Australia is home to 24 million people (Unknown Author 2017). It is among the top 10 happiest countries in 2016, but what exactly made Australia the country it is now? There were many salient events that changed Australia’s future. Even the most important of them are no where near as important as the Federation of Australia. It was the day the 6 separate colonies finally became one; the Commonwealth of Australia. They passed huge laws including ones that would change Australian lives forever.
There were many aspects leading up to this monumental event. It all started with Henry Parks who was the governor of NSW 5 times and is referred to as the Father of Federation. At the time, Australia was only the name of a piece of land that 6 British colonies resided on. Henry wanted this to change this. He wanted the separate colonies to become one under a unified government. Things started to change because of a speech he gave in 1889. The leaders of the colonies, also including New Zealand, gathered together at an event called the National Australasian Convention (May 3rd- April 4th). After 2 years, in 1891, a draft copy of the constitution was drawn up. There were still many problems not considered, including: the people of Australia did not have a say in situation, where the capital was to be based and the more powerful colonies would have to share their wealth. Considering the people’s ideas was the first step to a democratic Australia.
New Zealand and Western Australia did not want to be apart of the troubles so they didn’t get involved. After further conferences another constitution was drawn up and in 1899. The people of the Australia voted on the decision. All the separate colonies apart from Western Australia agreed. Eventually, Western Australia did agree to join but the constitution had already been approved by Queen Victoria. On January 1st, 1901, the six separate colonies at the time finally united to become a Federation. Australia became formerly known as the Commonwealth Australia with Edmund Barton as its first Prime Minister.
After Australia Federated, The White Australia Policy was passed on the 23rd of December, 1901. This was called the Immigration Restriction Act 1901. This was a huge law that was supposed to create a better country. It banned non-British people from migrating and staying in Australia. The restriction was offending the British allies like Japan and India, so the complete ban was removed but a dictation test in any European language had to be taken (later became any given language, therefore no person passed the test after 1909). This may seem very bad but there is a good side. Even a 0.1% chance is better than no chance. This is a small and barely noticeable change but it was still a change to becoming a more fair and democratic Australia. This affected various people differently depending on their current status and cultural heritage.
The White Australia Policy was passed for what they believed to be very valid reasons at the time. Non-whites were already in the country in the 1800s and the White Australia couldn’t not keep up with the low wages they required. They were also seen as aliens that were stealing, corrupting and poisoning the land. An example of the racist Australia is through Alfred Deakin’s speech (12 September, 1901): “ That end, put in plain and unequivocal terms … means the prohibition of all alien coloured immigration, and more, it means at the earliest time, by reasonable and just means, the deportation or reduction of the number of aliens now in our midst. The two things go hand in hand, and are the necessary complement of a single policy – the policy of securing a ‘white Australia.”
The reason why the White Australia Policy was placed was to ensure that the idea of a utopia remained. The Utopia they saw was a white country that kept advancing forward. The non-whites were criticised because they were seen as inferiors and took up places in the work place that were supposed to be for the White males. Estimates suggest that up to 98% of the population during the White Australia Policy was white. It is hard to imagine how this might have changed as now 24.6% of Australians are born overseas and 43.1% of Australians have at least one parent born overseas. The reasons for these changes came during the Second World War.
During the second world war, many people affected by the Japanese ended up in Australia seeking refuge. After the war concluded, many of these people left voluntarily but the majority of them had married Australians. In 1949 Prime Minister Holt allowed 800 non-europeans to stay in Australia.
In 1958 a new policy was passed named the Migration Act of 1958. This made it a lot easier to gain access to Australia. In 1966, the most significant act was passed and that was the 1966 Migration Act. Non British, British as well as all other migrants gained ‘equal rights’. It was the end of the White Australia Policy. Anyone could become an Australian citizen if they passed the certain requirements. The door to a new improved Australia was open to everyone.
Many events throughout history were involved in forming the Australia we live in today. These events involved trials and errors, including the White Australia Policy which was a failure, to Federation which was the most important event in Australia’s history. Great people sought to create an ideal Australia but these ideas went different ways depending on the people. Now Australia is a much more kind and democratic country where everyone has a say and racism has reached all time lows but there is still more steps to create a real utopia; with no violence or insecurities. Still, everyone should all be proud to call ourselves Australian.
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL