to preserve Australia as a British country, in an ironic twist, some of the strongest critics of the White Australia policy in the 1950s were liberal British professors serving at Australian universities. In 1959, the Immigration Reform Group
4794-433: The category "Asian origins" includes: West Central Asian and Middle Eastern (includes "Arab, not otherwise specified"), South Asian, East and Southeast Asian, and "other" Asian origins. New Zealand's census undertaken by Statistics New Zealand defines Asian to include people of Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian, Korean, Filipino , Japanese, Vietnamese , Sri Lankan , Cambodian and Thai ancestries. In less formal contexts,
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#17328375705524888-500: The conference, as safe as it was on the day when it was first adopted. Australian anxiety at the prospect of Japanese expansionism and war in the Pacific continued through the 1930s. Hughes, by then a minister in the United Australia Party 's Lyons government , made a notable contribution to Australia's attitude towards immigration in a 1935 speech in which he argued that "Australia must ... populate or perish." Between
4982-643: The criteria set out in law. Prior to 2011, the United Kingdom was the largest source country for immigration to Australia but, since then, China and India have provided the highest number of permanent migrants. These results exclude the many settlers from New Zealand unless they choose to apply through the permant resident program. The National Museum of Australia describes the White Australia Policy as openly racist, stating that it "existed because many white Australians feared that non-white immigrants would threaten Australian society". The discovery of gold in Australia in 1851 led to an influx of immigrants from all around
5076-446: The determination...of these colonies...that there should not be an influx of people alien in civilisation, alien in religion, alien in customs, whose influx, moreover, would seriously interfere with the legitimate rights of the existing labouring population. In writing about the preoccupations of the Australian population in early Federation Australia before World War I in ANZAC to Amiens ,
5170-495: The early 20th century tended to define being white as being the same as Australian with a majority of Australian states passing laws banning marriage and/or sex between whites and Aboriginals as part of an effort to maintain Australia's white character. The first Parliament of Australia quickly moved to restrict immigration to maintain Australia's "British character", and the Pacific Island Labourers Bill and
5264-607: The equality of the Englishman and the Chinaman." The attorney general tasked with drafting the legislation was Alfred Deakin . Deakin supported Barton's position over that of the Labor Party in drafting the bill (the ALP wanted more direct methods of exclusion than the dictation test) and redacted the more vicious racism proposed for the text in his second reading of the Bill. In seeking to justify
5358-468: The establishment of the Australian Federation. At the third session of the Australasian Federation Convention of 1898, Western Australian premier and future federal cabinet member John Forrest summarised the feeling of the Anglo-Saxon people in Australia: It is of no use to shut our eyes to the fact that there is a great feeling all over Australia against the introduction of coloured persons. It goes without saying that we do not like to talk about it, but it
5452-441: The exhibition Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters , referencing the creation myth of the Seven Sisters that is common to many groups in the Western and Central Deserts , was launched at the NMA. It was instigated by aṉangu people, and was a collaboration with Aboriginal elders who are custodians of the Dreamtime story. The exhibition included a huge painting called Yarrkalpa — Hunting Ground , which symbolically depicts
5546-504: The exploitation of a servile coloured race for greed of gain, and a few professional economists and benighted theologians, are now heard in serious criticism of a White Australia; but ... they are encouraged by the ill-timed and inappropriate pronouncements of what are, after all, irresponsible officials. Following the trauma of the Second World War, Australia's vulnerability during the Pacific War and its relatively small population compared to other nations led to policies summarised by
5640-400: The frontline of the defence of Australia, bringing Australia's racially discriminatory immigration and political rights policies into focus and wartime service gave many Indigenous Australians confidence in demanding their rights upon return to civilian life. During the war, talk arose about the possibility of abolishing the policy. Hostility to this idea was one reason Australia never signed
5734-412: The goldfields seeking prosperity. Gold brought great wealth but also new social tensions. Multi-ethnic migrants came to Victoria and New South Wales in large numbers for the first time. Competition on the goldfields, particularly resentment among white miners towards the successes of Chinese miners, led to tensions between groups and eventually a series of significant racist protests and riots, including
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#17328375705525828-433: The ground. Known as the " Uluru Axis" because it aligns with the central Australian natural landmark, the ribbon symbolically integrates the site with the Canberra city plan by Walter Burley Griffin and the spiritual heart of indigenous Australia. The shape of the main entrance hall continues this theme: it is as though the otherwise rectangular building has been built encasing a complex knot which does not quite fit inside
5922-661: The heart of champion racehorse Phar Lap and the Holden prototype No. 1 car. The museum also develops and travels exhibitions on subjects ranging from bushrangers to surf lifesaving . The National Museum of Australia Press publishes a wide range of books, catalogues and journals. The museum's Research Centre takes a cross-disciplinary approach to history, ensuring the museum is a lively forum for ideas and debate about Australia's past, present and future. The museum's innovative use of new technologies has been central to its growing international reputation in outreach programming, particularly with regional communities. From 2003 to 2008,
6016-413: The largest region of Asian descent in the country, with Iraq once being the largest group of Asian immigrants. In the United Kingdom, the term "Asian" is more commonly associated with people of South Asian origin, particularly Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans. Most respondents to the UK 2001 Census of non-Chinese East Asian and Southeast Asian descent chose to write-in their ethnicity in
6110-499: The main building with the existing administration building, was completed in mid-2013. The new building is clad in brightly coloured tiles arranged in a QR code pattern. The museum's collection, known as the National Historical Collection, includes over 210,000 objects. The collection focuses on three themes: the culture and history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Australian history and culture since European settlement in 1788 , and interactions between people and
6204-399: The museum hosted Talkback Classroom , a student political forum. The museum did not have a permanent home until 11 March 2001, when a purpose-built museum building was officially opened. It is located on Acton Peninsula in the suburb of Acton , next to the Australian National University . The peninsula on Lake Burley Griffin was previously the home of the Royal Canberra Hospital, which
6298-477: The national capital Canberra , preserves and interprets Australia 's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the National Museum of Australia Act 1980 . The museum profiles 50,000 years of Indigenous heritage, settlement since 1788 and key events including Federation and the Sydney 2000 Olympics . It holds the world's largest collection of Aboriginal bark paintings and stone tools,
6392-432: The need to avoid hysterical treatment of the question. Member of Parliament Bruce Smith said he had "no desire to see low-class Indians, Chinamen or Japanese...swarming into this country... But there is obligation...not (to) unnecessarily offend the educated classes of those nations" Norman Cameron , a Free Trade Party member from Tasmania, expressed a rare note of dissension: [N]o race on... this earth has been treated in
6486-484: The officer had the power to restrict the immigration of any individual. Further discriminatory legislation was the Postal and Telegraph Services Act 1901 (1 Edward VII 12 1901), which required any ship carrying mail to and from Australia to only have a white crew. In 1901, there were approximately 9,800 Pacific Islander labourers in Queensland. In 1901, the Australian parliament passed the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 (1 Edward VII 16 1901). The result of these statutes
6580-403: The official historian of the war, Charles Bean , considered the White Australia Policy and defined it as follows: "White Australia Policy" – a vehement effort to maintain a high Western standard of economy, society and culture (necessitating at that stage, however it might be camouflaged, the rigid exclusion of Oriental peoples). Immigration was a prominent topic of discussion in the lead up to
6674-401: The original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent (for example, Bangladesh , Cambodia , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Korea , Malaysia , Pakistan , the Philippine Islands , Thailand , and Vietnam )". Sandra S. Lee et al. (2001) said, in regards to the categories of the 2000 U.S. census , that it is difficult to determine why Asian Americans are
6768-639: The past Sir Robert you have been described as a racist." Menzies: "Have I?" Asians In parts of anglophone Africa, especially East Africa and in parts of the Caribbean , the term "Asian" is more commonly associated with people of South Asian origin, particularly Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans. In South Africa the term "Asian" is also usually synonymous with the Indian race group . East Asians in South Africa, including Chinese were classified either as Coloureds or as honorary whites . In
6862-412: The plan. The exterior of the building is covered in anodised aluminium panels. Many of the panels include words written in braille and other decorative devices. Among the messages are "mate" and "she'll be right". Also included were such controversial words and phrases as "sorry" and "forgive us our genocide". These more controversial messages have been obscured with silver discs being attached to
6956-480: The policy, Deakin said he believed that the Japanese and Chinese might be a threat to the newly formed federation and it was this belief that led to legislation to ensure they would be kept out: It is not the bad qualities, but the good qualities of these alien races that make them so dangerous to us. It is their inexhaustible energy, their power of applying themselves to new tasks, their endurance and low standard of living that make them such competitors. Early drafts of
7050-483: The remaining 800 non-white refugees to apply for residency, and also allowed Japanese " war brides " to settle in Australia. In the meantime, Holt continued Calwell's policy of encouraging mass immigration from Europe, and Australia admitted large numbers of immigrants from mostly Italy, Poland, Greece and Yugoslavia , as well as its traditional source of immigration, the British Isles . The Australian Government promoted
7144-573: The same immigration and voting rights as European New Zealanders in Australia, making them a notable exception to the White Australia Policy. In 1902, with the Commonwealth Franchise Act , Māori residents in Australia were granted the right to vote , a right denied to Indigenous Australians . During that same period, their right to settle in Australia was facilitated by their shared status as British subjects . The Australian government granted equal rights to Māori only reluctantly. In 1905,
7238-428: The same rights as their Anglo and southern compatriots, although they faced significant discrimination. Agreements were made to further increase these restrictions in 1895 following an inter-colonial premiers' conference where all colonies agreed to extend entry restrictions to all non-white races . However, in attempting to enact this legislation, the governors of New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania reserved
7332-474: The scheme using the idea of a "tangled vision" incorporates a variety of references including: The building's architecture is thus meant to imply that the story of Australia is not one story, but many stories tangled together. The building also refers to or quotes other buildings: The plan of the National Museum of Australia incorporates an exact copy of the lightning-flash zigzag that Libeskind created for
7426-423: The slogan, "populate or perish." According to author Lachlan Strahan, this was an ethnocentric slogan that in effect was an admonition to fill Australia with Europeans or else risk having it overrun by Asians. Immigration Minister Arthur Calwell stated in 1947 to critics of the government's mass immigration programme: "We have 25 years at most to populate this country before the yellow races are down on us." During
7520-661: The surface making the braille illegible. Among the phrases in braille are the words "Resurrection city". The phrase may refer to the clearing of the former Canberra Hospital to make way for the museum or it could be a reference to reconciliation between Indigenous Australians and European settlers. The phrase is used as a label in tiles on another of Raggett's buildings, the Storey Hall in Melbourne. Raggett says of that message: "I guess that tries to be some big sort of theme for this building as well and its sort of set of memories." It
7614-504: The term Asian often does not refer to South Asian people . Those of West or Central Asian origin are excluded from the term. Statistics Norway uses the term 'Asian' pan-continentally and considers people of Asian background to be people from all Asian countries. Statistics Sweden uses the term 'Asian' to refer to immigrants of Asian background from all Asian countries, including Western Asia/the Middle East. West Asians make up
7708-521: The war, many non-white refugees, Chinese but also including Malays, Indonesians and Filipinos, arrived in Australia, but Calwell controversially sought to have them all deported. Between 1945 and 1952, an Australian brigade served as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan. Until 1952, Australia did not permit Japanese women who had married Australian soldiers to enter Australia. The Chifley government introduced
7802-405: The weight of hail. The damage exposed power cables and left two centimetres of water on the floor. The water also damaged several paintings by a Sydney artist which were associated with an exhibition about Australian lifesavers. However, the main part of the building was unaffected and nothing from the museum's collection was damaged. The building was re-opened to the public a day later. The damage
7896-456: The world. The colony of Victoria had a population of only 77,000 in 1851 and New South Wales just 200,000, but the huge influx of settlers spurred by the Australian gold rushes transformed the Australian colonies economically, politically and demographically. Over the next 20 years, 40,000 Chinese men but very few women, nearly all from the province of Guangdong (then known as Canton) but divided by language and dialect nevertheless, immigrated to
7990-419: Was demolished in tragic circumstances on 13 July 1997. As designed by architect Howard Raggatt (design architect and design director for the project), the museum building is based on a theme of knotted ropes, symbolically bringing together the stories of Australians. The architects stated: "We liked to think that the story of Australia was not one, but many tangled together. Not an authorized version but
8084-462: Was argued that without Asiatics to work in the tropical areas of the Northern Territory and Queensland, the area would have to be abandoned. Despite these objections to restricting immigration, between 1875 and 1888 all Australian colonies enacted legislation which excluded all further Chinese immigration. Asian immigrants already residing in the Australian colonies were not expelled and retained
8178-436: Was built by Bovis Lend Lease and completed in 2001. Art critic Christopher Allen described it as "undoubtedly the ugliest example of official architecture in Australia... a painful example of inept, clumsy and gratuitous form justified by kitsch symbolism". A severe thunderstorm hit Canberra on the afternoon of 29 December 2006 and caused roof damage to the administration section of the museum. The ceiling collapsed under
8272-594: Was commonly termed " blackbirding " and refers to the recruitment of people, often through trickery and kidnappings, to work on plantations, particularly the sugar cane plantations of Queensland (Australia) and Fiji . In the 1870s and 1880s, the trade union movement began a series of protests against foreign labour. Their arguments were that Asians and Chinese took jobs away from white men, worked for "substandard" wages, lowered working conditions, were harder workers and refused unionisation. Objections to these arguments came largely from wealthy land owners in rural areas. It
8366-431: Was expected to cost at least A$ 500,000 to repair. In 2012, building works commenced on a new cafe and administration wing. The new cafe opened in late 2012. It overlooks Lake Burley Griffin and offers both indoor and outdoor dining. The relocation of the museum's cafe freed up the vast entry Hall for the display of large objects from the museum's collection, including vehicles. The new administration wing, which links
8460-473: Was founded at Melbourne University to champion for the abolition of the policy. Australian policy began to shift towards significantly increasing immigration. Legislative changes over the next few decades continuously opened up immigration in Australia. Labor Party Chifley government : Liberal-Country Party Menzies government (1949–1966) : This was despite comments Menzies made in a discussion with radio 2UE 's Stewart Lamb in 1955, where he appeared to be
8554-422: Was gratuitously straining relations with Japan, which Britain viewed as a prospective ally against Russia. For the Labor Party this was a compromise of principles, so the main question for the debate on the Immigration Restriction Act just how openly racist to be, with the Labor Party preferring to openly bar "aboriginal natives of Asia, Africa, or the islands thereof". However in the end the preferred option of
8648-496: Was opened in 1859 with trades and labour councils and trades halls opening in all cities and most regional towns in the following forty years. During the 1880s, trade unions developed among shearers , miners , and stevedores (wharf workers), but soon spread to cover almost all blue-collar jobs. Shortages of labour led to high wages for a prosperous skilled working class, whose unions demanded and got an eight-hour day and other benefits unheard of in Europe. Australia gained
8742-517: Was that 7,500 Pacific Islanders (called " Kanakas ") working mostly on plantations in Queensland were deported, and entry into Australia by Pacific Islanders was prohibited after 1904. Those exempted from repatriation, along with a number of others who escaped deportation, remained in Australia to form the basis of what is today Australia's largest non-indigenous black ethnic group. Today, the descendants of those who remained are officially referred to as South Sea Islanders . Māori generally benefited from
8836-426: Was used to bar non-white immigrants from entry. Subsequent acts further strengthened the policy. These policies effectively gave British migrants preference over all others through the first half of the 20th century. During World War II, Prime Minister John Curtin reinforced the policy, saying "This country shall remain forever the home of the descendants of those people who came here in peace in order to establish in
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