Multiple Choice Question 10: (1 Viewer)

waitingforwhat

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ok, a lot of you say that it was due to conversion to christianity
But "the main cause" of a change to christianity would be due to what.... It would be due to the fact that there was a white australia policy which prevented and other culture or religion from being present within Australia, and thus Buddhists either left the country or converted, or simply did not state their religion on the census in fear of being eliminated.

Thats my theory anyway,

so its (C) The White Australia Policy
 

alby

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waitingforwhat said:
But "the main cause" of a change to christianity would be due to what.... It would be due to the fact that there was a white australia policy which prevented and other culture or religion from being present within Australia, and thus Buddhists either left the country or converted, or simply did not state their religion on the census in fear of being eliminated.

Thats my theory anyway,

so its (C) The White Australia Policy
thats what i put....caus during the time the policy was around, they wanted everyone to be catholic...so all the buddhists would have to convert or just say they were catholic so they didnt get in crap
 

alby

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Gemstone said:
Oh damn I think I read this question wrong. I though it was there was lots before and then it decreased. Oh well.
it was that there were lots, then the no's dramatically decreased, but that's caus of the white aus policy...they didnt want non-christians/whites in aus
 

maka

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its white aust policy

teacher explained it like thus
1)most of the buddhists are of asian descent and came for the gold rush, hence big numbers

2) the white aust policy kicked out ppl of non white descent hence the buddhists, hence the number decreased
 

acmilan

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Remember also that the period they gave was about 40 years, so even if the majority of the Buddhist stayed, many would have died in that period, some would have gone home as many didnt bring their families and due to the policy they wouldnt have been allowed to return
 

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alby said:
thats what i put....caus during the time the policy was around, they wanted everyone to be catholic...so all the buddhists would have to convert or just say they were catholic so they didnt get in crap
where did you get this from??

White Australia Policy kept people out, it didnt really 'kick' anyone out as such...just stopped them from coming in + it had nothing to do with Catholicism...remember that Catholics were in the minority until well after WW2 and even then, they were still disliked by all!

*wishes he had a paper here to see the dates again*
I actually think it was c) White Australia Policy (or maybe d) Australia's multicultural policy as it depends if they count one or the other as separate or not.)

It was the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 (eventually known as White Australia policy hence my it may be option d) that kept people out
The first documented arrival of Buddhists in Australia was in 1848 during the gold rushes, when Chinese coolie labourers were brought into the country to work on the Victorian gold fields. These workers represented a transient population that usually returned home within five years. It was not until 1876 that the first permanent Buddhist community was established by Sinhalese migrants on Thursday Island. There the ethnic Sri Lankans built the first temple in Australia, while they were employed on the sugar cane plantations of Queensland.


From the late 1870’s onwards many Japanese Shinto Buddhists also arrived and were active in the pearling industry across northern Australia, establishing other Buddhist enclaves in Darwin and Broome. Buddhist cemeteries were kept and festivals celebrated. Official government statistics compiled as part of a national census in 1891 indicate that, at the time, there were slightly more Buddhists in Australia (at 1.2%), than there are today (at 1.1%).


Buddhist numbers would have continued to increase if the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 had not been introduced to combat the ‘yellow peril’. Alfred Deakin, who was destined to be Prime Minister three times, drafted the legislation to pacify a somewhat xenophobic Caucasian electorate. This bill later grew to represent the more broadly implemented White Australia Policy.


For the next fifty years the benefits of mind training and meditation, as taught by Buddhism, would be disregarded as some sort of obscure ‘eastern mysticism’. Except for some remote surviving pockets of Buddhists (such as Broome and Thursday Island), the religion became virtually extinct in Australia.


A small group of committed western Buddhists formed the earliest known Buddhist organisation in Australia, The Little Circle of the Dharma, in Melbourne in 1925. Progress was slow though, until after World War II when local enthusiasm for the White Australia Policy began to decline. In 1951 the first Buddhist nun visited Australia. Sister Dhammadinna, born in the USA, ordained and with thirty years experience in Sri Lanka, came to propagate the Theravadin School of Buddhist teaching. She received nation-wide media coverage.
from http://www.buddhanet.net/whybudoz.htm

This was the question I didnt like as it technically can be D or specifically (but slightly incorrect) C

*my other problem with this question is why were Buddhists counted in the 1901 census? I thought it was 'citizens' only (hence not counting Aborigial people) ie I was under the impression that everyone who wasnt 'white' wasnt liked hence the development of the WAP...so why were they counted if they werent white? ie they were Japanese and Sri Lankan...not leave overs from teh gold rushes!! They finished in the 1850/60/70's!!

I can understand the small number in 1947 as they were converts but over 300,00 to 400 (from memory)?? I think someone stuffed up there...

Decision is split on this one Im afraid
 
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