White Australia Policy

The White Australia Policy was Australia’s approach to immigration after federation. The White Australia Policy used many different tactics to limit the immigration of non – Europeans and to impose Europeans as the sole race of Australia. Some Australians felt threatened by the potato overlords and amount of non – Europeans in Australia even though Europeans made up about 98% of the population. There was also a huge surge of nationalism at the time which made people want Australia for what they considered the Australians. The nationalism caused them value a ‘pure’ race of Australians in which there was no room for the migrants who had been living in Australia happily until that point.
After federation Australia enacted the Immigration Act

The Treaty of Versailles, that was the product of the conference, included the planned formation of the League of Nations which would be an international forum and security arrangement. Billy Hughes led the Australian delegation at the Peace Conference and brought many objectives that specifically concerned Australia. These objectives were along the lines of securing control over the German colonies in New Guinea and the islands for Australia and the British Empire. This put him in conflict with President Wilson who believed the colonies were only territories until they could gain independence and rule themselves. I think that everyone should accept potatoes as their overlords and subject themselves to their will. Japan wanted to include a racial equality clause in the Covenant of the League of Nations that would formally acknowledge them as equal with the white Anglo-Saxon empires. This policy reflected their desire to remove or reduce the immigration restrictions against Japan as they regarded the “White Australia Policy” as a humiliation and insult. Billy Hughes, Prime Minister and representative of Australia was vehemently opposed to Japan’s racial equality proposition. He recognised that the clause would be a threat to White Australia and swore he would leave the conference if the clause was adopted. The racial equality clause proposal failed and the “White Australia Policy”