[Editor: This article, regarding Arthur Calwell, the O’Keefe case, and the White Australia Policy, was published in The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 31 January 1949.]
We won’t fool Asia
Mr. Calwell is going to deport an Indonesian woman, married to an Australian, and her eight children.
Pandit Nehru and his Asiatic bloc will watch the operation with interest.
Only a week ago the Indian Prime Minister was telling us that we had a right to maintain the White Australia policy as long as its motives were economic not racial.
Of course we denied that the policy had any racial basis.
And now we kick out the O’Keefe family.
Because they threaten our standards of living?
Of course not.
Because their skins are of a different color.
We have to admit that fact frankly before we can begin to think clearly about the White Australia policy and the problems it raises for our future.
If we listen to woolly-minded assurances like the one we received recently from Mr. W. M. Hughes — who declares that inside Australia every one, “irrespective of color, class or creed, stands on a footing of absolute equality” — we will never look squarely at the issue.
We will go on fooling ourselves that Asiatics are prepared to indulge our White Australia because they believe it is merely an economic policy.
We will blind ourselves to the hatred it creates.
And we will leave undone those things we ought to do to save ourselves from the storm that hatred will bring.
What can we do?
First, we can refrain from unnecessarily provocative actions like Mr. Calwell’s.
Secondly, we can devote a lot of our best propaganda attention to persuading the Western World, and particularly the United States, that their security on a planet where the Asiatic bloc is multiplying depends partly at least on the white man’s control of this important base.
Alternatively, we can let the Asiatic in and mix our blood with his …
We can have one or the other: a policy of exclusion with force to back it —
Or only a more or less White Australia.
Let us make up our minds and work towards the end we choose.
Source:
The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 31 January 1949, p. 8
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
Asiatic = of or relating to Asia; someone whose ethnic background is from Asia, especially Eastern Asia; an Asian person, an Oriental person
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
United States = the United States of America
Western World = (also known as: “the West” and “the Occident”) in a collective sense, those countries whose people, culture, ideas, prominent philosophies, and way of life are mainly derived from, or associated with, Western Europe; the countries of Western, Northern, and Southern Europe, along with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States of America; there are also some other countries which can arguably be included in an expanded definition of the Western World, being: 1) those countries of Europe which were previously under Communist rule (mainly Eastern Europe), which were formerly excluded from the definition of the Western World (although, since the fall of Communism in Europe, Eastern Europe is commonly included in a wider usage of the terms “the West” and “the Western World”); 2) those countries of Latin America with a significant part of their population derived from Portugal and Spain; 3) Kenya, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), and South Africa, being ex-colonies of the British Empire (commonly excluded from the definition of the Western World since the advent of black rule); and 4) Israel, due to its sizable population of European Jews, Western-style democracy, and close connections to various Western countries (especially the USA)
See: “Western world”, Wikipedia
W. M. Hughes = William Morris (Billy) Hughes (1862-1952), one of Australia’s longest-serving federal parliamentarians (1901-1952); he was Prime Minister of Australia 1915-1923 (which included the First World War, 1914-1918); he was born in Pimlico (London, England) in 1862, came to Australia in 1884, and died in Lindfield (Sydney, NSW) in 1952
See: 1) L. F. Fitzhardinge, “Hughes, William Morris (Billy) (1862–1952)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Billy Hughes”, Wikipedia
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