Coming to belong – Australia's immigration history

By transporting more than 160,0001 convicts to Australia from Europe, Britain could create an outpost far from home.

When these first Europeans arrived, they did not find an empty land. They were outnumbered by the indigenous Aboriginal people. Based on anthropological data, they could have numbered between 350,000 and 1.25 Million. Their ancestors had lived in Australia for at least 50,000 years and developed hundreds of language groups and myriads of cultural expressions.2  

The newcomers had to rely on First Nations knowledge but coveted the riches of the lands they inhabited. Cooperation could quickly give way to conflict and develop into prolonged frontier wars. It was fascination coupled with ignorance and misunderstanding that led to widening cycles of violence.  

Convict transportation was one scheme to kickstart new colonies, but some people left for Australia on their own accord. Free settlers chose to migrate to Australia to start a new life, and assisted immigrants were transported there under numerous schemes and programs.  

Braving a dangerous sea voyage of this magnitude was extraordinary for most people of this age. It was the adventurous, but also the desperate, and sometimes delusional, who searched for their luck across the seas. Success was never guaranteed, and early Australian history is full of shipwrecks, near escapes and desperate voyages.  

Did you know the Chinese were the third largest migrant group in Australia after those from the United Kingdom and from German-speaking countries in 1901?

Thousands of Chinese people came to Australia, especially during the 1850s gold rushes. When the gold was exhausted, many took up market gardening or established businesses such as restaurants or laundries.

They were not alone. In the second half of the 19th-century, South Sea Islanders were recruited to work on Queensland sugar plantations, Afghan cameleers played a vital role in the exploration of the Australian outback, and Japanese divers contributed to the development of the pearling industry.

Depending on changing politics and the mood in the general population, their success could be short-lived. Unwanted ‘foreigners’ could be quickly deported or marginalized. Industries like tobacco farming, once an area were many Chinese were active until the 1920s, quicky concentrated in the hands of a few white owners.  

Did you know migrants had to pass a dictation test in an arbitrarily chosen European language in order to enter Australia since Federation in 1901?

After Federation, Australia’s newly formed Federal Parliament passed the Immigration Restriction Act, which put strong restrictions on immigration. It was a racist policy, aimed to stop Chinese, South Sea Islanders and others from coming to Australia. The tool to implement these policies at the border was the dictation test. Officials could order immigrants to write down sentences specifically chosen to be insurmountable challenges for them.  

These practices and laws codified the racial biases that were prevalent at the time, but they were not just used against new arrivals. They also served as a tool to deport foreigners that had made Australia their home.  

In the years after World War 2, Australia stepped up its immigration program with the catchphrase ‘Populate or perish!’ It negotiated agreements to accept migrants and displaced people from Europe and supplied assisted £10 passages to British migrants, nicknamed ‘Ten Pound Poms’.  

The migration schemes favoured people that were from Britain and other places in the Commonwealth. Over time, however, Australia accepted people that had been excluded before: people from the Baltics, from Italy, Greece and more and more other countries.  

These more relaxed immigration principles were born out of xenophobic fears. Asian populations continued to outnumber Australia significantly, and it was against this perceived threat that more immigrants were desperately sought.  

The White Australia policy survived these policies for a while, but they invalidated it more and more. People from all over Europe settled in Australia, bringing their languages, customs and beliefs with them. They were expected to integrate, but adding these cultures would lay the foundation for the concept of multiculturalism.  

In the late 1970s, just as the last migrants to travel by ocean liner reached Australia, a new wave of seaborne refugees arrived on Australia’s northern coast. Some came from East Timor, fleeing from injustices there, but more and more, the new arrivals were from Indochina.  

Many of those ‘boat people’ were from Vietnam and surrounding countries. They fled the upheavals of the end of the Second War in Indochina, searching for countries that would take them in.  

During the war, Australia had seen a spirited public debate about its involvement in it. Multiculturalism was on the rise but did not prepare the populace for refugees arriving in Australia on their own.  

Despite great opposition, the relaxation of immigration restrictions meant that most of the refugees were allowed to settle in Australia.  

Later, other waves of new arrivals braved the seas, from Cambodia, Laos and southern China, far into the late 1980s and 1990s.    

It is impossible to know how many were lost at sea. Their flight into freedom was dangerous and harrowing, often including assault, murder and rape. Only the lucky and well-prepared made it to Australia’s coast successfully, though rarely unharmed. 

Even today, in the age of air travel, the boat is the symbol of refugees fleeing to Australia. The stories of these refugees are more complex, their journeys even more harrowing.  

Many have long odysseys behind them. It takes them years to reach the point when they can try to brave the sea in less-than-seaworthy vessels, hoping to arrive safely. Professional people smuggling is behind many of these journeys.  

How to deal with unauthorized boat arrivals remains one of the most polarising debates in contemporary Australia.  

The number of those lost at sea each year is still unknown.  

Immigration to Australia becomes more complex.  

Many prospective migrants learn to know Australia before they decide to stay. They visit as backpackers, holidaymakers or international students or work on short-term visa. Refugees are resettled through special programs. Most have to wait until their application is thoroughly examined. And even though the majority of migrants and ‘proto-migrants’ do not arrive by ship, boats still try to reach Australia.  

While migration to Australia has changed, the reasons why people leave their old lives behind have not. They want to find a place to belong, to call home. It is these journeys that still shape Australia today and will influence and determine its future.