What has been the history of immigration of Australia?
The British were the first to immigrate to Australia in 1788. Up until the first migration Australia consisted of only around 400,000 aboriginal people (nonimmigrant). Gold was soon found in Australia leading migrant workers to flee to Australia. To counter this Australia implemented the Immigration Restriction Act in 1901 otherwise known as the "White Australia Policy."
This policy turned previously acceptable migrants from other countries into "enemy aliens." Australia began to take on serious nativism and discrimination.
I regard as second only to the necessity of protecting our shores against actual invasion, the necessity of protecting Australia against the influx of aliens, Asiatics, criminals, paupers, and other undesirable classes
– Charles Kingston, Premier of South Australia, 1891
After the World War 1 and World War 2 and a close to invasion by the Japanese, Australia realized they needed to populate quickly for the protection of their country and the country’s economy. Additionally, many citizens of Eastern Europe realized their countries were in upheaval after the war and were looking for a way out. Australia saw opportunity and welcomed post-war migration with open arms. For many of the migrants The Commonwealth Government paid for them to travel to Australia. The migrants then had to stay in Australia for at least two years, working for any employer the government assigned to them, in return.
"German migrants arrive onboard a T.A.A. Viscount flight, c.1956. These migrants flew from Hamburg, Germany, under the assisted passage scheme sponsored by the Inter-governmental Committee for European Migration. Courtesy National Archives of Australia"
("NSW Migration Heritage Centre." NSW Migration Heritage Centre. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. <http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime-history/1945-1965/>.)
A powerful enemy looked hungrily toward Australia. In tomorrow’s gun flash that threat could come again. We must populate Australia as rapidly as we can before someone else decides to populate it for us.
– Prime Minister Ben Chifley
The initial wave of migration into Australia were Displaced Persons (people who fled countries that had been ruined by the war or had been taken over by the Soviet Union). Over 170,000 Displaced Persons migrated to Australia between 1947 and 1953 while being assisted by the Australian Government. Overall, Between 1945 and 1965 more than two million migrants and immigrants came to Australia. The spike in population between 1945 and 1965 was due largely impart to asylum seekers after World War 2. Nuclear war threatened many as the cold war went on between the Soviet Union and the United States too add to the issue most of the Eastern European countries were in shambles sending Asylum seekers to Australia viewing it to have the best security.
One can see that today immigration is still strong in Australia and increasing
"Migration Statistics into Australia."Britzinoz. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. <http://www.britzinoz.com/migration-statistics-into-australia>.
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