The White Australia Policy: An introduction to the White Australia Policy

[Editor: This chapter is part of The White Australia Policy: The Rise and Fall of Australia’s Racial Ideology (2025).]

An introduction to the White Australia Policy

The White Australia Policy was a combination of various laws and regulations implemented by the Australian government with the aim of ensuring that the population of Australia was kept as predominantly white as possible.

The primary basis of the White Australia Policy was the Immigration Restriction Act, which was designed to restrict non-white immigration by the selective use of a dictation test. Another law which was used in the furtherance of the Policy was the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901, which enabled the federal government to return Pacific Islander labourers (who had been mainly working as labourers on sugar plantations) to their islands.

In the early years of the Commonwealth, the White Australia Policy was widely supported by the majority of the country’s newspapers, unions, politicians (from all the main political parties), and voters; it was considered to be a key component of Australian politics.

The creation of the White Australia Policy in 1901 created much angst amongst various British politicians, due to the possibility of it causing diplomatic problems with the non-white components of the British Empire and Crown rule (e.g. India), as well as with Britain’s non-white allies and trading partners (e.g. Japan).

Within Australia, the Policy caused a fair amount of consternation and grief within the sugar industry (especially in Queensland), as the sugar plantations relied upon Kanakas (Pacific Islanders) for manual labour.

However, despite these problems, most Australians viewed the concept of a White Australia as being essentially important to the country’s future. Even though the policy caused some commotion, many people viewed the White Australia notion as being an integral part, or a basic foundation, of the overall structure of the Australian nation.

Over time, the White Australia Policy was gradually modified, with major modifications being introduced by the Liberal Party in the 1950s and 1960s, and it was subsequently officially ended by Gough Whitlam’s Labor government (1972-1975).