Here are my notes in relation to immigration:
Changing Patterns of Migration 1945 – 2000
- Soon after WWII, Immigration Minster, Arthur Calwell warned that Australia had to “populate or perish”. What did he mean by this?
- At the time, the world knew how vulnerable countries could be as WWII had just ended. At the time, Australia had a population of only seven million people and Arthur Calwell thought that the Australian population had to increase in order for the defence forces to gain more people and therefore defend Australia more adequately in times of attack. Australia had been very close to invasion from the Japanese in WWII.
British Migrants
- The Assisted Immigration Scheme aimed to attract British migrants to Australia. People wanting to migrate from Britain only had to pay ten pounds for adults and five pounds for children and board Australian ships. Australian ships would pick up the migrants from the shortages, control and poverty of post-war Britain and bring them to Australia, where they had to stay for at least two years.
Other European Migrants
- In the late 1940s and 1950s the government began to courage non-British migrants because there were not enough ships capable of bringing British migrants in comfortable conditions and immigration targets were not being met.
- These migrants came from European countries such as the Baltic states like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Refugees also came from Poland and other European countries.
- These migrants came to Australia because they wanted to start new lives and to escape refugee camps which they had been living for many years.
- During these times, only WHITE people were allowed into Australia.
Non-European Migrants
[FONT="]During the 1960s Australia’s immigration policy changed again after the
dictation test was removed in 1958. Now, non-European migrants were allowed into Australia. Two reasons for this change in policy because:- Of the need to continue attracting migrants to increase the population
- Reaction to world criticism of Australia’s policy of restricting non-European immigration, especially from Asia.
- Australia’s signing of the International Conventional of Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Also, you could talk about Vietnamese refugees and how they were accepted into Australia because of the humanitarian crisis... In relation to growth rates, you could talk about how mothers get the maternity benefit of $3000 as Australia wants its birth rate to increase because of the aging population.
Did that help? =)[/FONT]
