[Editor: This article, regarding Arthur Calwell, the O’Keefe case, and the White Australia Policy, was published in the China Mail (Hong Kong), 1 February 1949.]
Press, clergy protest “White Australia” Policy
Melbourne, January 30.
Press and clergy today joined in voicing a nationwide protest over Australia’s decision to deport the Indonesian wife of an Australian, and her eight children.
One clergyman said the order against the O’Keefe family, issued by the Immigration Minister, Mr. Arthur Calwell, under the “White Australia” policy, savored of inhumanity and gross lack of consideration.
Justice should be tempered with mercy, he said. “If we build up a feeling among Asiatics by continuing this outmoded, short-sighted White Australia policy, there will be growing cause for misunderstanding, hatred, wars, and more suffering.
“Adopt a quota system, make them all trade unionists and make certain they won’t become a source of cheap labour — but let’s think of them as human beings,” the clergyman said.
“These antiquated ideas must be changed to meet new contingencies.”
Support for the order came from the Returned Soldiers League, whose secretary said: “If the White Australia policy is to be enforced, there must be no exceptions,” but newspapers unanimously condemned Mr. Calwell’s action.
The Sydney Morning Herald said: “At the very moment when the Government is denouncing the Dutch and showing what a stout friend it is to the Indonesians, it is incurring the opium of expelling an Indonesian woman and her children who sought sanctuary here during the war.
“The contrast between the Commonwealth’s championship of the Indonesian cause and its treatment of this family cannot go unmarked in Asia.”
“We won’t fool Asia,” the Sydney Telegraph headed its leader, and said: “Pandit Nehru and his Asiatic bloc will watch the operation with interest. Of course, we can deny that the White Australia policy has any racial basis.
“And now we kick out the O’Keefe family because their skins are of a different colour. We have to admit this fact frankly before we begin to think clearly about the White Australia policy and the problems it raises for our future.
“Secondly, we can devote the best of our propaganda to persuading the Western world, particularly America, that security on a planet, where the Asiatic bloc is multiplying, depends on the white man’s control of this important base.
“Alternatively, we can let the Asiatic in and mix our blood with his.”
— Reuter.
Source:
China Mail (Hong Kong), 1 February 1949, p. 10
Editor’s notes:
Annie O’Keefe = Annie Maas O’Keefe (1908-1974); born Annie Maas Dumais in the Netherlands East Indies (modern-day Indonesia), she married Samuel Jacob; as Annie Jacob, she (along with her husband and children) was part of the approximately 15,000 refugees who came to Australia during the Second World War (1939-1945); whilst in Australia, her husband died; her landlord, John (Jack) O’Keefe, offered to marry her so that she could stay in Australia, but in 1949 (after the end of the war) the Department of Immigration issued a deportation order for her and her children; an appeal was made to the High Court, which ruled in her favour, thereby setting a legal precedent for other refugees; the case was regarded as damaging to the White Australia Policy
See: 1) Kim Tao, “The case of Mrs O’Keefe: A watershed for white Australia”, Australian National Maritime Museum, 22 Jan 2019
2) Sean Brawley, “Mrs O’Keefe and the battle for White Australia”, Making Multicultural Australia [from Memento, no. 33, Winter 2007, pp. 6-8, National Archives of Australia]
3) Sean Brawley, “Finding home in white Australia: the O’Keefe deportation case of 1949” (abstract), Macquarie University
4) “Annie Maas O’Keefe”, National Archives of Australia
5) “O’Keefe v Calwell”, Wikipedia
Arthur Calwell = Arthur Calwell (1896-1973), politician, Minister for Immigration (1945-1949), and leader of the Australian Labor Party (1960-1967); he was born in West Melbourne in 1896, and died in East Melbourne in 1973
See: 1) Graham Freudenberg, “Calwell, Arthur Augustus (1896–1973)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Arthur Calwell”, Wikipedia
O’Keefe family = the family of Annie O’Keefe [see: Annie O’Keefe]
Pandit Nehru = Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), also known as Pandit Nehru (the Hindi word “pandit” refers to a teacher, or to a wise, knowledgeable, or learned man); Prime Minister of India (1947-1964); he was born in Allahabad (India) in 1889, and died in New Delhi (India) in 1964
See: 1) Frank R. Moraes, “Jawaharlal Nehru: prime minister of India”, Encyclopaedia Britannica (updated 20 January 2025)
2) “Jawaharlal Nehru”, Wikipedia
3) “Pandit”, Wikipedia
[Editor: Changed “watch the co-operation” to “watch the operation” (in line with the original article in The Daily Telegraph); “be begin” to “we begin”. Two line breaks were inserted before “— Reuter”.]
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