Whitebear
Publisher/Editor-in-chief
White Australia policy
The White Australia policy is a generic term used to describe a collection of historical legislation and policies, intended to restrict non-white immigration to Australia, and to promote white immigration, from 1830 to 1973. However, the Policy started unravelling some decades earlier than this, with reforms starting in the 1940s that encouraged non-British and non-white immigration.
From 1973 onwards, the White Australia policy was for all practical purposes defunct, and in 1975 the Australian Government passed The 1975 Racial Discrimination Act which made racially-based selection criteria illegal.
Restrictions on immigration began with anti-Chinese legislation during the Australian goldrushes of the 1850s. The key legislative enactment of the White Australia Policy was the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901. Discriminatory immigration policies were gradually removed between the end of World War II and 1982 with racially discriminatory aspects of the Migration Act officially overturned in 1973.
"White Australia Policy" is also commonly used to refer to the conception of Australia in ethno-nationalistic terms.