White Australia Policy Essay Example

On the 23rd December 1901 the white Australian policy impacted Australia as a nation towards the quality of life and society generally. 

On the 23rd of December 1901 the White Australian policy was introduced and made changes to Australia as a nation.

Before the white Australian policy came into place, indigenous, pacific and migrants from the Asian decent migrated to Australia for work. The white Australian policy efficiently reduced all non-European migration into the country and that contributed to the growth of a racially insulated white society. The white Australia policy aimed to limit non-white, partially the Asian culture immigration to Australia to keep Australia 'British'. As the White Australian policy came into place the Quality of life and socially generally was impacted. This followed by the gold rushes which was founded by the Chinese. In the early 1900s before the white Australian policy was confirmed by the British government the Quality of life was different for everyone. People who were non-whites and working women were not threats to white men as they were often payed less and were lower levelled as the white men were more advanced because they supported the ‘image’ Australia was looking for. Towards the quality of life and socially generally. The Immigration Restriction Act was one of the first Commonwealth laws passed after Federation. When Asian, indigenous and the pacific migrants tried to welcome themselves into Australia they were made to sit a 50-word dictation test before entering and 1359 people took the test however, only 52 were granted entry at the borders.

The immigration restriction act was significant to commonwealth because it limited the non-white population. As the White Australian policy was settled, it became obvious that British migration was not providing the desired numbers, and that strict adherence to the white Australia policy was an impediment to population growth. Soon later only 2.7% of the Australian population was born outside of the country. This act affected socially generally as White men were still higher than others, followed by working women, then respectful working non-whites. Working women and non-whites were still being less paid then white men because white men up held the 'image' of what Australia was looking for. After the immigration restriction act, there were a lot of long and short-term impacts that affected the quality of life and socially generally. A short-term impact that Australia was affected by was that the population was continuously rapidly changing. The population decreased in the non-white population because of this immigration act. A long term impacts this immigration act had was that the migrants had to look for different settlements after being turned back from the Australian borders. This occurred until all migrants were allowed to come back into Australia without having to sit a 50-word dictation test, which was for approximately 25 years. In the late 1900s the Whitlam Labour Government finally rejected the White Australia policy. In its place it introduced a new a policy of multiculturalism in a nation that is now home to migrants from nearly 200 different countries. Also, in the late 1900s other parts of the White Australia policy, such as the registration of non-British migrants as ‘aliens. However, the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 made it illegal to discriminate against migrants based on their race. It removed all last races of the White Australian policy.