Immigration Nation - Part 2

Summary

Highlights

• Australia initially had a "White Australia Policy" aiming to keep the nation predominantly white 🌐.
• Post-WW2, Australia sought European immigrants to populate the nation and defend against future threats ⚔️.
• Arthur Calwell leveraged fear tactics and propaganda to shift public opinion on immigration 📣.
• Displaced persons from Europe were targeted as ideal immigrants due to their appearance and work potential 🛠️.
• Resistance existed both in the media and public against changing the racial composition of Australia 📚.
• The eventual shift in policy highlighted the impracticality of maintaining restrictive racial immigration laws 🔄.

Key Takeaways

• Australia's immigration policies drastically shifted post-WW2 to include Europeans to bolster population numbers 🌍.
• Despite initial resistance, diverse immigrants contributed significantly to modern Australia 🏗️.
• The White Australia Policy crumbled under real-world pressures and humanitarian needs 📉.
• Key figures like Arthur Calwell played paradoxical roles—both enforcing restrictive policies and pioneering new immigration waves 🙌.
• Media and public opinion were significant hurdles and catalysts in changing immigration laws and attitudes 📺.

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Australia's Immigration History Australia is fundamentally an immigrant nation, indicating the significant role immigration plays in its demographic and cultural landscape. However, this characteristic was not always aligned with the original foundational plans laid out when the Commonwealth of Australia was established a century ago. Back then, a paradox underpinned the nation’s foundational ethos. The transcript hints at an evolving understanding or intention regarding immigration policies from the country's inception to present times, suggesting a shift in perspectives and policies over time.
• 00:30 - 01:30: The White Australia Policy The chapter discusses the 'White Australia Policy' implemented from 1901, which aimed to create an exclusively white community in Australia by enforcing strict immigration restrictions. The policy was a means to exclude the majority of humanity based on race, primarily targeting non-white individuals. However, this approach began to change after World War II when Australia adopted bold and radical policies.
• 01:30 - 02:30: Post-WWII Immigration Strategy The chapter discusses the new immigration strategy post-World War II, where the government is taking a significant and risky turn in its immigration policy. For the first time, there is an active effort to recruit a large number of European migrants to Australia from war-torn regions in Europe.
• 02:30 - 03:30: Fear and the Need for Population Growth The chapter titled 'Fear and the Need for Population Growth' explores the dynamics of immigration in a newly developing Australia. It highlights the paradox of welcoming a million migrants from Europe in a decade amidst fears and deportations linked to racial tension. The narrative reveals the complex interplay of societal movements and government policies geared towards population expansion, despite underlying racial issues.
• 03:30 - 04:30: Resistance to Immigration The chapter explores Australia's strong commitment to its White Australia Policy and delves into the history of how modern multicultural Australia was established despite significant challenges.
• 04:30 - 05:30: The Aftermath of War and Humanitarian Efforts The chapter explores how the aftermath of war shapes humanitarian efforts, focusing on immigration. It tells the story of how a nation evolves into an 'immigration nation,' highlighting the significant events, policies, and key figures that contributed to this transformation. The narrative delves into the challenges and opportunities that arise during peacetime, the role of government and non-governmental organizations, and the impact on society and culture as a whole.
• 05:30 - 06:30: Preference for British Migrants The Japanese attack on Darwin in February 1942 highlighted Australia's vulnerabilities and inability to defend itself effectively, prompting concerns over national security and defense capabilities.
• 06:30 - 07:30: The Arrival of Non-British Migrants The chapter titled 'The Arrival of Non-British Migrants' discusses the significant concern in Australia post-World War II due to its perceived underpopulation. With major global conflicts such as the world war serving as a backdrop, Australia faced a pressing problem of having too few people, which could potentially threaten its national defense. At that time, the population was merely seven million, and the Labour Prime Minister Ben Chifley argued that immigration was the only viable solution to bolster the population, suggesting the need to triple the number of Australians to safeguard the nation.
• 07:30 - 08:30: The Beautiful Balts and Public Perception The chapter titled 'The Beautiful Balts and Public Perception' discusses the formation of a new ministry, the Department of Immigration, by a leader. The leader appoints his close friend, Arthur Colville, as the first minister of this newly established department. It is highlighted that the government, led by this chief, was highly decentralized, with the Australian Prime Minister advocating for autonomy among his ministers, allowing them to proceed independently with their tasks.
• 08:30 - 09:30: Challenges and Changes in Immigration Policy The chapter "Challenges and Changes in Immigration Policy" begins with a focus on key political figures involved in shaping immigration policy, highlighting individuals like Dr. Evert, the Foreign Affairs Minister, and Arthur Calwell, the Minister for Immigration. It notes the significant responsibilities and risks undertaken by these officials, particularly Arthur Calwell, in driving immigration policies forward. The narrative emphasizes that with these challenges comes the potential for great opportunities. The chapter sets an important historical scene by mentioning Arthur Calwell making his maiden address on a notably cold day, August 2nd, 1945, signifying the dawn of a new era in immigration policy.
• 09:30 - 10:30: The Populace and Perish Plan The chapter titled 'The Populace and Perish Plan' revolves around a ministerial statement wherein the Minister for Immigration addresses the nation's fear of Asian invasion. The speech, which has come to be known as the 'populated Parrish speech,' highlights the urgent need to prepare for potential future wars, particularly focusing on the threat from Japan. The historical context is based around 1942 when the Japanese were perceived as a real and present danger, prompting leaders like Curtin to take decisive action.
• 10:30 - 11:30: Deportation and Racial Policy The chapter 'Deportation and Racial Policy' discusses the strategies employed to increase Australia's population. It highlights a fear-driven campaign that emphasizes the necessity of boosting population numbers to safeguard the nation, suggesting that Australia can't rely solely on internal population growth and must turn to migration to meet its requirements. The urgency of this population increase is tied to both national security and the development of the country.
• 11:30 - 12:30: The O'Keefe Case and Challenges to the White Australia Policy This chapter discusses the critical role of a large immigration program in Australia's post-war economy. It highlights Australia's transition during World War II to an industrialized economy and the subsequent need for more people to sustain this growth. The narrative suggests that without continuing to fuel this 'engine' with new immigration, Australia's economic advances could stagnate. The chapter implies challenges to the White Australia Policy in this context, though further details from the transcript may provide more insights on the specific challenges faced.
• 12:30 - 13:30: Economic Immigration and Workforce Integration The chapter discusses the skepticism and concerns among the Australian public and policymakers regarding immigration, particularly large-scale immigration. Australia is predominantly white and of British descent, and there is uncertainty about how the demographics might change. The government's approach and the societal implications of workforce integration are also examined.
• 13:30 - 14:30: Political Shifts and Migration Policies The chapter discusses the political and social challenges Australia faces due to demobilization of thousands of service members and severe housing shortages.
• 14:30 - 15:30: The 75% Rule and Challenges of Assimilation The chapter titled 'The 75% Rule and Challenges of Assimilation' opens with Willy Lerma's abrupt transition from a carefree teenager in Poland to a detainee in a German concentration camp during World War II. As the German army forcibly removes him from his home, Willy's life changes drastically. By 1945, he is struggling to survive in Dachau, a concentration camp, his body reduced to a fragile state of just 38 kilograms, highlighting the severe physical and psychological toll of his experience. The narrative may further delve into Willy's internal and external struggles, possibly touching on how he copes with his situation and the broader challenges of post-war assimilation.
• 15:30 - 16:30: Assimilation and Cultural Integration In this chapter, the focus is on the themes of assimilation and cultural integration amid extreme survival conditions. The narrator describes a harrowing existence where basic needs like food dominate every thought and action, overshadowing memories of family and loved ones. The chapter paints a grim picture of hopelessness where survival takes precedence, and the threat of death from external forces further diminishes any thoughts of family connections. The chapter ends on a moment of tension as the character Willy is led to the shower block, highlighting the perpetual uncertainty and fear faced in such an environment.
• 16:30 - 17:30: Immigration Impact on Australian Society The chapter titled 'Immigration Impact on Australian Society' contains a personal narrative that highlights the emotional and psychological journey of immigrants. The narrator shares a moment of intense emotion, initially feeling overwhelmed by tears and fear when arriving at a new place, symbolized by the 'house'. However, the narrative takes a positive turn as the narrator describes the comforting and indescribable warmth felt as a 'wonderful feeling', indicating a sense of relief, acceptance, and possibly hope as they adapt to their new environment. This reflects the broader theme of the complex emotional experiences faced by immigrants as they integrate into Australian society.
• 17:30 - 18:30: The Demise of the White Australia Policy The chapter titled 'The Demise of the White Australia Policy' reveals the gradual uncovering of the horrors of the past, highlighting the Australian government's response to the situation. During this period, Holt's administration decides to issue landing permits for Holocaust survivors, which serves as a humanitarian gesture. However, this attempt at compassion is met with skepticism and mockery by the press, reflecting the lingering prejudices and the complexities of changing public perceptions.
• 18:30 - 19:30: Conclusion and Future of Multicultural Australia The chapter covers the challenges faced during the significant influx of Jewish immigrants to Australia post-1946. The narrative highlights the controversial depiction of these immigrants in media, drawing parallels to negative stereotypes and the Pied Piper imagery. This part of history served as a warning to the policymakers about the complexities involved in implementing substantial changes in immigration policies. The conclusion and future of multicultural Australia are framed through this historical lens, illustrating the struggles and triumphs in evolving immigration narratives.

Immigration Nation - Part 2 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Australia is an immigration nation but a hundred years ago this wasn't the plan the Commonwealth of Australia was built on a paradox paradox was they were going to realize
• 00:30 - 01:00 utopia that they were going to do it through excluding the vast majority of humanity from 1901 this meant tough restrictions on immigration the White Australia Policy we would be the exclusively white community there would be no one in Australia other than members of the white race this was the objective the plan started to work but after World War two Australia adopted a bold and radical
• 01:00 - 01:30 new strategy the government is embarking upon a high-risk feature it's a major u-turn in immigration policy for the first time assisting large numbers of Europeans to come to Australia what was redefined migrants recruited on mass from war ravaged Europe they checked you physically like the old horse traders looked in your teeth and stark naked so
• 01:30 - 02:00 that they could you know see that you have got movements and all your arms and legs but some still had no place even in this new Australia afternoon come and start to bring people from Europe you want an enemies on the other hand they wanted the deportations that is because of color in a single decade the country opened its doors to a million migrants but somehow
• 02:00 - 02:30 plan more strongly than ever to its cherish White Australia Policy this is the secret history of us how modern multicultural Australia was forged against the odds
• 02:30 - 03:00 like the story of how we became the immigration nation we live in today is a story made possible by one of the
• 03:00 - 03:30 darkest moments in Australia's history I do in Japanese territory by right of conquest war lapse the shores of Australia bonds reign on Darwin a devastating rage shatters the town the Japanese attack on Darwin in February 1942 exposed the vulnerability of a nation Australia had not been able to defend itself and and they foresaw third
• 03:30 - 04:00 world war major conflicts ahead underlying this is the concern that Australia is seriously underpopulated the number one problem facing Australia at the end of World War two is there are simply not enough instruments there are not enough Australians to the fend the nation immigration is the only solution there are just seven million Australians the Labour Prime Minister been chief Lee believes this number must be troubled as
• 04:00 - 04:30 leader he immediately creates an entirely new ministry the Department of Immigration his close friend Arthur Colville becomes its first minister the chiefly government was very decentralized been chiefly that the Australian Prime Minister always insisted that his ministers be allowed to get on with it that his ministers
• 04:30 - 05:00 were the contact point on these big issues whether it be dr. Evert the Foreign Affairs Minister or Arthur Calwell as Minister for immigration so it was very clear to call that that he took the running of course that meant great risk but it also meant great opportunity call is quick to take full advantage of his free rein on the bitterly cold winter's day of August the 2nd 1945 he rises to make his maiden
• 05:00 - 05:30 ministerial statement he exploits the nation's deeply held fear of Asian invasion to overcome another fear mass emigration these first speeches Minister for immigration is a famous speech that we now call the populated Parrish speech were essentially said we have 20 years to prepare for the next war against Japan well the Japanese are almost on a Shores in 1942 and Curtin and the rest of us thought that we have to do something
• 05:30 - 06:00 about building up our population and so I coined a phrase we either fill this company or we lose it his strategy is to begin with that fear campaign to scare us trains into realizing we need more people we can't make enough Australians internally we need to look to migration the country doesn't just need a massive increase in population to defend itself the nation urgently needs
• 06:00 - 06:30 without the largest immigration program in its history Australia could wither and die Australian made a transition during the war to a full-scale industrialized economy and as peace began there was the opportunity of continuing that transition and so it's an engine that got going World War two but it's running out of petrol you know the petrol is people there's not enough people the need is real but call will
• 06:30 - 07:00 and the government know the Australian public is deeply skeptical about immigration Australia is 99% white and almost entirely British in a time of great uncertainty most want to keep it that way there's a lot of concern amongst policymakers about how Australians will react to large-scale immigration
• 07:00 - 07:30 Australia is having to demobilize thousands of service people there are severe housing shortages it's a time of great social upheaval so to announce the arrival of thousands more people at this time is a very very sensitive political issue but before overcoming these concerns before the great immigration scheme can even get
• 07:30 - 08:00 underway the fallout and the horrors of the war intervene Willy Lerma was a carefree teenager in Poland when the German army threw him in a truck and took him away by 1945 he finds himself in Dachau concentration camp barely alive and weighing just 38 kilograms don't think what was in my mind was food
• 08:00 - 08:30 food food and survival that's all I even forgot that I had a family that had parents and their sister I never thought about him because my tummy didn't let me do it if they would shoot me or send me to the gas chamber or hang me there is nothing I could do about it no hope already starving to death the day comes when Willy is led to the shower block I
• 08:30 - 09:00 burst out crying with bitter tears I thought that's the end of me now that house there I don't know what they're going to do with me but then - the horse starts to come to warm water a wonderful feeling till today I can't find a proper word an English word to say how wonderful that feeling goes on my body you know I said yeah that I must be
• 09:00 - 09:30 liberated the scale of the horror is slowly revealed Cole will responds issuing mm landing permits for Holocaust survivors but even this humanitarian response is greeted with ridicule by the press in
• 09:30 - 10:00 1946 when Jewish immigrants began to arrive he was depicted very negatively as somehow favoring a group of people who were hard to believe in the aftermath of the Holocaust but he would depicted in some cartoons as rats and as core well as a Pied Piper and it served to warn Gore well how difficult it was to inaugurate major changes in immigration policy
• 10:00 - 10:30 unlike Holocaust survivors the British are welcomed with open arms they continue to arise in their thousand boys are met by the Minister of Immigration and information we trust that you will settle down in Australia marrying Australian girls or girls from the old country we want hundreds of thousands of men like you and we want many many thousands of young women to since Federation Australia has relied
• 10:30 - 11:00 upon the motherland to keep the nation white but there's a major problem now from as early as 1942 one of call was advisers in Canberra WD Forsyth warned that Britain could no longer be relied upon to provide all the migrants Australia needs despite this in November 1946 call will makes the extraordinary announcement that he hopes for everyone
• 11:00 - 11:30 foreign arrival there will be 10 British migrants there's one problem with this message the coil is pumping out it's completely untrue and he knows that it's untrue as he's seen the reports he knows there's no way in the world there's going to be enough British migrants coming out to sustain the majority of Australia's post-war development needs coal walls economy with the truth seems designed to defuse public concerns of a
• 11:30 - 12:00 non British immigration as the first post-war migrant ship arrives his strategy seems entirely justified the foggy melbourne morning of the 20th of april 1947 paul wall walks on to victoria docks and into a media storm victoria docks melbourne Lamesa first of the post-war immigration biffle's to arrive in this country is
• 12:00 - 12:30 awaited by thick crowds giving welcome to friends and relatives all types from a dozen European countries class of the ship side for the first glimpse of the country which is to be their home the mise er is packed with more than 600 people from 26 countries Paul wall has tried to give priority to British migrants but it is the dark-skinned passengers from war-torn Europe and the Middle East that become the focus the
• 12:30 - 13:00 awaiting media see their arrival as an attack on the integrity of a white Australian venture with thousands of higher living Nationals awaiting entrance English Nordic types and Americans who can offer this country ideas and culture it is little wonder that this project has been the center of a bitter controversy the mises story is beamed into cinemas throughout Australia in a time before television newsreels are seen by huge
• 13:00 - 13:30 audiences the crowd giving welcome this was shown in every cinema on a Saturday night and throughout the week and the newsreel is shaping public opinion by only showing this images of these foreign looking aliens Minister of Information at immigration mr. COBOL has been the target for strong press criticism in this immigration venture this time is very unusual for a newsreel at that time to actually make such an editorial statement so directly
• 13:30 - 14:00 attacking the Minister and so directly stating at this time that they don't want people at this type they want their own Nordic stock let us hope that immigration of the future will be planned deliberately and intelligently and offer more opportunities to the people of our own stock core was got a crisis he's really at the mercy of the news readers now it cannot be clearer non-british immigration will be met with vicious criticism and yet there are not
• 14:00 - 14:30 enough British migrants to meet Australia's needs the solution to this dilemma will change Australia forever since becoming the nation's first immigration minister in 1945 Arthur Calwell has been vilified in the press and in the newsreels there are deep fears his post-war populate or perish plan
• 14:30 - 15:00 threatens the very integrity of white British Australia but after two years on the backfoot the man who learned his trade as Minister for information launches a propaganda campaign appointing himself as chief salesman call had learnt a lot from his time as Minister for information about the way in which the Commonwealth Government could publicize its activities and its efforts and so looking at the way in which the
• 15:00 - 15:30 government played a role in wartime propaganda Paul immediately sees how that can be applied to arguing and supporting the constant aggression given that Arthur Calwell in the Australian media hated each other's guts the fact that Arthur Calwell had to become a media star in order to get his new migration scheme off the ground can only be considered as a very deep historical irony Paul's mission to recruit new migrants is about to take
• 15:30 - 16:00 him to the other side of the world but before he sets off he takes his message of fear directly to the Australian people the mission on which I am now embarking is vital to the nation I am going abroad to seek ships or immigrants if we have no ships we shall get no immigrants and without immigration the future of the Australia we know will be both uneasy and brief as
• 16:00 - 16:30 a nation we shall not survive when cor well sets off for Europe in 1947 he does not have a clear understanding of what will be the outcome of his mission he had opportunities he had meetings he is in effect putting his toe in the water testing the waters call wall has told the public that his trip to England and Europe is to secure
• 16:30 - 17:00 shipping for migrants but he has another idea well he says he's going off to you the situation in Great Britain and see what he can do about shipping shortages but there's no doubt that he's also going to go to Europe and have a look at the displaced persons camp and the quality of the people there from about which he's been getting very positive reports since 1945 war-torn Europe there's almost a million displaced people in war-torn Europe they could
• 17:00 - 17:30 easily provide the answer to Australia's population problem 18 year old Lithuanian Andrew jankis has spent his teenage years fleeing the Russians and then the Nazis now in a refugee camp in Germany going home is not an option I didn't want to go back because I know I would end up going to Siberia like a lot of other people even after the war that got sent because Stalin just was he was
• 17:30 - 18:00 a madman so then the International refugee organization took the camps over and we were offered to emigrate just hours after checking into the Hyde Park Hotel in London on the 27th of June 1947 Paul wool meets with the International refugee organization their task is to resettle displaced people like Andrew
• 18:00 - 18:30 jankis but coal will soon discovers a problem other countries are in the market there is an international competition for the best quality displaced persons so by 1947 there's really an understanding that if they don't act now it may be too late suddenly it's a race against time those many consider a threat to white British Australia and our highly-prized immigrants
• 18:30 - 19:00 call will cables Prime Minister chiefly from London he urges immediate action and permission to sign the agreement with the International refugee organization chief Lee's response is remarkable doing away with all convention he keeps the decision of secret from his own party and gives callable the green light chiefly cables back in okay he doesn't go to cabinet he doesn't check it with labour caucus if
• 19:00 - 19:30 you did it's quite possible almost entirely likely that cabinet would have said no no not interested in taking refugees from Europe after 50 years have been spent in China doing their best to keep out of Australia these same people but we can only speculate on why did not go to cabinet but the degree of trepidation on embarking on a programme of large-scale immigration from Europe
• 19:30 - 20:00 you can't underestimate how strong that was in 1947 and we can only make sense of that in terms of how insular Australia had become and how much of a challenge that is posed potentially to Australian identity in Australian nationalism such as the concern over anything that may upset the status quo of a white British Australia the two leading lights in the government have gone at alone and staked Australia's
• 20:00 - 20:30 future on a bold new plan it's the Prime Minister and the Minister for immigration and it's an agreement between those two men that engineers this completely new direction in Australian history a small team of immigration officers is immediately dispatched to the displaced persons camps in Germany George Kidal is one of
• 20:30 - 21:00 them he's appalled by what he finds you can imagine whether it would be like not being able to get a decent wash with soap not being able to get anything that you like but it would be non-existent in these camps DP stew or soup in felt that was just a power hot water with a turnip dragged through it you know the United Nations refugee agreement on the selection process is clear Australia
• 21:00 - 21:30 cannot discriminate on the basis of race or religion but after the backlash he received following the arrival of the Me's er Colville has other ideas he plans to fill a ship with the right type they won't be British but they will be white they will be healthy and they will be beautiful and they will sell the idea of European immigration to a skeptical Australia George Kidal gets to
• 21:30 - 22:00 work regularly select people that came from the Baltic States but we had to do it very very quickly that was one of the troubles and we had to tell them blood Lee what they were expected to do okay the selection teams are instructed very clearly to select people from latvia and the baltic countries and to have blond buxom women not a lot of bolts and in fact I always have a good impression I
• 22:00 - 22:30 call the beautiful bolts blond-haired blue-eyed Andrew jankis is precisely what George Kidal is looking for and after years of fleeing persecution jankis sees a new life far from war ravaged Europe we've got a notice in the camp on the noticeboard to say dose that are interested to going to Australia put their name down and oh you will be interviewed so some friends of mine and
• 22:30 - 23:00 myself we said oh yes well it's the furthest away from the whole lot of Europe but good looks alone won't guarantee a place for Andrew and his fellow bolts on the first ship irrespective of their skills and talents Jorge Kidal needs to select fit able-bodied men to help build the nation their entry and right to stay in Australia is only granted if they
• 23:00 - 23:30 sign work contracts we'd be looking for decent looking people if you like looked as if they'd be able to do the work that we expected them to do in Australia and amongst us they were doctors and engineers architects but everybody had to put down labour on your application I thought you you didn't have a chance of getting in and some of them are
• 23:30 - 24:00 pretty highly qualified in their own countries we were telling them that those rig those qualifications would not be recognized well actually I think they're just looking for slaves so you might sometimes have a look at their hands and see if they look this is like a do some hard work they check you physically virtually you know like the old horse traders looked in your teeth and stark naked so that they could you
• 24:00 - 24:30 know see that you have got movements and all your arms and legs and no it was worse than that bloody military jankis is one of 844 former refugees selected for the crucial first boat but as Caldwell returns to Australia he keeps their imminent arrival and any mention of displaced persons to himself
• 24:30 - 25:00 has been a tremendous amount of interest in your mission mr. Koller would you say that it's been a success and no I yes it was a successful writer we've got so many people around the world now wanting to come to Australia that if I all came here well we just wouldn't know ever how's the man that we do complicate our economy following coal will home is the general Stewart heinzelman the first ship load of beautiful bolts
• 25:00 - 25:30 the Trojan horse who will sell the most ambitious immigration scheme in Australia's history blissfully unaware of the role they're about to play those like Andrew Yonkers are coming to terms with leaving their lives as refugees behind they said that come to Australia the roads are not paved with gold but you will make a living a good living and and
• 25:30 - 26:00 you'll live happily on the 7th of December 1947 the beautiful bolts arrived at princes Pier Melbourne Paul wills new propaganda machine is ready and waiting everybody gathered on the ship's deck and there was welcoming speeches made photographers and movie cameras we're
• 26:00 - 26:30 going flat out very highly choreographed there's a lot riding on those first couple of arrivals they have to make an impression on the Australian people you can see Caldwell was a brilliant propagandist he knew that this was going to go down with the public cine sound the newsreel people were on side as well because you can see the way it's cut the wide shots of people standing on deck
• 26:30 - 27:00 and the images that were selected for the newsreel they are blonde they young they are sexy they're actually wearing dark glasses are looking very affluent even though they came from refugee camps these people the message is clear the new arrivals may not be British but they're the next best thing they'll fit in and they will not threaten quite Australia we are really very very happy to be here nor silly I'll be hope to be very good
• 27:00 - 27:30 at selling signal the beautiful bolts have played their part in selling European immigration but they have been used as window dressing tens of thousands more refugees will now follow beautiful or not immigration officer Harold grant is sent by Canberra to the displaced persons
• 27:30 - 28:00 camps to help organize the huge expansion of the scheme in march 1949 I went to Berlin where I met blackjack Callaghan general Galaga and the hero Changi he said your job is to go and select displaced persons he said there'll be good apples and bad apples but he's of me more bloody good apples Harold and he said we've got to fill the
• 28:00 - 28:30 ships the ships are going to be filled as they come in so go out there and do the job what lie they owe someone hundred and seventy thousand displaced persons will eventually be ferried to Australia they'll rival the number of British immigrants the white in the white Australia policy is being redefined the government is embarking upon a high-risk venture it's a major
• 28:30 - 29:00 u-turn in terms of immigration policy what is being done is for the first time assisting large numbers of Europeans to come to Australia not British not Irish but European peoples in large numbers to come to Australia to reassure the public a documentary feature film is produced it aims to show Australians what the displaced persons have endured and prove that the selection process is tough and rigorous does he speak English
• 29:00 - 29:30 especially our English illusion Harold grant is working at the refugee camp in Lee pine when the government film crew arrives he soon finds himself in front of the camera I was selected to do the interview scene and I was not told to accept or reject them I was told my decision would hold and it would be one interview as he
• 29:30 - 30:00 never had any police convictions but what they're saying in that film is very important this is not haphazard that people can just walk onto a ship we are over there making sure that the right kind of people are on those ships for us we left Europe in springtime people from many countries with thousands of dps arriving colville bullish Li raises the bar on all immigration the Peter I said
• 30:00 - 30:30 before nineteen hundred and forty nine was one hundred and ten thousand the figure I have now set for 1900 m249 he's one hundred and fifty thousand the nation may be embarking on the largest immigration scheme in its history but almost half a century since the White Australia Policy was enshrined
• 30:30 - 31:00 there are still those who must be shown the door in 1901 Australia's politicians passed laws to restrict and deport unwanted foreigners and keep the nation quite almost 50 years later Arthur Paul will may be leading the charge on a mass immigration scheme but he is still bound by the racial thinking of his predecessors what's more he enjoys near
• 31:00 - 31:30 universal support he had no doubt that the Australian public was a hundred percent behind the White Australia Policy and he also knew that all the parties represented in the Parliament strongly supported that he totally uncritically accepted and implemented those policies this united white front is about to be tested by Asian refugees who came to Australia during the Second World War many provided invaluable
• 31:30 - 32:00 manpower in the fight against Japan mostly Chinese they proved eager and adequate in their work every launching marked their contribution in an all-out war to defeat the Japanese the agreement was that in peacetime the six thousand refugees would return home most do but around 500 have now settled and want to stay so I had children they owned businesses this outraged call because he
• 32:00 - 32:30 believed they should not have done that that Australia had been generous in granting them sanctuary the danger was past it was now time for them to leave Arthur Garlock Chan the youthful president of the Chinese seaman's union is on the dock at Balmain in Sydney when a boatload of war refugees is deported some split forever from their new Australian families now long sigh me on the wall there was an Australian lady
• 32:30 - 33:00 with golden hair holding two babies to say goodbye to her husband on this ship sailing back after the war coral started to bring people from Europe from Germany from Italy you wartime enemies you welcome them into Australia on the other hand you tried the deportations to Moline the Philippines Indonesian with China that is because of color you've got to
• 33:00 - 33:30 remember the call is a man driven by process and principle he was outraged that they had not left he was outraged that they would marry Australians he was outraged that they would buy their own businesses 100 Chinese for Mosin women some were their husbands and 112 children were compelled to board this hell ship already Jen past the danger point military police seized and none too gently all who refuse to board the ship core will believe with a passion that you either had a policy such as the
• 33:30 - 34:00 White Australia Policy and you enforced it without exception or soon you would have no policy at all call walls uncompromising stance appears foolproof but in the election year of 1949 a family living in bondage Victoria are not willing to go quietly the White Australia Policy is about to go on trial if we're trying to understand the end of
• 34:00 - 34:30 the water straight policy the O'Keefe case of 1949 is a good starting point when Japan invaded Indonesia in 1942 Annie yeah Cobb was forced to flee with her family as refugees the yeah Cobbs are offered sanctuary in Australia Annie and her eight children soon make a new start for themselves they order very well at school they all
• 34:30 - 35:00 spoke with broad strain accents they were seen as important and good members of the community in this respect they they are a quintessential immigrant success story they've they have within the terms and conditions of the time with this idea of embracing Australian values become Australian but in a country that wishes to be white the family have outstayed their welcome after five years the government come
• 35:00 - 35:30 knocking Annie and her children including 13 year-old Mary are to be deported my mother was really worried she said I will be we've got news that we might be going back to Indonesia and um cuz you know approaching us from all our schools and all their business she was very very worried and his husband Samuel was killed in the
• 35:30 - 36:00 war fighting for the Allies but before leaving to help defend Australia he made a fateful decision to defend his family before he'd gone away to the war he'd made an arrangement with his landing a retired postal clerk by the name of John Okeefe that if anything happened to him he would look out for the family and he did and so John Okeefe begins to think about this and he concludes that if he
• 36:00 - 36:30 married mrs. Jakob she would then get British subject status and therefore the family would be allowed to stay it was very low key you know very very low key I mean two and an LD jump in with my mother getting married you know but the news got hold of it so it's pretty big determine to enforce the deportation of all Asian wartime refugees arthur paul
• 36:30 - 37:00 wall becomes personally involved he dismisses the marriage of John Okeefe and Annie Yakov as a sham on the waterfront advantage Victoria in this small house lives a family that is world news what Cole will doesn't bargain for is that many Australians look beyond a policy and instead see a family who fit in and deserve to stay family got support from a number of
• 37:00 - 37:30 quarters firstly the press which saw such an advantage here to hit and harm a ninja Arthur Calwell the Catholic Church continued to play its role Archbishop Maddux allowed himself to be photographed with two of the girls a clear endorsement that he and the broader hierarchy of the Catholic Church supported the family even the local branch of the ALP corbels state Victorian branch agitated for a family
• 37:30 - 38:00 to be allowed to stone and there was a lot of people in the background helping helping us out they helped us in raising money they helped us in getting my mother away from you know the limelight you know the journalists and all that escape from junior the controversy goes all the way to the High Court of Australia in Melbourne
• 38:00 - 38:30 the court's decision on the 17th of March 1949 writes the O'Keefe family name into the history books I remember Uncle Jim in my mother going to court and coming out and they say oh that's right I remember they say oh we won that was the word we won we can stay in a majority ruling the court decided
• 38:30 - 39:00 the O'Keefe should not be deported because of an administrative oversight when they were first admitted to Australia even though the decision is based on a technicality Cole will believe the writing is on the wall for the White Australia Policy Cole is absolutely outraged by the court's decision he's convinced that this is the beginning of the end of the White Australia Policy the central pillars that have kept the policy in place for
• 39:00 - 39:30 nearly 50 years have been undermined by the High Court's decision the O'Keefe case of 1949 does mark the beginning of the end of the world s trade policy not because of anything that call will cease but because it reveals the truth of the line it shows that the policy is not about economics that it's not about cultural homogeneity it's about the color of people's skin as one family wins its fight to stay in
• 39:30 - 40:00 Australia tens of thousands of displaced persons are being shipped in but their arrival ignites fears that the Australian workforce will be threatening how is cor world to convince workers and union leaders and others that these newly arriving migrants aren't just going to take their jobs material and men call will addresses the fears head-on and behind the scenes lines up a deal so there was an agreement in which
• 40:00 - 40:30 the unions and major employers such as bhp were parties which provided that the displaced persons would be taken on for the least attractive jobs the deal is backed up in typical style with yet another exercise and spin some Australians may feel concern at this influx of new citizens your rubella developers tribal it seems to me these thousands of migrants coming here gonna
• 40:30 - 41:00 do a lot of Australians out of jobs perhaps the Secretary of the Department of immigration can throw some light on that what is the answer mr. Hayes well today there are many more jobs in Australia than men to do them as a matter of fact our greatest shortage is manpower both for defence and production furthermore migrants will not make a shortage of jobs they will make more jobs in 1949 alone 75,000 displaced
• 41:00 - 41:30 persons arrived there bound by the work contracts they signed in the DP camps over the coming years they'll work on nation building projects across Australia including the massive hydroelectric scheme in the snowy mountains meanwhile beautiful bolt Andrew Yonkers finds himself reluctantly labouring at a cement kiln in Tasmania I was taught to
• 41:30 - 42:00 look after they killed the cement kiln and Tasmania was that far backward in those days we never was accepted by the local population ah the call sorts of names for start logs there was one of their favorites we have quite a lot of fights let's put it that way the influx of new Australians shows no
• 42:00 - 42:30 sign of letting up but on the 10th of December 1949 labour is dumped from power then chiefly and Arthur Calwell the architects of the post-war immigration scheme have been cast off by the electorate robert gordon mills robert menzies a believer in british australia is the new Liberal prime minister the future of the
• 42:30 - 43:00 new European immigration program could be in danger since the end of World War two more than 200,000 migrants have arrived in Australia they include the largest influx of European people in the nation's history but a change in government in December 1949 seems to suggest the desire for non British
• 43:00 - 43:30 arrivals could be about to end call walls out chief lose out new government the Liberal Party run by Bob Menzies a serious British Empire not and he comes in and there's a serious non-british migration scheme at work it imagine big changes but Bob Menzies does something that's almost as impressive as what coral did Menzies comes in he sees the migration
• 43:30 - 44:00 tap sir are on football and he leads them all throughout the 1950s a thirsty economy will absorb the flood of new migrants and now for the first time southern European start to come in significant numbers the color line is shifting again 18 year old Greek George Zhang Gallus
• 44:00 - 44:30 arrives into a country that at first doesn't quite live up to expectation I left Greece and Europe in the middle of winter and arrived in Melbourne in the middle of summer a scorcher the temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and a wind blowing and Station Pier in Melbourne ports were as you know big sheds in those days and all the pictures ahead of us right have a nice green plays and flowers and no dream plane they were all destroyed within one day
• 44:30 - 45:00 at least George is fair-skinned enough to get here in the first place the combat concerns that non-whites are slipping through the net in 1950 the Department of Immigration introduces the so-called 75% rule people had to provide genealogies which showed that they were substantially of European descent they'd say 75% of European descent whatever that might mean those
• 45:00 - 45:30 administering the new regulation have an all but impossible task just three years before George Kidal was on the lookout for beautiful bolts now he's working for a department asking itself what is white well I thought it was terrible and so that anybody that had to interpret it you have supposed to judge them my mic's person by appearance 75% European by
• 45:30 - 46:00 appearance can you imagine a more stupid policy than their aside from being a bureaucratic nightmare the policy has more sinister connotations there's a very close echo with the Nuremberg Laws and the definition of who is a drupe defied in terms of parentage how many grandparents do you have you are Jewish this was of course a matter of life or death whether you survived in the period of the Nazi rule in Europe and yet we find the same policy or a
• 46:00 - 46:30 similar policy being implemented in Australia it's five years since Willie llama escaped the death camps of Dachau like most Holocaust survivors his only managed to get to Australia after being sponsored by distant relatives among his few possessions as some photographs he took after being liberated planting which I can't forgive the customs out
• 46:30 - 47:00 today I had a few pictures which I took from the camp of Dachau the pictures which I took of course they were after the war and they took the pictures out I said why do you take it and they said oh there could be propaganda and that really I didn't want to say nothing you come to a new country that I want to start fight without Dora T's but having overcome the heavy-handedness of officials Willy settles down with his young family finds work and discovers
• 47:00 - 47:30 that ordinary Australians accept him for who he is I think that they're hiring people those days would bet with the people I worked not that anybody asked me what I Jewish inand I didn't need to say I was just a new Australian and I've been an Aussie since 1955 ferdi go buzzing Willie is doing precisely what Australia
• 47:30 - 48:00 wants him to do forgetting his past and fitting in there's been no fundamental shift in the thinking of Australians the thinking of Australians was that we were to be as we were at present an English Australian country so that the idea of allowing people to come from continental Europe did not indicate any significant shift in those fundamental premises rather
• 48:00 - 48:30 what had occurred was the idea that these people could be assimilated to become British Australians the doctrine of assimilation also being applied to Aboriginal people is now used to ease the concerns of a country that's opening its doors to hundreds of thousands of European migrants but still unable to let go of its white British identity there was this tremendous expectation
• 48:30 - 49:00 you owe everything to this country the country owes you nothing and unless you become one like us well there's no place for you so keep on trying until you get to become like us I think we've got to understand that in the context of the time in the 1940s and 1950s policymakers community leaders thought of it as a very progressive doctrine and a very inclusive doctrine it didn't assume that
• 49:00 - 49:30 your cultural background decided your ability to adapt or conform or not it assumed that you could be socialized into embracing a new way of life learning English is a key cornerstone of the doctrine George zangara's gets a job at the General Motors Holden Factory in Port
• 49:30 - 50:00 Melbourne he quickly discovers that even his Greek boss is keen to stress the need to assimilate he wouldn't be quick to us because it was not the thing to do now you hear you've got to learn the language not in two years time instantaneously so he kept saying to me well you did it will you do this George booyah and I says look build my name is not william is George no William William and it was one little example workers for
• 50:00 - 50:30 the city and workers to the land migrants like George may be under pressure to fit in but the need for them to keep coming is great their hard labor doesn't just build a country and an economy ironically it resolves a paradox that has existed since 1901 you begin the 20th century with Federation in this dream of a working man's paradise by keeping out at the majority of the rest of the human race fifty years later that
• 50:30 - 51:00 is finally becoming a kind of reality to the majority of people in Australia but whereas in 1901 that dream of a working man's paradise was thought to be only realizable through restricting almost absolutely the amount of people you live in to it turns out that the way it's realized in the 1950s is through a massive scheme of migration and inclusion February 1954
• 51:00 - 51:30 and here they are at last amongst us triumphal progress through each city in Ithaca the very same year as the newly crowned queen visits Australia almost twice the number of European immigrants arrived than British
• 51:30 - 52:00 soon the one-millionth post-war migrant will be welcomed new Australians have ventured here from at least 30 countries a progress Royal indeed the notion that Australia can somehow remain British and unchanged will increasingly be exposed as a myth ironically the bold plan continued by Menzies but started by Arthur Colville
• 52:00 - 52:30 has laid the foundations for the demise of white Australian Arthur Kohl who was the Sepphoris champion of the widest raelia policy managed through his own implementation of a new migration scheme to sow the seeds of the destruction of his cherished White Australia Policy the 25 metre boat carrying the genie may be
• 52:30 - 53:00 out of the bottle but it will take a humanitarian crisis to finally consign the White Australia Policy to history the battle to build modern multicultural Australia is set to enter a dramatic new era
• 53:00 - 53:30 next on immigration nation and
• 53:30 - 54:00 Aboriginal activist and leader kidnaps a six-year-old and rocks the foundations of white Australian without occurring because it is a colour question Nancy is being deported on the vices or one partying alone Annette's color and this is this is bad and email is file on consent and for an interactive version go to SBS calm a you forward slash immigration nation