[Editor: This chapter is part of The White Australia Policy: The Rise and Fall of Australia’s Racial Ideology (2025).]
The legislative basis of the White Australia Policy
The Australian government did not bring in a law called the White Australia Policy; the name was a politically descriptive term which referred to the broad government aim of ensuring a predominantly white Australia, which was based upon various laws and regulations designed to implement that goal.
The main legislative basis for the White Australia Policy was the Immigration Restriction Act 1901. The Policy was also underpinned by the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901, as well as the Post and Telegraph Act 1901. These three pieces of legislation were amongst the first laws to be introduced in the first session of the federal parliament.[1]
On 5 June 1901 the Immigration Restriction Bill was the first piece of legislation which was initiated in the newly-formed Australian parliament; this was an indication of the importance that was placed upon attaining a White Australia Policy. On that day, the Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, asked the parliament:
“That leave be given to bring in a Bill to place certain restrictions on immigration, and to provide for the removal from the Commonwealth of prohibited immigrants.”[2]
However, the measures designed to enable the Policy did not come into operation right away. The bills had to be presented to the federal parliament, where they were debated and revised. Then they had to receive the Royal Assent (bearing in mind that, at that stage, federated Australia was still, in effect, a self-governing colony of the British Empire). And then the laws had to be promulgated (published, or announced to the public), and a range of government officials had to be instructed in the practical application of the new legislation.
The mainstay of the White Australia Policy, the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, was assented to on 23 December 1901, and became law on that date. The other two pieces of legislation with racial implications had already received the Royal Assent beforehand: the Post and Telegraph Act 1901 on 16 November 1901, and the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 on 17 December 1901.[3]
The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 brought into being the dictation test, whereby intending non-white immigrants could be tested by a government official regarding their language skills, by writing down a piece of text dictated to them by a government official (typically, a Collector of Customs). The test could be given in any European language, which meant that a well-educated Chinese person, fluent in English, could be given a test in a language he was unlikely to be familiar with, such as Bulgarian or Russian. The Japanese protested over the terminology of limiting the test to European languages, so in 1905 the wording of the Act was changed so that the test could be given in “any prescribed language”.[4]
Everyone in the political arena knew that the aim of the dictation test was to exclude non-Europeans from migrating to Australia, but that it had been put in place as a diplomatic nicety, to cater to the wishes of the British government.
The Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 was designed to return the Kanakas (Pacific Islanders) to their islands of origin. It is estimated that about 62,000 Kanaka labourers had come to Australia. At the time when the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 was passed, there were about 10,000 Pacific Islanders living in the country (most of them were located in Queensland, with a smaller number in northern New South Wales). As a result of the law, about 7,500 Kanakas left Australia, whilst about 2,500 stayed in the country (1654 were enabled to remain by receiving exemptions, whilst approximately an extra 850 managed to avoid being deported).[5]
The Post and Telegraph Act 1901 included a section which specified that all mail carriers in the Australian postage system had to be white. The main aim of the relevant section of this legislation was to ensure that all ships, which were part of contractual agreements to carry Australian mail, and were therefore financially funded by the federal government, would only employ white labour (as a condition of the contract). Concerns had been expressed that non-white sailors were working for far less pay than those demanded by white sailors, and that this situation would drive down wages if it were allowed to spread.[6]
The relevant rule was embodied in section 16:
“16. — (1.) No contract or arrangement for the carriage of mails shall be entered into on behalf of the Commonwealth unless it contains a condition that only white labour shall be employed in such carriage.
(2.) This condition shall not apply to the coaling and loading of ships at places beyond the limits of the Commonwealth.”[7]
The postage policy was problematic, because the post conveyed between Australia and the United Kingdom (a key part of Australian overseas mail) was also funded by the British government, and involved companies which were not Australian in origin. The issue was hotly debated in Australia’s federal parliament, but the clause was eventually approved.
In 1903, two years after the original laws had been brought in to implement the White Australia Policy, the federal government added another law to solidify the Policy, with the passing of the Naturalization Act 1903, which received the Royal Assent on 13 October 1903.[8]
The 1903 law outlined which non-British citizens could apply for a certificate of naturalization in Australia. The law barred non-whites from citizenship, specifically excluding the natives of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific islands (the latter did not include Maoris, being citizens of New Zealand).
Section 5 stated who could apply:
“A person resident in the Commonwealth, not being a British subject, and not being an aboriginal native of Asia, Africa, or the Islands of the Pacific, excepting New Zealand, who intends to settle in the Commonwealth”.[9]
There were other laws in Australia which included a racial component, but the afore-mentioned laws were the primary legislative basis for the White Australia Policy.
References:
[1] “1901 Immigration Restriction Act”, Migration Heritage Centre
Benjamin T. Jones, “Australian politics explainer: the White Australia policy”, The Conversation, 9 April 2017
“White Australia policy”, National Museum of Australia, updated 16 May 2023
Kim Tao, “The art of making: New immigration acquisitions”, Australian National Maritime Museum, 12 Oct 2020
[2] Commonwealth of Australia, “Parliamentary Debates: House of Representatives: Official Hansard”, 1901 no. 23, 5 June 1901, p. 740 [PDF p. 67], column 1
[3] “Immigration Act 1901”, Federal Register of Legislation
“Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901”, Federal Register of Legislation
“Post and Telegraph Act 1901”, Federal Register of Legislation
[4] “The Immigration Restriction Act and the White Australia policy”, National Archives of Australia
“Immigration Restriction Act 1901”, National Archives of Australia
“Immigration Restriction Act 1901 (Cth)”, Documenting a Democracy (Museum of Australian Democracy)
“Immigration Restriction Act 1901 (No. 17, 1901)”, Australasian Legal Information Institute
“Immigration Restriction Act 1901”, Wikipedia
[5] “Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901”, National Archives of Australia
“Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 (Cth)”, Documenting a Democracy (Museum of Australian Democracy)
“Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 (No. 16, 1901)”, Australasian Legal Information Institute
“Digitised @ SLQ – Islanders speak out about deportation in 1906”, State Library of Queensland, 15 August 2013
“Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901”, Wikipedia
[6] “House of Representatives: Colored seamen on mailboats: Their abolition desirable: All parties unanimous”, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 26 July 1901, p. 6 (Second Edition)
“Black labor on subsidised mailboats: Hughes, M.H.R., proposes and seeks to specify in Post and Telegraph Bill: Toby Barton wobbles”, Truth (Sydney, NSW), 18 August 1901, p. 4
[7] “Post and Telegraph Act 1901 (No 12 of 1901)”, Australasian Legal Information Institute [see section 16 on p. 189]
[8] “Naturalization Act 1903”, Federal Register of Legislation
“Naturalization Act 1903 (No. 11, 1903)”, Australasian Legal Information Institute
See also: “Australian nationality law”, Wikipedia
[9] “Naturalization Act 1903”, Federal Register of Legislation
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