[Page 1.]

[Newspaper title 'Tomorrow's Australians: Bulletin of the Department of Immigration' with line drawing of Australian Coat of Arms]

No. 4

CANBERRA

July 12, 1948

[In italics] Foreign-inspired Propaganda…

[Main headline:] SEEKING DISRUPTION OF OUR MIGRATION POLICY

[Bold text:] Foreign-inspired propaganda recently aimed at the destruction of our immigration policy in relation to non-European peoples was most unlikely to deceive thinking Australians, said the Minister for Immigration (Mr. Arthur A. Calwell) today.

"Australia's immigration policy is based on the concept of a nation with a homogeneous European population, free from the dissensions and complexities which beset countries with mixed populations," said Mr Calwell.

"The ideal that this country – which was settled and developed by Europeans – should remain predominantly European, was sponsored by our forefathers, has been honoured by each successive Government, has been supported by every major political party, and has had the unswerving allegiance of an overwhelming majority of the Australian people since Federation."

Mr. Calwell said that the latest attack on our Australian ideal masqueraded under the guise of criticism of the Government’s action in repatriating a small number of Malayan seamen who came to this country in the war period.

[Heading:] They Were Given Sanctuary In Australia

During the war, Australia gave refuge to thousands of people from nearby countries who would have fared badly at the hands of the invading Japanese. These included Malayan seamen. In every case these people were admitted on the definite understanding that they would be returned to their countries after the cessation of hostilities. 

[Indented:] At the end of the war, thousands of these people who had been admitted to this country without regard to the nation’s established immigration policy but out of considerations of mercy, including some four thousand Asiatics, left without demur. [End indented section.]

It was only when a handful of Malayan seamen were to be repatriated that protests were made, Mr. Calwell continued. If the Australian Government were to allow these men to remain, it could not in justice deny the right to all other refugees to return and reside here. Furthermore, to concede this privilege to this handful of men would establish the precedent that if a person having been admitted temporarily for a specific purpose wished to remain, he had established a title to do so.

This could have only one end – the complete abandonment of our present policy, and the opening wide of our gates to many races of people who vastly outnumber us, and whose manners of life, religious beliefs and cultures differ widely from ours. The ultimate result must be the conquest of Australia by infiltration as surely as by direct assault.

[Indented:] This was in line with the Communist Party's policy of divide and conquer, and the same people who were today disrupting the economy of Malaya, were trying their best to break down Australia's long established immigration laws and practices. [End indented section.]

Mr. Calwell added that other persons who had attacked Australia’s immigration policy had urged the adoption of a quota system for

More: Page 2

[Annotated in margin in red pen 'Note no mention of wives'. Second annotation, in black ink, is illegible.]

[Annotated at bottom of page in pencil: 'Miss Miller, Place in White Aust. file please'.]

[The first page of the bulletin has a shorter second article in a column on the right.]

[Headline:] SETTLING IN

[Italics] by Larry Boys

A letter in a Sydney evening newspaper recently worried me somewhat. The writer, who signed himself "Dinkum Aussie," said:

"Mr. Calwell’s target of 70,000 immigrants this year leaves me cold when I look down on to the camping area nearby and see the rows of rain-drenched tents, most of them leaking (I believe) but the only home most of the occupants have.

"Wouldn’t it be a bit more to the Government’s credit if they found homes for these people first?"

When we read letters like that, or hear similar views expressed by Dinkum Aussies, we migrants from Britain get a guilty, conscience-stricken feeling that we do not, after all, deserve.

Very few of the thousands of migrants who have come to Australia since the war have homes of their own. 

None of us expect homes in advance of Australians. There are hundreds of British building workers who are working full-pelt constructing homes for Australian families to live in – yet they themselves have little prospect of obtaining homes before the back of the housing problem is thoroughly broken.

That is as it should be. And if people like "Dinkum Aussie" took more interest in their own Government’s immigration programme, they would see that it was deliberately geared to avoid adding to the housing worries of Australians. Ever since the official free and assisted passages schemes opened, priority has been given only to those migrants who have accommodation guaranteed by Australian relatives, friends or employers.

People like myself who arrived unannounced and unnominated through taking our discharges from the R.N. in Australia, have a tough time trying to find places. There were times when I was in Sydney when I would have been very thankful for a tent to live in. And after two years in Canberra, I am still looking for permanent accommodation.

But we are still better off than millions of unfortunates in Europe and elsewhere.

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Continued from page 1

[Mr. Calwell added that other persons who had attacked Australia’s immigration policy had urged the adoption of a quota system for...] Asiatic immigrants. They claimed that a grant of a token quota such as operates in the United States of America would fully satisfy Asiatic aspirations.

"On a comparative population basis, the grant of an Australian quota proportionately similar to the U.S. quota would mean that the number of nationals of any Asiatic country who might enter Australia in any year would be limited to five persons," said Mr. Calwell.

[Large heading:] QUOTA SYSTEM WOULD NOT SATISFY ANY ASIATIC NATION … MR. CALWELL

[Bold text:] "It is doubtful whether any quota figure would satisfy any Asiatic nation," Mr. Calwell added. "In fact, recent announcements clearly indicate that because of population pressure, Asiatic countries wish their people to emigrate in increasing numbers. And once the door to Australia was opened for permanent residence of small quotas of Asiatics, continued pressure would be exerted to permit larger numbers to reside permanently in this country."

Recent indications of the interest being shown in Australia as an outlet for surplus population were:

[dot point] It was recently reported that the American occupation authorities in Japan favoured room for part of the surplus Japanese population being found in Pacific areas. (The opposition of the RSSAILA [the Returned Sailors', Soldiers’ and Airmen's Imperial League] to this proposal was strongly stated in Sydney recently.)

[dot point] The Minister for Immigration in the Non-Republican Indonesian Provisional Government mentioned northern Australia as one of the areas in which Indonesians might go to relieve overcrowding in Java.

[dot point] A report recently issued by a Commission of the United Nations stated that the Chinese Government desired numbers of her nationals to emigrate.

[dot point] The outcry raised in Malaya against the return of a small number of Malayans was a clear indication that a considerable number of Asiatics would by no means be content with a token quota.

[Subheading:] Nations' Rights

Mr. Calwell added that it was the inherent right of every State to say who shall be admitted to and reside within its boundaries. That right had been fully recognised by the Asian Relations Conference which met at New Delhi in March, 1947. Conference [sic] had expressed the view that every State must be its own judge of the composition of its nationhood, and consequently must be granted the right to restrict or control immigration. A number of Asiatic countries freely exercised this right and, in fact, excluded other Asiatics as well as Europeans.

Australia freely conceded them the right to do so. In return, Australia claimed similar freedom of action.

"Arrangements made in the early days of Federation with certain Asiatic countries, under which natives of those countries can, and do, enter and live in Australia so long as they comply with the conditions under which they are admitted, still remain n force," said Mr. Calwell. "These arrangements have worked smoothly on the whole, and there is no evidence that the countries with which the arrangements have been made are dissatisfied with them. 

"Evidence that the repatriation of foreign nationals to their homelands does not infringe established practices and agreements comes from the fact that China says it welcomes the repatriation of Chinese war evacuees and seamen still in Australia and that no Government of any Asiatic country has raised any question concerning our policy.

"Efforts to foment dissension and to cast discredit on Australia’s immigration policy have been confined to the irresponsible outbursts of European-owned newspapers in Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies.

"Misguided and ill-founded criticism of that sort, which has been given wide publicity, can only impair our relations with our Eastern neighbours and do a great disservice to Australia," he added.

[A second article is printed below the main article above.]

[Headline:] Future IRO [International Refugee Organisation] Ships To Carry More Married Couples

Outstanding feature [sic] of the passenger list of the IRO ship Svalbard, which arrived in Melbourne late last month with 900 displaced persons, was the large number of married couples – 159. In addition, there were 84 married men travelling in advance of their families.

It is expected that future IRO ships will carry increasingly large numbers of married couples. Part reason [sic] for this is that the number of single displaced persons who measure up to the standards of age, health and general suitability is decreasing rapidly.

Australia, Britain, Canada and South America (notably Brazil) have been drawing heavily from the migrant pool.

Another reason is that the younger displaced persons have reached a marriageable age and many have married in the security of the occupation zone. Australia is applying the same strict standards for the selection of young married couples as it applied to single persons.

Married couples already in Australia have proved most suitable for rural work, being adaptable to varying conditions in different parts of the country. Good reports of them have been received from farmers, station owners and orchardists in all States. The policy of the Commonwealth is to place married couples in employment together wherever possible, or at least in the same locality. So far this policy has been carried out with success.

[A third article is printed in the right-hand column of the page.]

[HEADLINE:] VIEWPOINT

"…THE GOLD IS STILL HERE"

[In italics] says Major E.T. TOWNER, V.C. [Victoria Cross], M.C. [Military Cross], prominent Queensland pastoralist and member of the Commonwealth Immigration Advisory Council.

In the early history of Australia, after the discovery of gold, people migrated from the four corners of the earth to dig for gold. The gold is still here, but of a different type, that of the soil and industry. It is for the newcomer to come and seek it.

When the first gold-seekers came here they did not worry about housing or amenities. They just built their own from whatever materials were available as a temporary measure. Mushroom towns sprang up overnight. They were men of courage with confidence of the rewards to be won by digging for gold.

Today the picture is different. The hard pioneering has been done, and the future of Australia is assured.

Australia is one of the few undeveloped regions of the earth requiring men and women of courage, willing to work and make a home, and with the knowledge that their future will be secure. "First you build a home and then you make a nation."

Australia is the only continent governed by one people, with one code of laws, self-contained, with all the materials needed to make men happy. A climate of wide variety from the Australian Alps, the snow regions, to the northern tropics. A wide variety of soils and minerals, vast areas of mineral wealth untapped, and every variety of soil, and able to grow a wide range of fruits and vegetables.

The disabilities of drought and erratic rainfall distribution can be overcome to a great extent by extensive water conservation and scientific irrigation, permitting an enormous increase in our food production.

All this and much more we offer to the men and women – and children, too – who will join us from overseas. It is the gold of freedom and security that we offer them: it is here to be won by the prospector of the future.