About this record
This is a 3-page confidential cablegram sent on 24 August 1967 to the Australian Department of Immigration by Chief Migration Officer George Kiddle at the Australian High Commission in London. In the dispatch, Kiddle asserts that he was misquoted in a newspaper column that appeared the same day in London's Daily Mirror. The newspaper story covered Australia’s decision to admit non-European migration from Britain under the £10 Assisted Passage Scheme. The Mirror asserted that Australia’s commitment to the revised policy was less than sincere.
Educational value
- This cablegram is evidence of the Australian Government's sensitivity to its policies on both non-European immigration and assisted passage to Australia in the period of the gradual dismantling of the White Australia Policy. The newspaper report in the cablegram states that non-Europeans, mostly 'coloured Britons', were now eligible to migrate under the Assisted Passage Scheme but implies that this change in policy was being kept quiet.
- In the year prior to this cablegram, the Assisted Passage Scheme had been extended to all suitably qualified British citizens, including those of non-European descent, marking a shift in the government's position on immigration. But while the restrictions that underpinned the White Australia Policy were relaxed, there was still a strong emphasis on preserving an integrated, homogenous and predominantly European population.
- The new Holt government had established a review of immigration policy in 1966. Australia's growing relations with Asian countries in areas of trade, aid and tourism, and an increasing awareness of and opposition to racial discrimination internationally, were major influences on the review. However, the government was aware that admission of non-European migrants would attract criticism in Australia. There was, as Kiddle noted in a letter 5 days later, ‘unfortunate and sensational publicity' in Australia in response to the Daily Mirror article.
- The cablegram refers to Australia's immigration policy shift in 1966 which offered all Britons, including non-Europeans, the option to migrate to Australia for £10. For many, it was an opportunity too good to refuse. Assisted passage schemes had operated between Britain and Australia since the 1830s, but had previously been available solely to those of European ancestry.
- The Daily Mirror article questioned the sincerity of Australia's commitment to the migration of Britons from non-European backgrounds, suggesting that the emphasis on the applicant's ability to integrate with Australia's 'homogenous society' was racist. The cablegram reveals the High Commission's sensitivity to any implications that the racial backgrounds of applicants was taken into account. Kiddle states that he told the Mirror that all British citizens 'are given equal consideration', his response informed by the 'need to avoid any suggestion that racial aspects dictate our consideration' of applicants.
- The changes alluded to in the cablegram reflect post-World War II migration patterns in Australia, which saw an influx of more culturally diverse migrants enter the country (including refugees, Asian students, Japanese war brides and families of Chinese migrants already living in Australia). By 1973 social, political and economic changes led to the complete abolition of the White Australia Policy.
Acknowledgments
Learning resource text © Education Services Australia Limited and the National Archives of Australia 2010.
