Text - Chapter 6.2 Migrants: The Struggle for Acceptance p.307 The changing patterns of migration p.308 ‘Populate or perish’ p.309 The new Australians
Before World War II
1901: Immigration Restriction Act - White Australia Policy
Most migrants to Australia were from England, Scotland and Ireland
During the Great Depression, migration slow significantly
After World War II
Continuity: migration encouraged from Britain - £10 Poms. Throughout the second half of the 20th Century, most migrants came from Britain, though British migration decreased as a percentage of total migration.
Migration from southern and eastern Europe, most significantly Greece and Italy
1973 - end of the White Australia Policy - increase in migration from south-east Asia
More recently, migration from Africa and the Middle East
Populate or perish
Migration from war-torn Europe: British and southern Europeans (mostly Italians and Greeks) and people from Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia)
Begun during Prime Ministership of Ben Chifley (1945-1949)
Reasons:
labour shortage, larger workforce to stimulate economic growth
new workers would bring new skills
a larger population would improve Australia’s security against invasion (source 6.13)
note: large-scale immigration was a change from traditional Labor Party policy
1945: Department of Immigration - Minister: Arthur Calwell (see source 6.13 p.309)
The new Australians
British migration: to encourage migration, ex-servicemen given free passage; others offered assisted passage (£10 Poms). Didn’t provide the required numbers. Migrants were then accepted from any European country. 500,000 migrants by 1949.
White Australia Policy remained through 1950s and 1960s, but some changes were beginning:
1958 – dictation test removed from the Migration Act.
1973 – White Australia Policy abolished. Migrants could not be excluded based on race.
Late 1970s – Vietnamese refugees following the end of the Vietnam War and the fall of Saigon to Communist North Vietnam. Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.
1990s – migration was still mostly from Europe, but there was greater migration from south-east Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Also significant intake of refugees.
- the changing patterns of migration 1945-2000
account for continuity and/or change over time in the relevant study
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SBS: Immigration Nation
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Text - Chapter 6.2 Migrants: The Struggle for Acceptance
p.307 The changing patterns of migration
p.308 ‘Populate or perish’
p.309 The new Australians
Before World War II
After World War II
Populate or perish
The new Australians
Arthur Calwell
£10 Poms - Commercial
£10 Poms - Commercial